Patrick Beverley
Milwaukee Bucks

Player Facts

Height: 6'1"
Weight: 180lbs.

Wingspan: 6'7"

Date of Birth:
July 12, 1988
College Experience: Arkansas (2 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 3

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 8
Physical Strength: 7
Positional Size: 5
Positional Wingspan: 6
Paint Scoring: 3
Midrange Scoring: 3
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 6
Passing: 5
Perimeter Defense: 9
Interior Defense: 6
Rebounding: 6

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Pluggable PG

> Floor-Spacing Ability

> Rack Attacks

> Defensive Sparkplug

> Smothering Perimeter Defense

> Defensive Recoveries + Transition Defense

> Interior Defensive Work + Crashing the Glass

> Offensive Deficiencies

> Foul-Happy Defense

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

The 6'1" Beverley is a tenacious and feisty guard who plays much bigger than he is on defense - aided by a 6-7 wingspan. He has carved out a niche for himself predicated on big-time energy and pestering perimeter defense. Patrick Beverley is the defensive engine of his squad - leading by example, barking out orders and holding his teammates accountable.

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Pluggable PG

Patrick can be plugged into any sort of lineup and be a tidy fit. As a low-usage offensive player, Beverley is an atypical point guard who provides value in his unique way. He consistently makes the extra pass, sets hard off-ball screens, cuts, and stretches out the defense with his shooting.

Beverley also crashes the offensive glass forcefully as an undersized guard. 2021-2022 saw him collect 1.5 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes. He did this as well back in 2019-2020, with that particular figure having him trailing only Ben Simmons and Russell Westbrook among point guards in this department.

Floor-Spacing Ability

Patrick has become a knockdown spot-up shooter. The sharpshooting Beverley has sound jump shot mechanics. He utilizes an exaggerated dip on the catch to get himself in rhythm.

Playing alongside Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Lou Williams, Beverley nailed 40.8% of his 2019-2020 catch-and-shoot triples. The season prior saw him drain 41% of these looks. He subsequently landed in the 81st percentile for spot-up scoring productivity in 2020-2021 as well.

He possesses a decent catch-and-go game to complement his perimeter shooting. Patrick will toss in an up-fake, pass fake, or both to confuse the closing out defender. Beverley favors his one-legged teardrop after penetrating the defense.

Rack Attacks

Beverley executes the dump-off pass alertly. He has solid timing to help him be proficient with these interior feeds. Patrick waits until the big has fully committed to his drive before laying it down to his dunker spot teammate.

The speedy Beverley can get through slim driving lanes. He gets physical at the cup to protect the ball on his way up. In general, he does an admirable job of playing off of more offensively gifted teammates and strategically selecting his attacks. Moreover, he looks for opportunities to push the pace off made and missed baskets alike.

He'll slam on the brakes, ball-fake, and pivot back to face the basket. This move was popularized most recently by Derrick Rose, especially during his Bulls tenure. It is a way for undersized guards to craftily get their shot off inside.

Patrick tends to make the right play in transition. As the ball-handler, he primarily looks for his lane-filling running mate. Without the ball, Beverley still provides floor-spacing value as he zips over to the corner.

Defensive Sparkplug

Patrick sets the tone for his team as a catalyst on the defensive end. He is extremely active on the perimeter and gets into anyone and everyone here. Beverley is an agitator to opponents to say the least, preying on weaker ball-handlers.

His wiry strength and stifling ball pressure enable him to defend much taller players. He has defended players anywhere from James Harden to Klay Thompson to Kevin Durant. Additionally, he has a great grasp of opponents' tendencies, understanding the scouting report to a tee.

Beverley leverages his 6'7" wingspan to poke the ball away while in his crouched defensive stance. He recorded 2.2 deflections per contest in 2019-2020, but this fails to capture the full extent of his perimeter defense.

Smothering Perimeter Defense

Beverley is strong at the point of attack. He does his very best to fight over screens against talented shooters. Patrick looks to get an initial body bump in before the screen, a helpful trick. He commonly gets a rearview contest in against guys that pull the three.

