If the season’s first three weeks of play has told us anything about the Washington Wizards, it’s that they can still be successful at less than full strength. Just imagine how good they could be, then, once star shooting guard Bradley Beal returns to the court. According to Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post, the 21 year-old could make his 2014-2015 debut on Wednesday against the Dallas Mavericks.
Beal practiced in full for the first time on Monday. He participated unencumbered again this morning, and coach Randy Wittman wouldn’t rule out the chance that Beal plays tomorrow night:
Bradley Beal back at it today. pic.twitter.com/iIKHuAIsin
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) November 18, 2014
Wittman said Beal’s left wrist wasn’t sore today. More about about soreness from practicing for 1st time in almost 6 weeks.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) November 18, 2014
Wittman didn’t shut down the possibility of Beal playing tomorrow. Said he’ll be evaluated tmrw morning after shootaround.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) November 18, 2014
Beal stressed after practice on Monday that there was no set date for his return to action. A source told Castillo, though, that he was hoping to play in the Wizards’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday:
“It was pretty good,” Beal said. “Just being able to get my wind back and just getting into the flow of things and getting a little rhythm back. It was definitely fun. I was happy to be back. I’m excited, and hopefully I can just can continue to progress each and every day.”
The shooting guard hopes to make his season debut Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking, but emphasized to reporters Monday that an exact date is undetermined.
The talented youngster had surgery to repair a fractured wrist on October 12 and was feared out for up to two months of action. It’s been just less than six weeks since Beal’s injury, and his team has hardly suffered the ill-effects of his absence in terms of wins and losses.
Washington is 7-2, good for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. But there’s always more to performance than final outcomes – especially over a small sample size during the season’s early going.
The Wizards +2.2 point differential ranks fourth among Eastern teams and eleventh overall. They’ve yet to beat a winning team, and have two wins apiece over the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic. Washington lost by double-digits to both the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat.
Still, its play sans Beal can be considered nothing but encouraging. The Wizards’ offense has been its biggest failing thus far, and that’s the end on which Beal’s influence looms largest.
They attempt the league’s third-fewest three-pointers per game and make a paltry 32.8 percent of those tries. Beal is an absolute marksman from beyond the arc, and his burgeoning merit as a secondary playmaker will help draw defenders to further space the floor for Nene, Marcin Gortat, and John Wall. Washington will simply be much better offensively upon his debut.
Whether it comes tomorrow or later this week is almost irrelevant. Washington weathered the storm without Beal, and is very, very close to getting him back.
What do you think?
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