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The last time we checked in on Patrick Baldwin in late December, he was coming off a challenging stretch of non-conference action, with poor showings against the likes of Florida, Colorado and Rhode Island, the best teams Milwaukee will face this season. Since then, things have gone from bad to worse, as he's missed significant time with a troublesome ankle injury and COVID-19, while continuing to struggle in Horizon League action, shooting just 28% from the field with more than twice as many turnovers as assists since the start of the calendar year. His team has been statistically better with him off the floor than on it, as they haven't won a game in league play with him in the starting lineup, while going 6-4 without him, a troubling development for a player thought to be a significant difference maker at the mid-major level and once a projected top-10 pick when the season started. NBA teams privately sound extremely concerned about Baldwin's left ankle, which caused him to miss most of his high school senior year and is clearly not 100% based on the amount of time he's missed and the fact that he's been essentially day-to-day for the past two months. Even when healthy, watching him has been a largely miserable experience, as he's mostly settled for incredibly high degree of difficulty shots, played lackluster defense, had significant problems generating good looks for himself or others against low-level competition, and has shown a concerning lack of toughness and feel for the game, all of which is concerning to say the least. While being a top-10 pick is now likely off the table, Baldwin's status as a sure-fire first-rounder is far from certain due to his poor play, especially if his ankle doesn't receive a long-term clean bill of health from NBA doctors. Comparable players in terms of style of play, such as Jabari Parker, aren't as en vogue in today's NBA as in the past, as teams have largely gone away from these types of inefficient scorers who don't defend with toughness or make others better. Baldwin has one last chance to salvage his season when the Horizon League championship starts at the beginning of March, if he even is able to suit up. Milwaukee will need to win four games to make the NCAA tournament, a tall task to say the least, but scouts will want to see if Baldwin can at least show more urgency than the extreme level of apathy he's mostly displayed thus far. Baldwin will likely look better in the pre-draft process, where teams will see a 6-10, strong-framed, dynamic shot-maker who is still only 19 years old in individual workouts and wonder just how far a talented prospect like this should fall before he's worth rolling the dice on. Baldwin will likely come prepared with a long list of mitigating circumstances to explain away his disastrous season, but the damage he's caused his draft stock thus far may be hard to reverse at this point. - Jonathan Givony Follow Us On Insta📷 : Business Inquiries☎️ : swishsports6@
