Milwaukee Bucks 2022 NBA Draft Scouting Report: Patrick Baldwin Jr.

Milwaukee Bucks Draft Scouting Report: Patrick Baldwin Jr. – Weaknesses

Efficiency

Patrick Baldwin’s efficiency was pretty awful last season. He had an incredibly poor 40.8 effective field goal percentage and shot just 27.5 percent on all jumpers in the half court. He struggled around the basket (50 percent shooting), struggled with runners (20 percent), struggled on the catch-and-shoot (23 percent), and struggled spotting up (28 percent). Pretty much every area, his efficiency was very bad. On all of his offensive possessions where he shot the ball or got fouled, he averaged just 0.78 points per possession and ranked in just the 26th percentile.

Burst/Quickness

This is possibly the biggest thing that stands out when watching Baldwin. He looks incredibly slow on both ends and just simply does not have enough burst. As a result, he gets blown by defensively, and he struggles to create separation offensively. He shot just 2-for-16 on isolation possessions last year and ranked in the 3rd percentile in terms of isolation efficiency. He does not have a quick first step and cannot get around defenders to get to the basket easily, and as a result had to settle for a ton of difficult jumpers.

Defense

As mentioned, Patrick Baldwin Jr.’s lack of quickness really hurts his on-ball defense. He struggles to stay in front of anyone and is constantly getting blown by. He also just struggles with the fundamentals, and he is often off-balance or out of position when trying to play defense. There is definitely a lot of work to be done for him to become a good defender, and it is worrisome that arguably his biggest weakness (lack of quickness) is something he cannot really change.

Passing

Baldwin has never been known as a passer throughout his basketball career, and he definitely was not a great one last year. He takes a ton of difficult shots and is more of a shot forcer than a facilitator. Baldwin averaged just 1.5 assists per game last season and had more turnovers than assists. He came in and, although injured for a lot of the season, did not make a bad UW-Milwaukee team any better. It’s possible he just is not meant to be the number one guy on a team (and he won’t be asked to be that in the NBA), but still not a good sign that he was not able to lead the team and make his teammates better.

Injuries

Another thing that is likely a concern about Baldwin for NBA teams is his injury history. He suffered an ankle injury in high school that forced him to miss part of his senior year, and that same ankle caused him to only play in 11 college games last season. The injury came up a few different times throughout the season and seems to be a nagging injury that he is having trouble getting past. This is definitely something teams are likely worried about.