Wade Baldwin reminds me of....

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

A smidge like Ron Harper

Not bad.

I always liked dude.

 

[TBpup]

I just finished the replay of the game and watched for some different things this time.

Offense - it was like he made a conscious decision not to score after lighting it up in Game 1. He got everyone involved and of his early few shots that were misses, a couple were against the clock after teammates had bailed. When he did starts shooting, he made 3 shots in a row....a '3' and two floaters.

Play-maker - he had 10 assists but what was just as impressive was the single turnover. He also made some great passes that just weren't in the normal flow of the offense and some great ball fakes due to the size of his hand being able to palm the ball and fake a single handed pass and then throw behind the defensive player's overreaction. Very high IQ stuff.

Defense - he hounded the living crap out of Trae Young and anyone else he got switched on to. It's like he took it personally if they even got off a shot. That attitude is very welcome. He is instantly the best defensive guard on the roster from day 1 of training camp.

His length and defensive ability as well as how he is able to get other players involved would seem to play very well with Dame or CJ. Here's to hoping that is what happens.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

ESPN has a tribute to Baldwin (though they're not selling it as a Baldwin tribute):
http://www.espn.com/core/video/iframe?id=24042265&endcard=false"

 

[TBpup]

https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest...-shows-full-throttle-performance-vegas-opener

 

[SheedSoNasty]

My theory is Curry will get his minutes and they'll hold Wade back so they can resign him to a cheap, multi-year deal next summer before they unleash him the following year.

That’s what I thought we might be doing with Vonleh. He was producing well playing next to Nurkic and then he seemed to fall out of favor for no reason. In the end, it was never Portland’s intention to resign him cheaply because they were purposely not “unleashing” him. I don’t think they’ll do that with Baldwin either.

 

[DollaBel]

I love defensive guards like Wade and Kris Dunn, I really hope he is our season-long backup PG. Would be very comforting knowing opposing teams PG’s aren’t going to score freely on our second unit.

 

[TBpup]

I love defensive guards like Wade and Kris Dunn, I really hope he is our season-long backup PG. Would be very comforting knowing opposing teams PG’s aren’t going to score freely on our second unit.

They already score pretty freely against our 1st unit. That is why I think Baldwin would be a good fit on this roster.

 

[Drttimmy]

Physically, he reminded me of Deron Williams from the get-go last year. A poor man's version, but I'll take a poor man's version. He's looking pretty good and it's easy to forget he took Napier's rotation spot late in the year.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Physically, he reminded me of Deron Williams from the get-go last year. A poor man's version, but I'll take a poor man's version. He's looking pretty good and it's easy to forget he took Napier's rotation spot late in the year.

After Deron’s first few years in the league, wasn’t HE a poor man’s version of himself?

 

[Natebishop3]

After Deron’s first few years in the league, wasn’t HE a poor man’s version of himself?

But Deron is Deron....

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

But Deron is Deron....

Is he though?

 

[DollaBel]

They already score pretty freely against our 1st unit. That is why I think Baldwin would be a good fit on this roster.

I know Dame and CJ’s defence arent anything great, Dame did improve a bit but do opposing PG’s actually light us up? I don’t get the feeling they generally do but I could be wrong.

 

[stampedehero]

My theory is Curry will get his minutes and they'll hold Wade back so they can resign him to a cheap, multi-year deal next summer before they unleash him the following year.

Sad to say "That's business"

 

[Labinot41]

Actually with the way the league is going we could even have this second unit

Baldwin
Curry
Stauskas/Trent
Turner
Collins

Baldwin could guard bigger players which would help Stauskas.

This is my favourite 2nd Unit Line-Up. I don't wanna see Meyers on the court

 

[Phatguysrule]

If Olshey was smart, Baldwin should definitely get Napier's minutes this year. I'm still not sure about Olshey's intelligence, however.

I think the fact that Baldwin is still here (and Napier isn't) kind of answers your question.

A scenerio may pop up in which we find a better player than Baldwin to fill that slot or he has to be included to get a bigger picture deal done, but other than that, he's going to play.

