There’s a lot to like about the John Wall and Bradley Beal backcourt in Washington. Wall is an All-Star who has learned how to harness his insane quickness and is a top five point guard in the NBA now, while Beal is an emerging sharpshooter that pairs well with him.
Wall thinks he and Beal are the best backcourt in the NBA. Over in Cleveland Dion Waiters said that he and Kyrie Irving are the best (they’re not, and Waiters is the guy holding it back more). Wall and Waiters have had a little sniping match back and forth from training camps.
Later Tuesday the best backcourt in the NBA actually claimed the title — Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of Golden State. However Curry said this with a rational discussion of the topic, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Curry is flat out the best shooter in the league and Thompson is at least top five, they defend pretty well as a unit, and Curry can create off the bounce for himself and others. They can play in transition or in the halfcourt. As a combo they are the best — and they each have a gold medal from the World Cup this summer to show for it.
For fun, my Top 5 would be:
1) Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors
2) Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, Los Angeles Clippers
3) John Wall, Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards
4) Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix Suns
5) Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Houston Rockets
Then you would have Tony Parker and Danny Green with the Spurs, and Russell Westbrook and whoever the Thunder start at the two (Anthony Morrow?) knocking on the door of that list. The Cavs backcourt is in the honorable mention group also, along with Ty Lawson/Arron Afflalo in Denver and Kyle Lowry/DeMar DeRozan in Toronto.
It will be interesting to see how much the presence of LeBron James and the attention he draws makes Irving and Waiters look better.