Its funny I had no idea until I saw this article that KAT and Baldwin are cousins and played together in High School. Baldwin kind of intrigues me with his athleticism and his huge 6"11 1/4 wingspan. I compared his Combine tests to Westbrook and they were pretty similar. I think Westbrook had a slightly faster sprint, but Baldwin scored higher on some other tests. Interesting that KAT brought up Westbrook.
Watch some tape on Baldwin. He is not close to being an explosive athlete. His speed/athleticism on-court isn't in the same stratosphere as Westbrook. He has trouble getting to the rim and finishing once there, he doesn't pass very well, is an average ball handler. He is decent at creating for himself and others. I do like his shot, and believe that is his biggest asset moving forward. The issue is, at 6'3 he's too small to play SG and I highly doubt he'll be a good PG in the NBA. Undersized combo guard is what i see. Overrated.
He's not small at all. Guy has enormous length. At the combine, he was 4th tallest point guard out of 13, 3rd in reach and he had the longest wingspan. The longest guy was McCaw and second was Dunn who are two other guys I'm very high on.
Regarding athleticism, Westbrook is a freak and probably is more athletic than his combine numbers indicated. Baldwin is not Westbrook but he's extremely athletic and has an incredible wingspan for a point guard. He scored 2nd in combine in lane agility which helps measure lateral quickness. His sprint time was 3.17 and vertical 38 which are definitely good numbers but not off the charts.
He's not small for a PG, but i'd argue his skillset is more SG than PG, hence why i said he's undersized. Also he was very underwhelming at the college level for a guy who has enormous length and is "extremely athletic" (which he isn't).
I guess I'm looking at him as a point guard. But if you think he's undersized you'd have to say the same about Murray as he's about the same height but much smaller wingspan, shorter reach and less athletic.
I do think Murray is undersized as a SG. He's also a combo guard in my opinion. The difference between the two is Murray is light years ahead of Baldwin offensively and has a much better feel for the game overall. Murray is also younger and a better ballhandler. Baldwin has more potential as a two-way player, but i'd bet 9 times out of 10 that Murray finds his niche and sticks in the NBA longer than Baldwin does.
Murray is just under a year younger than Baldwin. I haven't seen any proof that Murray is a better ball handler than Baldwin. The stats suggest otherwise. I will agree that Baldwin needs to improve his ballhandling to be a starting point guard (and the same could be said of Murray, though I think Murray is too slow to be an effective starting point guard), but I was looking at him more of a backup position who has very good defensive abilities now and the ability to grow his game. That kind of wingspan and athletic ability doesn't grow on trees and he's put up decent numbers in college including his outside shooting (42% beyond arc in college).
7-20 Brown or pick a big's name out of a hat. Sabonis is a favorite of mine but not sure he is my guy at 7. I need to do more research. I'm not saying there isn't perimeter guys in this range too just that I don't know where I am with a lot of these guys. There just isn't much to separate one guy or another.
We have seen drafts like this where a position group is pretty deep or hard to differentiate between talent or there is guys that could legitamately turn out to be nice players at the end of the first round or later. If you want a big at 5 trading down makes sense. If you want a guard I would stay at 5 and pick whoever is left although Inwould like to look a bit more into Baldwin. Wings (more SF/SG types not combo guards) Trade down.
That's where I am right now it's far from earth shattering.
I have absolutely no read on Bender, which makes my little list incomplete, but here is where my thinking is as of today:
1- Ingram
2- Simmons
3- Dunn
4- Hield
5- Murray
I just watched some video of Wade Baldwin. He reminds me of a less explosive Kris Dunn. There is some potential there but he has to improve his handle his shot may still need work, and finishing around the rim much better. I could see him becoming a little more physically imposing in one way or another as he ages since he is 20. He is an interesting prospect but not one I would get especially excited about as a guy to target.
monsterpile wrote:I just watched some video of Wade Baldwin. He reminds me of a less explosive Kris Dunn. There is some potential there but he has to improve his handle his shot may still need work, and finishing around the rim much better. I could see him becoming a little more physically imposing in one way or another as he ages since he is 20. He is an interesting prospect but not one I would get especially excited about as a guy to target.
You could also say he is a less explosive Kris Dunn with a nice shot. He's two years younger too. I think Baldwin will end up being the better PG but I'd be fine with us going Dunn. But if we could trade down and come away with Baldwin and Sabonis or Maker I'd be happier than ending up with Dunn.
monsterpile wrote:I just watched some video of Wade Baldwin. He reminds me of a less explosive Kris Dunn. There is some potential there but he has to improve his handle his shot may still need work, and finishing around the rim much better. I could see him becoming a little more physically imposing in one way or another as he ages since he is 20. He is an interesting prospect but not one I would get especially excited about as a guy to target.
You could also say he is a less explosive Kris Dunn with a nice shot. He's two years younger too. I think Baldwin will end up being the better PG but I'd be fine with us going Dunn. But if we could trade down and come away with Baldwin and Sabonis or Maker I'd be happier than ending up with Dunn.
I'm not really buying Balwin has a great shot watching him shoot compared to Dunn. Sure it's at least a little better than Dunn and at least he can hit a FT. The problem is Baldwin likely will never have that quickness or explosion that Dunn has. That could really separate them as could the shooting disparity. Sabonis and Baldwin? Sure I would be thrilled with that because Sabonis and anything remotely exciting would be a big win for me. I just didn't see anything wildly exciting from Baldwin that made me sit up and take notice. He doesn't look like a PG to me more like a guy that has some passing abilities. At 20 he has some nice traits and he is a potential pick with some boom or bust to him. Baldwin and a big in a trade down? Sure I could be on board with that.
monsterpile wrote:I just watched some video of Wade Baldwin. He reminds me of a less explosive Kris Dunn. There is some potential there but he has to improve his handle his shot may still need work, and finishing around the rim much better. I could see him becoming a little more physically imposing in one way or another as he ages since he is 20. He is an interesting prospect but not one I would get especially excited about as a guy to target.
You could also say he is a less explosive Kris Dunn with a nice shot. He's two years younger too. I think Baldwin will end up being the better PG but I'd be fine with us going Dunn. But if we could trade down and come away with Baldwin and Sabonis or Maker I'd be happier than ending up with Dunn.
I'm not really buying Balwin has a great shot watching him shoot compared to Dunn. Sure it's at least a little better than Dunn and at least he can hit a FT. The problem is Baldwin likely will never have that quickness or explosion that Dunn has. That could really separate them as could the shooting disparity. Sabonis and Baldwin? Sure I would be thrilled with that because Sabonis and anything remotely exciting would be a big win for me. I just didn't see anything wildly exciting from Baldwin that made me sit up and take notice. He doesn't look like a PG to me more like a guy that has some passing abilities. At 20 he has some nice traits and he is a potential pick with some boom or bust to him. Baldwin and a big in a trade down? Sure I could be on board with that.
Monster, you're probably right. You don't strike me as the "Hyperbole" type.
That is why it is REALLY important that they get a good PG at #5. Someone who can compete with BlondeRicky for the starting spot, especially if he comes to camp without his shot or gets banged up in Brazil (title of a adult movie?). PGasol and Noah can contribute at center, and then trade Payne for a crappy wing.
I am going to type it until everyone agrees with me. Hey, it worked for Trump {lol}.
