Over the past several weeks, Washington’s brass continuously harped on Bradley Beal’s improvement throughout the summer, but I needed to see it to believe it. Well, it couldn’t have come at a better time than against the defending champion Miami Heat last night where Bradley Beal often times looked like the best player on the floor. Of course, it’s too early to judge Beal’s improvement, but from what we’re currently seeing, I think it’s safe to say that we’re witnessing Bradley Beal 2.0.

Instead of settling for deep threes and struggling to create for himself, Beal displayed his much improved ball handling by scoring the ball at will. When the Heat trapped Beal, he found nifty ways to execute crafty layups in traffic despite the tough defense. In the past, Beal would’ve shied away from creating scoring situations for himself, but during this preseason he’s embraced his role with team by showing his massive improvement. Beal has been the perfect compliment to John Wall as a scoring guard, but as Thomas Pruitt noted, he’s remained disciplined in his approach and hasn’t tried to do too much like other guards have in the past.

It’s rare to see players take such a dramatic leap from year one to year two, but it looks like Bradley Beal has done his homework over the summer. I have no doubt that Beal will continue to impress us throughout the summer, and I’m certainly excited about the future in the nation’s capital.