Washington Wizards combo guard Bradley Beal has established himself as one of the elite talents in the NBA over the course of the last two seasons. On the other hand, while New Orleans Pelicans guard JJ Redick is certainly a valuable player, he has hardly been a superstar-caliber player like Beal.
Before Beal became a star, however, Duke men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski described him as a “more athletic” version of Redick.
Beal commented on the comparison during NBC Sports Washington's telecast of Sunday's game between the Wizards and Brooklyn Nets. He seemed to embrace the analogy though, adding that Redick was his favorite player growing up.
“That's a funny comparison,” Bradley Beal said, via Mike DePrisco of NBC Sports Washington. “That's a good comparison, I'm not mad at it because growing up, JJ was my favorite player at Duke. So I respect that.
“[Redick] loves to credit me with my two-man game, but I honestly learned a lot from him and Kyle Korver, just how they move well without the ball, being able to spread everybody out and shoot. Trust and believe, man I do homework on a lot of players and JJ's one of my favorites.”
Redick has been lauded for his off-ball movement and ability to work off screens, much as Beal hunts offensive opportunities and back-cuts when he plays off the ball.
While Beal might make the comparison look foolish to the common fan, players often pattern their games off of those they watched growing up.
Indeed, it would seem the Wizards star patterned elements of his game after Redick, who is among the more respected veterans in basketball.
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