Scott Brooks Responds To Beal’s ‘Culture’ Comments

Wizards star Bradley Beal recently called out Washington’s team culture as the organization’s struggles continued with a tough loss to the Bulls on Wednesday. Given the team’s record, Beal addressed whether or not losing builds up frustration.

“I would hope it does,” Beal said. “I don’t like losing so it’s going to keep blowing up for me… Until we start winning and changing our culture.” 

Despite the Wizards’ 13-28 record, Washington has been a fun team to watch this season and Beal — who signed a two-year extension last October — did so aware that 2019/20 would be a challenging season.

While a lack of winning can be conducive to frustration, Washington head coach Scott Brooks praised the direction in which the team is headed, per Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (Twitter link).

“I think with changing our culture, we have,” he said. “And we’ve done that. Sometimes wins and losses are part of every team’s culture. You can’t have a bunch of good guys that play hard for three straight years and not win because eventually a lot of people are no longer there. So, winning is part of the culture but right now we’re not doing that at the high level we want to do it at but we’re not going to run from it…”

In the first year of his extension, Beal has enjoyed his best individual season to date. Through 34 games, he’s averaging a career-best 27.2 PPG and 6.4 APG. Despite Beal’s frustration after Wednesday’s loss, Brooks believes the All-Star guard is a key part of the team’s present and future.

“Eventually, it’s going to pay off. I believe that. I like what we’re doing and Brad likes what we’re doing,” Brooks added. “Was he frustrated? Yeah. [But] you talk to him the next day, he feels totally different. He’s part of our culture and he’s a big part of it. When you lose everybody feels bad about it and that’s a good thing.”