Scott Brooks Is Running Bradley Beal Into The Ground

Bradley Beal has played 200 more minutes than any other player in the NBA. That Seems a bit odd consider Beal was coming off a stress fracture. Apparently, Wizards head coach doesn’t care. Brooks is taking the super hardo approach. He is saying something along the lines of “Well, it’s just basketball. I don’t care if he plays 800 minutes per night.” The Wizards are running Bradley Beal into the ground on purpose?

In a story by Candace Buckner of the Washington Post, the extended minutes Beal is playing has really taken a toll on him:

“Recently, there have been nights after games when Bradley Beal has sat in front of his locker with bags of ice wrapped around both knees while soaking his feet in a tub filled to the rim with cold water. Before a tip-off this week, Beal didn’t attend chapel, his normal pregame routine, because he needed to lay on the Washington Wizards’ locker room floor while strapped inside high-tech recovery boots.”

“Beal, who not too long ago as a younger player mused about playing under a minutes limit after coming back from a stress fracture injury, may need more ice and rapid recovery methods than any other player in the NBA because he leads the league with a 37.7 minutes average. On Friday night, Beal’s heavy workload continued as he led all scorers with 40 points (15-of-29 shooting, 7-of-13 from the three-point arc) and played 44 minutes, 41 seconds as the Wizards dropped a 116-110 decision to the Charlotte Hornets. Beal did not rest during the entire second half because the Wizards (29-40) had to climb out of a deficit against a team they’re chasing for a playoff seed, even though the Wizards were playing in the first night of a back-to-back set.”

This borders on Tom Thibodeau level insanity. The Wizards already lost John Wall to a torn Achilles. Now they are just risking a similar type of injury to Beal who is their best player. Regardless of how you feel about the “Oh it’s just basketball” takes, running a player into the ground while a team fights for an 8 seed is stupid. What’s the point? To diminish his trade value? The Wizards suck and they are totally screwed with that John Wall contract.

Scott Brooks should probably get fired just the way Thibs did in Minnesota. What has Brooks really accomplished with this Wizards team? Without Kevin Durant, nobody even knows who Scott Brooks is.