The Warriors selected Patrick Baldwin Jr. with their first-round pick (No. 28) in a gamble on his upside, and he’ll bring a familiar, appreciated mentality to Golden State, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
As Poole details, Baldwin was a five-star recruit entering college, but was limited to just 11 games for Wisconsin-Milwaukee due to a serious ankle injury, which had some questioning his toughness. The young forward insists that isn’t an issue.
“There’s never a point where if I feel like I’m healthy that I feel like I should sit out,” Baldwin told NBC Sports Bay Area. “I know that’s contrary to popular belief with some people. If I’m healthy, I’m playing, but at some points I was pushing through it. But if there was a sliver of a chance I could play for my team and compete, I’m going out there to play.”
Baldwin averaged 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per contest as a freshman last season, but his shooting line of .344/.266/.743 was dreadful. He also tested extremely poorly at the combine last month, Poole notes, recording just a 26.5 inch maximum vertical leap, one of the worst marks in the last 10 years.
“I’m a better athlete than I showed that day,” Baldwin told Poole. “I’m a firm believer in that. I know I’ve got to come out here and really show that’s not an issue. That’s all you can do. You can’t sit and talk about it. You’ve got to do it.”
President of basketball operations Bob Myers recently said that Baldwin still needs to be medically cleared for Summer League action, so it sounds like the ankle might still be an issue (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic).
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Myers also touched on the team’s second-round selections, per Slater. Golden State expects to have Ryan Rollins on the 15-man roster, but might draft-and-stash Gui Santos. The Warriors traded up to acquire Rollins at No. 44, while the Brazilian forward Santos was the team’s own pick at No. 55.
- Tim Kawakami of The Athletic provides a player-by-player breakdown of the team’s roster following the draft. Myers said drafting young players is desirable in part because they’re so difficult to obtain in free agency. “It’s easier to get some of the older players, we think, in free agency, than young players. Young players are probably the most in demand in free agency. Obviously trading for them is extremely difficult. So that’s why we draft some guys like that,” he said as part of a larger quote.
- Andre Iguodala has earned “player-emeritus status” with the Warriors, Monte Poole states in a separate article. Iguodala is undecided on whether or not he’s going to retire, but the team would be “thrilled” to have him back. Poole argues that Iguodala’s off-court impact is incredibly valuable to Golden State and the team should keep him as long as he wants to stick around, like what Miami does with Udonis Haslem.
- The Warriors expect James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody to all participate in Summer League, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, who says the trio has a big opportunity to improve this offseason. Wiseman, of course, missed all of last season after multiple setbacks from a couple of knee surgeries.
I’ve been calling the “Iggy to take the Haslem route” in these comments for months now haha – I feel so powerful!
Do you think you’re alone in that opinion or that you came up with something that has been a very popular opinion that even a writer recommended it. Pat yourself on the back bud for a having an idea that a majority of us have.
Insecurity personified
Hey RenoChris, I’d tell you to take the “make an IRL friend challenge” but for you, that’s an impossible difficulty. Be a better person. You wrote a FIVE line reply to this.
You never mentioned it on here.
Iggy should just be a coach. Give the space to a future player and let Iggy coach.
Or keep him fresh as a half-active player who will be ready to be in the Finals. His IQ is higher than anyone’s and everyone loves him. He clearly wants to be GSW for life. But also make Kerr know he can’t play him more than 10 MPG. Kerr wrecked him by making him play 30+ minutes vs the Pacers (in a 4 point loss). He was never the same after that, but he’d be perfect closing out the last 2 minutes of each quarter, but not much more. Kerr so dumb for thinking he could play Iggy serious minutes this season. Bad move.
Why would you want to keep a player on the roster who can’t play any more? It would be really dumb to have him close out the last 2 minutes of every quarter. That’s a gift to the opposing coach. You might as well turn over your whole turn over your whole game plan. What next? Do you want to spot them 10 points also? Moving him into a Barbosa position makes more sense.
Yes
This is my roster 14 players
Current contracts 8
Payton
Looney
Lee
Anderson
Rollins
Santos
This is the lowest luxury tax you can do
Its enough to beat Clippers
It should be enough to defeat Suns in 5
Where is Baldwin? A committed contract as a 1st rounder or on injured reserve?
He makes a lot more on the minimum than he would as a coach, and only counts for 1.8M for tax purposes. He also actually was super useful on the court when he was healthy so he could still do something in limited spurts. I would play him smaller amounts in the regular season so he could give a little more in the playoffs, like 8-12 mpg.
Although he’s valuable as a coach on the bench, dint know if he is willing to grind the whole year. I would love too see him as adviser capacity like Nash was or in any capacity in the organization. It’s time for him to retire though.
Did he “grind” this whole year? Look at Haslem’s last few years bud…
Iggy is a different breed. He has more money than Haslem and has more opportunities offcourt. At this stage of his life, he wants balance and not “grinding”.
