Remember Bradley Beal's terrible two-year tenure with the Phoenix Suns? Given that the franchise is paying him nearly $100 million for the rest of this decade not to be around them, how could you forget? Yet The Athletic's Sam Vecenie might have. For a guy so accomplished at spotting upcoming talent in the NBA Draft, Vecenie's thoughts on Beal were... something.
"I don't think Bradley Beal is done. He's still only 33-years-old, he didn't look great (with the Clippers) but obviously he was hurt last year. I thought the time in Phoenix was better than people remember in my opinion."
Sam Vecenie feels Beal's time in Phoenix wasn't as bad as people think
We can hear The Valley erupting from here, but Vecenie wasn't done talking about his belief that Beal's time in Phoenix was not a complete disaster. If you lived through it and followed nightly as we all did, then you will know it absolutely was.
"I get it, the on/off numbers don't look particularly great. But he was an effective shooter who I thought showed better defensive commitment than I had seen from him previously... it's just that he was tasked to be a top three option and at this point in his career he is not a top three option".
Giving up Chris Paul for a guy with a no-trade clause and then having to buy him out just to leave the organization after a pair of underwhelming seasons in which his body broke down was not great. Not to mention the fit issues alongside Devin Booker, which he is still dealing with. Doesn't sound like a former All-Star who was supposed to be one of the best third options in the league, but we'll let Vecenie finish.
Vecenie right to think Beal could be an end of bench contributor
As painful as it is to admit, Vecenie was correct when he finished off the above point by mentioning a team like the Miami Heat adding him to the end of their bench. Assuming he can play more than six games, as he did for the LA Clippers last time out, on a minimum contract, he could easily exceed expectations.
When you consider the Suns getting Luke Kennard at the number they did fantastic business, Beal at a fraction of even that would appeal to a lot of organizations.
Vecenie does need to go back and look at Beal's time with the Suns, however, as although he did try on defense, it was a mess from start to finish. His monster contract made it even worse to accept. We're respectfully going to have to agree to disagree on this one, Sam.
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