I like this pick. The Warriors are taking a chance that his poor
performance this last year was due to his ankle not being fully healed
-- as I heard he told Bob Myers in his interview. If that is right, he
gets fully healed, and returns to the form that made him a top prospect,
the Warriors could end up with a steal. And if that doesn't happen it
was still a better chance to take then drafting a mediocre 2nd teamer. -AL

================================================================

2022 NBA Draft: Warriors take Patrick Baldwin Jr. with first-round pick
Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers said Wednesday
that Golden State would go for the best player available and would favor
a versatile wing with their 28th overall pick.
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 6: Golden State Warriors general
manager Bob Myers watches the game from his floor seats against the
Denver Nuggets in the third quarter at the Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area
News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 6: Golden State Warriors general
manager Bob Myers watches the game from his floor seats against the
Denver Nuggets in the third quarter at the Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area
News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 23, 2022 at 7:51 p.m. | UPDATED: June 24, 2022 at 4:11 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/23/2022-nba-draft-warriors-take-patrick-baldwin-jr-with-first-round-pick/

SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers
said Wednesday that Golden State would use its 2022 first-round pick on
the best player available, though he would favor a versatile wing.

By the time the Warriors were on the clock Thursday night with their
28th pick, Golden State’s brass decided 19-year-old Patrick Baldwin Jr.
was their guy.

The Warriors added a versatile 6-foot-9 forward in Baldwin, a star out
of high school whose freshman season at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee was cut short due to an ankle injury.

Baldwin is a risk because his health remains a concern.

Warriors director of sports medicine and performance Dr. Rick Celebrini
evaluated Baldwin during a pre-draft visit this week and determined he
wasn’t at full strength yet, Myers said.

“He did some spot shooting but nothing to speed, and he can do some
things but we’re not going to put him out there, we don’t think he’s
100%,” Myers said.

Baldwin will need to get the green light from Celebrini to play in
Summer League.

The Warriors had Baldwin high on their draft board because of his size,
multi-faceted skill and high basketball IQ.

“When you watch the film with him, you can tell he’s a coach’s son,”
Myers said. “Our system requires pretty high-level thinking, he’s
versatile. I think he can play with some of our guys and what you might
call a shooting big in some capacity but he can also pass… just checks a
lot of boxes but he’s gonna have to put it together.”

Baldwin averaged 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in 11 games during an
injury-reduced season for the Panthers. He said his shortcomings were in
part due to committing to Wisconsin-Milwaukee late and not having enough
time to get acclimated. He also told the Warriors that he thought he
should’ve been more aggressive and never fully recovered from his ankle
sprain.

“He said he didn’t have any regrets,” Myers said, “but he certainly
thinks he could have had a better season and we believe that too, we
wouldn’t have drafted him.”

--
The Champs!!!! Can't wait to get to work!!
— Patrick Baldwin Jr. (@_pbaldwin23) June 24, 2022
--

Before his only college season, Baldwin was a top-five recruit out of
high school. The 6-foot-9 forward was considered an elite ballhander,
solid defender and great shooter with lottery pick potential out of
Hamilton high school. He was a 2021 McDonald’s All-American and was
named the 2020 Gatorade Wisconsin Player of the Year after leading
Hamilton to a 22-3 record while averaging 24.3 points and 10.8 rebounds
as a junior.

Baldwin, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury early in the second
game of his senior campaign, had offers to many top programs, including
Duke, Georgetown, Kentucky, Michigan and North Carolina. He ultimately
decided to go to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, of the Horizon League, to play for
his father.

Baldwin seemed to live up to his expectations early in the season,
posting the school’s first double-double by a freshman since 2008 in his
debut by 21 points and 11 rebounds in a win again North Dakota. He
followed up that performance, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds
in his second game, a win over Eastern Kentucky.

But then his ankle betrayed him and hampered him the rest of the season.

Coming off their fourth NBA title in eight years, the Warriors are early
favorites to repeat as champions and remain in win-now mode while also
developing talent for the future. Baldwin will not be relied on to make
a major immediate impact. He joins lottery picks James Wiseman (21 years
old), Jonathan Kuminga (19) and Moses Moody (20) as being part of the
next generation of Warriors.

Baldwin is the Warriors’ third No. 28 overall pick in the last five years.

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Golden State took guard Jordan Poole out of Michigan in 2019. He wasn’t
an immediate hit as Poole underperformed in his first two seasons as he
struggled to adjust with the transition from college ball to the NBA.
After a G League demotion last season, Poole broke out this season and
was a key supporting cast member on the Warriors’ title-winning team.
Meanwhile, the Warriors’ decision to take guard Jacob Evans III out of
Cincinnati in 2018 has proven to be a mistake. He was thrown in to the
trade that sent D’Angelo Russell to the Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins
and the pick that turned into Kuminga. Evans played last season in the G
League with the Santa Cruz Warriors.

“We’ve invested a lot in our player development and we believe that we
can take talent, hopefully cultivate it,” Myers said, “and we think
[Baldwin is] one of those guys.”