Even though the Washington Wizards are starting to open up their spacing on offense with the additions of Jared Dudley and Gary Neal to help spread the floor, it seems like Bradley Beal is still going to be firing jumpers from midrange area next season. According to him the Wizards will be perfectly fine with this, based on this interview he did with Yaron Weitzman for SLAM Magazine:
SLAM: You love shooting the midrange jumper, even though that’s an unpopular shot in today’s NBA. Is that something you’re going to keep doing?
BB: That’s definitely a shot that, even though a lot of people in the NBA don’t like, I’m going to continue to work on it. It’s an open shot and I think you’re probably more open shooting that shot than a lot of other shots. It’s just about being able to get the mechanics down and the rhythm down and being able to knock it down.
SLAM: Has the team ever told you to stop taking them?
BB: Not really, nah. They just let me play my game. Coach Wittman loves those shots. He wants you to shoot everything possible whenever you have the opportunity to.
Anyone who has ever watched a Washington Wizards game coached by Randy Wittman, shouldn’t be surprised by these statements. Any basketball purist would also argue that open looks are clear invitations to score, and passing up open looks can be viewed as timid and it gives an advantage to the defense to only need to guard two spots: the paint and the 3-point line. The issue is though that Wittman’s philosophy has translated to poor results for his players, including Beal. The sweet-stroking shooting guard launched 316 midrange jumpers last season, where he shot just 33.9 percent. Compared to the 40.9 percent he hit on 3-pointers, and the difference in efficiency is quite obvious.
Jake Whitacre of Slam Magazine said it best;
“Most of Beal’s midrange shots are coming early in the shot clock and off-the-dribble. So Beal is not only taking inefficient shots, but he’s making them harder than they have to be, which explains why only one player shot worse than Beal while averaging as many attempts from the midrange as Beal did last season.”
