Wade Baldwin IV has a chance to become a part of the Blazers rotation and capitalize on his contract season. Here are five goals for him to gain those extra minutes and finally show his potential.
The start of Wade Baldwin IV‘s NBA career was like riding California Screamin’ at Disneyland – up, then down, then up, then down.
He finished his second season at Vanderbilt averaging 14.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game and declared for the draft. In the weak 2016 draft class, Baldwin was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 17.
Most rookies stay with their draft teams for the first couple years – rookie contracts are cheap and organizations chose that player for a specific reason. However, Baldwin lasted one season with the Grizzlies before getting waived one day before his sophomore campaign began.
That solo season with Memphis resulted in 33 games played – he spent a majority of the season running with the team’s G-League squad.
Three days later, the Blazers signed Baldwin with its second and final two-way contract. He returned to the G-League to play with the Texas Legends and posted 18.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 2.2 steals per contest.
Then, on Mar. 6 against the New York Knicks, Baldwin got his first minutes with Portland. He recorded 3 minutes of action and scored 1 point, grabbed 1 rebound, and turned the ball 1 time.
He slowly built on that performance every few games when he received the chance to play. The third-year guard exhibited enough defensive promise to earn himself a spot on the Blazers’ Summer League roster.
At his third Summer League, Baldwin led Portland to a championship, averaged the second most assists per game out of any player, and saw his contract get guaranteed for the 2018-2019 season.
But in a crowded backcourt rotation, Baldwin needs to improve and develop certain aspects pf his game to play more than he did at the end of last season.