Here are my notes on Wade Baldwin for this game:
Vanderbilt vs Texas A&M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6d7rsFbmd0
-Leads the fast break - nice pass to Jones in great position under the basket.
-Runs in transition after made basket - great pass to the corner, gets the O-reb, and attacks the closeout, followed by a great pass to the big in the paint.
-PnR from the left-side going to the middle... pulls up for a jumper - good. Looked a bit hesitant though.
-High pnr... passes to the rolling Jones... nice.
-Small choppy steps on D. Looks a bit weird, but does the job - stays in front.
-High pnr, this time trapped - length helps him to get the ball to the roller anyways.
-Iso - horrible pull up off the bounce, bad footwork, off balance, leaning forward TOWARDS the contest. HORRIBLE!!! Airballs it.
-He plays so damn upright... no bend of the knees and the waist, no change of speeds or direction...
-Side pnr, misses the open roller. Good entry pass in to the low post.
-Gets backdoored on D. Slow to react.
-Pushes the fastbreak - gets fouled.
-Catch and shoot 3 from left angle misses.
-Creative pass over the top to Jones who had sealed his defender for easy layup.
-Seems upright on D, too.
-Seems to be good passing out of the pnr to the roller.
-Seems to give too much space for opponent's ballhandler.
-Hits catch and shoot 3 from the right corner. Dips the ball bellow his waist before shooting(look for it next time he shoots? Does he always do it?)
-Not too engaged on the glass. Looks like he waits for his bigs to get the rbs.
-Drives into the paint, sharp stop and spin into a fade away - scores. He created space well, but this can't be a good shot for him, can it? (After checking - 35% from mid-range for the season, 27% from midrange last season, Yikes!)
-Gives up his dribble without having to and gets stranded on an island, loses 5 seconds of the clock trying to find someone to pass to. With 5-7 seconds on the clock... doesn't have the confidence in his ability to attack his defender... passes the grenade to a well covered teammate.
-BTW have I said this before - I hate zone defenses!
-Pulls up off the pnr after they gave him space - scores.
First half larger point - looks good in basic PnR. Doesn't go to second or third read much, but passes well to the roller, doesn't go wild(Dejounte), but has no wiggle and shiftiness, no 1 on 1 creation(looks like an off-ball guard in the league). Good spot up shot. Hard to judge the D so far.
Second Half:
-They are sending him to double team players in the low-post - good feet to recover to the top after the big passes out of the double.
-Good baseline drive(attacked free space) and pass to his big between 2 defenders. Nice one...
-Deflection on top on D. Almost stole it. Length shows up here.
-I don't like how he fights through screens in this one... Seems to get stuck a bit.
-Pull up 2 in transition - makes it.
-Attacks the rim in transition... wild miss at the rim(bad touch? )
-Makes the simple passes. Nice pass to the corner freeing his teammate for wide open 3.
-(For what it's worth - opponents go on a run second time in a row when he goes to the bench)
-His play makes me wish he'd show more - practically zero creation off the dribble - uses screen, sees a body and stops himself. Doesn't seem to dare to go in the paint and try to create.
-OH, THERE YOU GO! Something better... uses the pick going left, turns the corner and drives in the paint, makes the right read(should be second or third read here) and whips the ball to the opposite angle 3 for an open jumper. That's much better. That's an NBA drive and kick play.
-This is followed by a great contest on a jumper on D - you can see his length here.
-Again finds himself in time trouble and tries to give the grenade to somebody else - his pass is picked.
-Iso - crossover stepback between the legs, didn't create much separation, was going to get blocked, but got lucky that his teammate made a cut, so he turned his shot into a pass to the cutter. Still - nice composure and vision to make the pass, anyways.
-Iso again - again can't beat his man off the dribble - good vision to see teammate in the opposite corner for a baseline pass. He misses the 3.
-Catch and shoot wide open 3 on the top - misses. There's definitely a slight dip below his waist. Nothing major, but might need to fix for even quicker release.
-Another wide open catch and shoot 3 - misses. Shot looks nice and quick, though. Even with the dip, it is still quick.
-Bit on pumpfake, fouled opponent.
-Saw space to the rim - drove and finished with a pretty reverse layup. That was really nice.
-Leads the 2 on 1 break, passes to a teammate for a layup.
-Catch and shoot right angle 3 - splash!
-Another deflection because of length on top. Almost stole it again. Opponents seem surprised he gets to those.
End.
Tl;dr: I am not sure he can be a primary ball-handler in the league. To me he seems like an off-ball guard in the NBA. He seems to play upright and he seems stiff - no wiggle, no shiftiness, no change of direction or speeds. I am not sure I saw him beat his man once off the dribble without a screen. In this game he played in control. Didn't force anything, didn't force shots. Made good reads, made the simple pass. He also made some creative over the top passes to feed his big man around the rim. Touch around the rim - questionable. Pull up game - not sure about it(looks OK but not special). You can see the length on D with the deflections he gets, also he bothers opponents shots. Whenever he sees free space he seems to attack it, but he has real hard time going to the rim when his man is in front of him.
That might be shocking but... By watching Baldwin, I kind of begin to like Dejounte more.
