A few weeks ago, when reports began to ferment that "Bradley Beal and the Wizards' future is in turmoil", many teams began to compete for the annual scoring star - including the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings - were rumored to be the three-time All-Star as the possible next stop.
However, in the end, a day later, what made many people stumble was that Bradley Beal was traded to the Phoenix Suns, and at the cost of Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and a large number of second-round picks and draft pick swaps, Devin Booker and Durant formed an amazing firepower triumvirate.
The big move to win Bradley Beal is also the second star the Suns have ushered in since the change of ownership, the last being Durant, who was traded before the trade deadline. The Suns are beginning to shake off the 2020-21 and 21-22 seasons with Chris Paul and Devin Booker with a balanced lineup with green leaves, replaced by a star-studded tiebreaker five.
Chris Paul and former head coach Monty Williams — two of the biggest men who helped make the sun comeback over the past few years — are gone, and it's a whole new era for Phoenix.
Devin Booker and Durant will shoulder the heavy responsibility of the team, and now with the superb scoring Bradley Beal, in general, the star is always regarded as the biggest driving force for the team to win, and now the Suns have taken this change to the extreme: Durant and Devin Booker are All-Stars of the year, Bradley Beal is the league's most extravagant third star, and the rest are cobbled together by base-salary role players to digest the minutes of those substitutes.
The controversy surrounding Bradley Beal mainly comes from his huge contract: he can still receive $200,800 in the next four years, and there are only six superstars in the NBA who are worth more than him next season, namely James, Curry, Durant, Embiid and Nikola Jokic, this contract may be a bit premium, but it does not affect the reality that he is a good player.
In fact, he will definitely help Phoenix, especially when his status changes from an unqualified ace to the number three offensive choice.
When the Wizards stumbled again last season and were thrown out of the playoffs, Bradley Beal was still a sharp blade on the offensive end, delivering 23.2 points (59.3% true shooting), 5.4 assists (2.9 turnovers), and shooting 55.4% career record (PR82 in the league's two-point percentage), cutting into the top 10 in the league, and having a 72% (PR 94) and 31% at the rim This is where the shot takes place (PR 72).
The University of Florida alligator alumnus was originally drafted into the NBA and trained as a no-ball shooter, but in 11 years in the capital, he has grown into a peripheral cutter.
His instantaneous explosiveness can quickly throw off defenders, and his control of his body also helps him complete the offensive finish at various angles and postures, and his efficiency and the style of play that brings pressure to the inside can effectively make the Suns' offense more diversified - according to the data, the Suns' shot frequency under the basket in the past three years is the lowest in the league, and in the 2022-23 playoffs, the Suns only shot 19% of all shots under the basket (also the last place), and many overly difficult shots dragged down their offensive efficiency. They also lost to the championship Denver Nuggets.
Bradley Beal's assists will effectively reduce the reliance of the main force on the mid-range and free Durant to return to the role of an unsolvable no-ball shooter.
As for whether Devin Booker and Bradley Beal will overlap and be redundant on the offensive end, but for the Suns, it is indeed a good thing to have a player who is functionally similar to Devin Booker, his cutting and finishing ability is very rare in the team, and after the reorganization of the roster, Bradley Beal's role will also be very heavy.
According to Sports Info Solutions' advanced data, Bradley Beal's advantages created can still finish 16th in the league every 100 rounds, only slightly behind Devin Booker, who is ranked 12th and 13 respectively, and he can contribute to whether he can create a mobile phone game under the basket or disrupt the opponent's defensive formation, and the Suns' offense is simply a tiger with him.
But with all that said about Bradley Beal's advantages and abilities on the ball, at the end of the day, his role as a scorer without the ball is the deadliest one, and he can easily get easy point-and-shoot opportunities by pindowns, hand-hands or open the back door.
How the Suns' new head coach, Frank Vogel, will execute his offensive style is still out of reach, but it's conceivable that Bradley Beal's firepower will definitely not be overshadowed by Devin Booker and Durant, and he can take a back seat and bring out his ball-carrying skills to Carry's team when needed.
Many skepticism also revolves around his only "mediocre" three-point shooting percentage (34.7%) since the 2018-19 season, but this is actually a side effect of his excessive responsibility, Bradley Beal is still a high-caliber point shooter: In the past five seasons, his Catch & Shoot shooting rate on the outside is still as high as 37.1%, and no team dares to easily let him shoot three-pointers, just as the Suns' opponents have faced Landry Shamet, Chris Paul, and Cameron Payne, Tory Craig, and Josh Okogie are in the same position, and improving his three-point shooting percentage (just 26.5% over the past three seasons) will be a big issue for Bradley Beal in the new season – especially when he has two mid-range masters on the team.
Over the past season and a half, Bradley Beal and Porzingis have formed a mutually beneficial two-man team, creating an irresistible scoring method through ball handling and cover; Now that the Suns seem to have no plans to trade DeAndre Ayton, it is worth watching how Bradley Beal will spark a new spark with the top center who is on the verge of being waived by the Suns in the new season.
However, DeAndre Ayton's path is not as fond of being in the elbow area or hand-to-hand as Porzingis, so perhaps the person occupying this role is Durant, and sometimes the offensive destructive power of using him as a small-ball center is even more than that.
How much space can the Suns Big Three and two others open up? A large part of the Suns' inability to break through the Nuggets last season came from the lack of outside stability on the bench, which made it easy for Denver to send multiple defenders to serve Devin Booker and Durant in turn, and if opponents can send defenders to watch before Bradley Beal launches a no-ball run, his ability to score without the ball will be reduced.
At the same time, Bradley Beal's passing ability is not bad, but his vision will still be a beat slower, if the Suns can find the player who can expand the space on the court, it can be a big boon for the Big Three, Bradley Beal can also find a trace of his gap in the narrow space, these two qualities should avoid the Suns from repeating the road.
Bradley Beal is still limited in his processing speed as a passer, and Devin Booker and Durant have more or less the same problem: Devin Booker, although he is an outstanding offensive playmaker, still has some flaws in his game, which are likely to be amplified by the lack of depth around him.
Durant's ball handling is not impeccable, and his passing vision is only slightly better than average at best, and it is likely not to play much in the playoffs. Phoenix wants to rely on the abundant offensive firepower of these three men and ignore other inherent minor flaws to hit the championship in one fell swoop, and we still have reservations about that.
The really strong teams will defend them like the Nuggets, and Bradley Beal does give the team another ball-carrying option, a good cut, and a space open, but is that enough to put the Suns across those playoff walls?
This is the root of the Suns' problems, not just the lack of stars, but their overall quality as a championship-winning powerhouse. Does solar make the whole lineup work smoothly? Will the addition of Big Three eliminate the deficiencies of interior defense? Who can use the power of the soccer to solve the problem smoothly? Before the deal happened, it was summer vacation assignment for the Suns, but after acquiring Bradley Beal, their already few corrections became even fewer.
The offseason isn't over yet, and the Phoenix can still make some additions to maximize their roster, and trading DeAndre Ayton to complement the depth of the roster is another viable option, but it could also bring a series of domino effects.
Bradley Beal is a good player who can help the Suns on many levels, but he can't be a panacea for Phoenix. The success of this operation over the next 10 months will depend on the operation of the stars, coaching staff and management to see if they can win the next matches.
Perhaps it will be easier for the Suns to win after taking Bradley Beal, but time will tell how easy it will be.