Bradley Beal: Wizards want to eliminate long twos from their offense

By foxsports
Published

The best offenses in basketball don't have much of a relationship with the mid-range jump shot. There are exceptions to this rule (the Los Angeles Clippers had the best offense in basketball last year and their two best players—Blake Griffin and Chris Paul—both utilize the mid-range a ton), but those teams love the three-point line just as much, if not more.

The Washington Wizards were not one of those teams. Last season, 23.3 percent of their points arrived via mid-range two pointers (third highest in the league). Only 18.5 percent of their points were from behind the three-point line (fourth lowest in the league). 

It's not a recipe for success (Washington had the NBA's 19th best offense last year) and Wizards guard Bradley Beal knows it. Here's what he recently told CSN Mid-Atlantic:

Beal can really shoot threes, but settled for too many long twos last year. He's a dynamic off guard who should model his offense after James Harden—feast on threes and free-throws.

Doing so would dramatically increase Washington's offensive rating (which measures points per 100 possessions) and make the Wizards one of the league's fiercest two-way teams.

(h/t: Pro Basketball Talk)

“I did evaluate it after the season,” Beal said of the spots where he took so many shots in averaging 15.3 points. “Sat down, looked at film, looked at statistics on paper. It just made sense to eliminate those (long twos). Those are bad shots and as a team that’s what we’re doing now. We want to eliminate those long 2s as much as possible.