https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/Why-Warriors-draft-pick-Patrick-Baldwin-Jr-has-17262403.php

(Sorry folks - been super busy but the Warriors are champs!)

At the start of Thursday night’s NBA draft, the Golden State Warriors were shouted out by Commissioner Adam Silver for winning yet another championship with a team built largely through the draft. Stephen Curry at No. 7. Klay Thompson at No. 11. Draymond Green at a lowly No. 35.

A few hours later, the Warriors selected 19-year-old forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., from Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with the No. 28 pick.

It was the third time in four years, that the team has had the No. 28 pick. As general manager Bob Myers says, picking that low in the draft, days after an exhausting Finals run, is “a high-class problem.”

Will Baldwin be the next Jordan Poole? The No. 28 pick from 2019 looks like he will be a fixture for years with the Warriors. Or the next Jacob Evans? The No. 28 pick from 2018 played a bit, was traded twice, and last season was on the Santa Cruz Warriors roster.

The Warriors don’t know what Baldwin will do. A player selected deep in the first round has a small chance of making a roster. But the Warriors do know one thing: Their new draftee is joining an organization more prepared to develop and work with a young rookie than it was in the past. Perhaps far more prepared than when the team drafted Evans.

Huh? I can hear you questioning such a claim. After all, this is the organization that has won four championships with its homegrown players. That found the steal of all steals in the second round in Green. That drafted “foundational piece” Kevon Looney at No. 30. Haven’t they always known how to develop rookies?

To hear Myers and head coach Steve Kerr tell it, no they have not. Both say the organization is far better equipped to develop and support rookies than they were.

“If the question is player development, structure, organization, yeah we’re better,” Myers said. “Having to build out an infrastructure to work with 19-year-olds is something that we just assumed would happen before. But we do a much better job now surrounding some of these players with help, with guidance. We should have done a better job back then.”

What specifically has changed in four years since the Warriors, then days after winning their third championship in four years, drafted Evans?

In recent years, partly in response to missing the playoffs two years in a row, the Warriors have built out their player development department. Last offseason, Jama Mahlalela was hired away from Toronto to be director of player development. He now has a large staff.

“We have more development coaches, more people in our training room,” Kerr said. “Each young guy is getting more and more individual attention. So that matters.”

The G League, which changed its name from the NBA Development League in 2017, has become a more robust entity.

“We’re utilizing the G League better,” Myers said, specifically mentioning Mujtaba Elgoodah, the manager of team development and a liaison with the Santa Cruz Warriors.

Kerr also said the strength of the Santa Cruz affiliate is key.

“The connection is so strong between the coaching staffs and the roster,” Kerr said. “We’re monitoring development every single day. We’re running the exact same offense, the same terminology. So, when we send a guy to Santa Cruz and he comes back, he’s got a head start.”

And then having a coach like Kerr, who understands the need to play everyone, from the stars to the rookies to the guys filling out the end of the roster.

“I just think empowering everyone is important,” Kerr said. “Everybody on our roster knows that at some point during the season I’m going to give them a chance, even if they’re rookies.”

Kerr gave Poole the minutes to become a star in 2021-22. He gave the minutes to Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody during the regular season to feel confident in putting the 19-year-olds into key playoff moments.

“That’s empowering,” Kerr said. “And it’s great to have a veteran roster with mentors, guys who are so good with our younger guys.

“The expression it takes a village? It really does. I think we’ve built a really strong organization that has figured out a much better way to develop our young guys.”

And that’s very good news for Baldwin.