In 2019-2020, he held his three-point shooting opponents to a meaningful 3% below their normal average from distance. Patrick's fierce defensive nature is also evident as he blows up dribble handoffs. He held his recipients of dribble handoffs to only 0.71 points per possession in 2019-2020, good for the 83rd percentile.

The active feet of Beverley help tremendously in his one-on-one defense. This allows him to quickly pounce on the ball when it's exposed. With exceptional lateral quickness and fast hands, Patrick makes players very uncomfortable.

Patrick was in the 87th percentile for his work defending isolations in 2019-2020. He allowed only a stingy 0.68 points per possession here. To compare, Jrue Holiday conceded 0.76 points per possession, and Marcus Smart allowed 1.04.

Defensive Recoveries + Transition Defense

Patrick's recovery rate is phenomenal. He streaks back to contest or even block his opponent after they get the initial step on him. In these disadvantaged scenarios, Beverley can remarkably still beat his man to their spot.

Also worth mentioning is his selective stunting towards drivers to make them prematurely pick up their dribble. His speed allows for stunts and help rotations while still getting back to his assignment. These same movements could be a dicey proposition for slower, less intelligent defenders.

The transition defense of Beverley must also be noted. Where many players would hang their heads and concede the layup, Patrick persistently sprints to get back. Moreover, he is also one of the few guards to often pick up his man full court.

Interior Defensive Work + Crashing the Glass

Beverley is even a serviceable post defender at lead guard. He doesn't let a lack of size prevent him from putting forth a valiant effort down low. This zaps opposing teams' option of hunting switches to get a desirable post matchup. He was in the 65th percentile out of the entire league for his 2019-2020 post defense while standing at 6'1".

Patrick also provides interior resistance in the form of charge-drawing. Similar to a smaller guard like Kyle Lowry, Beverley puts his body on the line to absorb the oncoming slasher. He even tallies some blocked shots as a point guard.

Lastly, Patrick is a well above average glass cleaner at guard. He channels that fire that he plays with to fearlessly get in amongst the trees. Beverley snagged 5.6 defensive rebounds per 36 minutes in 2019-2020. Impressively, this mark was superior to the much larger Jaren Jackson Jr., P.J. Tucker, and Jimmy Butler.

WEAKNESSES

Offensive Deficiencies

Patrick has severe shot creation limitations, especially when compared against other point guards. Mediocre ball-handling translates to struggles in manufacturing his own shot at the end of the shot-clock or during any other isolation sequence. For instance, Beverley's three-point efficiency plummeted from 40.8% on spot-ups to 30% on pull-ups in 2019-2020.

He's not a threatening scoring option out of the pick-and-roll. Patrick's ineptness here allows defenders to load up on the pass and thwart some would-be viable passing angles. In 2019-2020 he managed only 0.85 points per possession as the pick-and-roll ball-handler, with the league's better point guards up over 1.00.

Beverley rarely scores nor does he look to score at the rim. Without a robust slashing ability, his drive-and-kick game is weakened. Defenders can stay home on shooters as they don't feel the need to help on a Beverley drive. In 2019-2020, he averaged a feeble 0.8 restricted area buckets at night on a miserable 58.3% clip.

His playmaking falls way short of other lead guards. He infrequently connects with his big man on lobs or pretty pocket passes for paint points. Standing at 6'1" doesn't help either, unable to see over taller defenders. His 2019-2020 average of 9.6 assist points created was bested by non-guards Karl-Anthony Towns, Al Horford, and Andrew Wiggins.

Foul-Happy Defense

Patrick's defensive aggressiveness can backfire in spots. More specifically, it leads to high foul counts and the early foul trouble that is uncommon for guards. He can be overzealous on closeouts or get too handsy when guarding in isolation.

He averaged 4.5 and 4.2 fouls per 36 minutes in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 respectively. Also, he closed the door on 2018-2019 with the league's third-most total fouls.

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Beacon Bacon

Beverley got into the league in 2012-2013 after bouncing around the European basketball circuit for a couple of years