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[Gronk Brady]

This is a big concern for me... we have to void his 1 yr min deal now and sign him for 2 years so we can retain his bird rights

 

[Blazinaway]

what a horrible blunder it would be to let WB go and keep someone like PapaG. Would like to extend him if we can for another 2 yrs at least

 

[Reep]

This is a big concern for me... we have to void his 1 yr min deal now and sign him for 2 years so we can retain his bird rights

Won't happen, but I would love to see WBIV continue to improve and move into the starting lineup and bringing CJ off the bench.

Dame
WB
Harkless
Collins
Nurkic

Could be a top five defense.

 

[Gronk Brady]

Won't happen, but I would love to see WBIV continue to improve and move into the starting lineup and bringing CJ off the bench.

Dame
WB
Harkless
Collins
Nurkic

Could be a top five defense.

If he does that on his 1 yr deal he will be gone after the season... Blazers will not have cap room to retain him

 

[TBpup]

I don't see who else plays backup PG. CJ can't and Curry plays a lot like CJ. Wade is multipliers better on defense than both. A 2-year minimum deal would seem like a no-brainer.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I don't see who else plays backup PG. CJ can't and Curry plays a lot like CJ. Wade is multipliers better on defense than both. A 2-year minimum deal would seem like a no-brainer.

I don't see him taking it. He's probably smart enough to know that with PT, he'll earn more than that on the open market in 2019.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Won't happen, but I would love to see WBIV continue to improve and move into the starting lineup and bringing CJ off the bench.

Dame
WB
Harkless
Collins
Nurkic

Could be a top five defense.

How do you know it won't happen?

 

[James lamphear]

Way Stott was talking it seems he doesn't know if they are even keeping him. All he said we will find out after summer league he didn't sound convinced to me if there even keeping him. Does he deserves to be here the answer is yes but another 6 guards on the roster might make him expendable.

 

[CupWizier]

How do you know it won't happen?

Would saying it as "unlikely" work for you as that's the reality.

 

[TBpup]

Way Stott was talking it seems he doesn't know if they are even keeping him. All he said we will find out after summer league he didn't sound convinced to me if there even keeping him. Does he deserves to be here the answer is yes but another 6 guards on the roster might make him expendable.

How would you rank the 7 guards?

Dame
CJ
Curry (when healthy)
Baldwin
Stauskas (will probably play some SF)
Trent (will probably play some SF)
Simons

That would suck to lose the #4 guard out of 7 especially when he is the #2 PG and the #1 defender.

 

[tester551]

I don't see who else plays backup PG. CJ can't and Curry plays a lot like CJ. Wade is multipliers better on defense than both. A 2-year minimum deal would seem like a no-brainer.

It doesn't make any sense to do that at this point.

Portland signed him to a 2-yr minimum deal last year. After the '18-'19 season, Portland will have his "Early Bird" rights.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q25

A team may use the Early Bird exception to re-sign its own free agent for up to 175% of his salary in the previous season (not over the maximum salary, of course) or 105% of the average salary in the previous season3, whichever is greater (see question number 31 for the definition of "average salary").

So Portland will be able to pay him slightly more than the regular MLE.

To do anything different, Portland would have to cut Baldwin ***let him clear waivers*** and then re-sign him. At this point, the risk of him not clearing waivers is very high. I'm sure there would be at least 1 team out there that would claim Baldwin on his minimum contract - leaving Portland high & dry.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

He doesn't strike me as an instinctive PG. (Yes, he got 10 assists, but a lot of that was our three point shooters not missing - the pass was very simple.) On the other hand he is a long-armed ferocious defender. So he makes me think more of Avery Bradley or Marcus Smart. Which I take as high praise.

 

[Reep]

It doesn't make any sense to do that at this point.

Portland signed him to a 2-yr minimum deal last year. After the '18-'19 season, Portland will have his "Early Bird" rights.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q25


So Portland will be able to pay him slightly more than the regular MLE.

To do anything different, Portland would have to cut Baldwin ***let him clear waivers*** and then re-sign him. At this point, the risk of him not clearing waivers is very high. I'm sure there would be at least 1 team out there that would claim Baldwin on his minimum contract - leaving Portland high & dry.

So, Baldwin would be an UFA next summer, Portland can offer him MLE+ money, but another team with cap space would be able to offer more? Is there any provision for extending him before next summer?

 

[illmatic99]

I think he'll be better than Exum who just got a 3 yr 33 mil contract with Utah. And he's nearly a year younger.