Bradley Beal is so young he probably hasn’t figured out how to be politically correct with the media yet, but if you read his quote hard to disagree with anything he said.
Beal was asked if he would lose respect for a teammate who didn’t play after they were medically cleared and his answer was very honest.
“A little bit. Yeah, I would,” he told the Washington Post. “The type of player he is, and the mentality and competitiveness that he has, I think he would have gave it a go. I don’t know what was holding him back. I think he’s scared it’s probably going to happen again and he won’t be the same. But you’re never the same after an injury. But you just have to fight through it and do something else to be able to impact the game. I’m not sure what it is he has to do. I really can’t speak for him. …”
“If you’re practicing for two months and everybody in practice is saying you’re practicing well, I figure you gotta give it a shot in a game.
“If he doesn’t feel he’s mentally confident to be able to go out there and help the team, I guess I can’t really blame him for it.”
I am confident that is how most of Rose’s teammates feel, but would never say it in public. I don’t know if I would use the term “scared”, but there was a mental block and fear had something to do with it.
Who knew it would be Bradley Beal of all people, that would express the sentiments of a lot of fans so eloquently.