Wade Baldwin went very quickly from first-round pick with potential to out of the league. The Grizzlies drafted him 17th overall last year (in case you’re wondering who the 17th overall was this year so you can make comparisons, it was D.J. Wilson… DAMMIT), played him decent minutes to start the season, but he didn’t produce and eventually fell out of the rotation. Add in some apparent attitude problems, an unimpressive Summer League this year, and there you go. Waived. Another piece of evidence for the argument that pure physical attributes do not a competent basketball player make. The ability to actually convert shot attempts is still required.
The Blazers picked him up because, hey, why the heck not, this dude is a former first-round pick and there might be something there to cash in on. He was injured for a whole chunk of the season, but now he’s ready to go, and with Lillard out, he made his “real” debut for his new team. I’m not going to count the three minutes he played a couple games ago.
And in this “debut”, he had his best game ever. He hit the most shots, at least, did the most scoring. He even took the fourth quarter over for a little bit there. Oh, and it was a revenge game, too. Showing Memphis what they’re missing out on. Those Russell Westbrook comparisons aren’t dead yet, god damn it!