Rockets fan believe that Jalen Green and Smith will be above average starters
Poole and Looney could be better than Green and Smith
Poole is 28th pick
Looney is 30th pick
Green is already better than both players and Jabari definitely has the potential.
Rocket fans are really hoping you lay off the drugs and learn English
Naw, numbers don’t lie. At this point in their careers Poole is a better player than Green.
Poole 18.5ppg 4apg on .448/.364/.925
Green 17.3ppg 2.6apg on .426/.332/.797
That said though long term both Green and Smith have more potential than Poole and a hell of a lot more than Looney.
So you’d rather have Poole over Green? There’s a reason Green blew up when Wood was benched at the end of the year, Wood was taking a lot away from him. Plus the warriors have a much better roster and Poole isn’t the number one option meaning defenses aren’t paying him nearly as much attention. Poole is a solid player, Green has superstar potential
Lol, you’re hyping the last 7 games of the season (the Rockets lost all of them, 5 were at home) as evidence that Green is a potential superstar? You realize that a lot of teams are resting players at the end of the reg, I hope. Let’s see him put up numbers in meaningful games, if the Rockets make the playoffs in a couple of years.
Example:
Poole scored 33 pts on 77%/73% shooting in 30 minutes vs the healthy Raptors, Green scored 8 on 30%/0% in 36:40 vs the Raptors without VanVleet in that 7 game stretch you’re bragging about. He’s nowhere close to Poole at this point.
The Christian Wood trade was garbage. Dallas robbed Houston for has been mascots and replaceable bodies
Weird that GSW picked the least athletic player in years in the 1st rd. I guess they think they can rehab/train him into shape in a couple of years,
He was injured most of his college year playing in just 11 games but was a top ten recruit from high school. To say somebody is least athletic because they were injured is a big stretch.
I’m saying it based on his numbers at the pre-draft combine.
Per Monte Poole:
“His 23.5-inch standing vertical and 26.5 inch maximum vertical were among the worst recorded over the last decade.”
Hope they checked the medical records real good since that does sound like a knee problem if he can’t jump high.
You know who else tested poorly. Klay thompson. Khawi also had a terrible vert in the combine. Kd couldn’t even bench 135 pounds. Jokic can’t jump over a phone book. Lesson for you- athletism and measureables aren’t the only thing that makes a good basketball player
Weird? What were they supposed to pick? They feel he has a lot of potential, and they are in a position to wait on players, so why not pick him. Nothin’ weird about that.
What were they supposed to pick?
How about someone who could play the 5, considering Wiseman’s constant unavailability?
Wiseman has played more in his 1st 2 seasons than Embiid. Would you get rid of of Embiid. Besides, Pete Newell said you give big 3 seasons before you can count on them.
Lidell, esp if Porter leaves. Or Minott, or Jaylin Williams if Myers was concerned about GSW getting overpowered, which did happen sometimes. They team relied on cheap FAs to back up Dray.
Myers drafted at his strength, which is also GSW’s.
And he took players who will not get in the way right away— meaning, not compete for minutes. That’s risky for stiil the first round.
Koloko, Cockburn, Jovic ,etc
Jovic who was picked right before the Warriors were on the clock? Cockburn the same guy who went undrafted ? I’ll give you Koloko out of the 3 but as we saw this last year, they Warriors don’t value a traditional big like other teams do. Safe to say it worked out fine for them as well.
Cockburn was immediately signed. NCAA Consensus First-Team All-American; Only NCAA player to average 20+ points (20.9 ppg) and 10+ rebounds
Tell me the guy they picked has more upside.
He was a top 5 recruit that turned down Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky before dislocating his ankle and trying to play through it.
Read the scouting report on Cockburn. He’s a stiff. He’s Enes Kanter 2.0.
I read several. None called him “a stiff”.
3rd best standing vert of 29.5. Fourth-fastest three-quarter sprint time.
By ‘Traditional’, do you mean a stiff?
It’s a total Looney-style pick, purely done so the development team can flex on everyone by turning him into something amazing (ala Looney/Poole/GP2 etc).
Honestly find it odd they kept the 3 picks and didn’t flip them for future picks though.
Just by drafting Baldwin and Rollins, Myers and Rollins sent a strong statement to Warriors players especially the marginal ones. NO roster spot is guarantees amd everyone has to EARN a spot next year. No time to be complacent. As for the Warrior stars, they know that Lacob is financially going all out for another title.
Yes, Curry is worried about his roster spot next season. His play is barely league average.
Just say Damion Lee sucks and move on
Was that sarcastic Michol?
Weatherspoon, Chiozza, D. Lee, JTA, Blijeca and even guys like Moody can”t get complacent. If not for roster spot, they have to EARN playing time.
Warrios already signed another player on a 2 way contract, so it’s goimg to get competitive right away. Baldwin will have a guaranteed contract so he will have a roster spot. And they paid $2m cash for Rollins. He will have every opportunity to earn a spot.
Then, W’s also have Jessup. It will be a fun summer league!