Wade Baldwin To Enter Draft

First-round prospect Wade Baldwin will enter this year’s draft and hire an agent, sources told Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). The sophomore point guard from Vanderbilt will be ineligible to return to college ball once he signs with an agent, though it’s not surprising that he would commit to this year’s field. Baldwin is the 16th-best prospect on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress list and No. 22 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.

Ford suggests Baldwin could also play two-guard in the NBA, but he’s only 6’3″. He defends well, Ford adds, and that will help offset somewhat underwhelming offensive numbers. He notched 14.1 points, 5.2 assists and 2.8 turnovers this past season for a talented Vanderbilt team that didn’t quite live up to expectations. The Commodores won just 19 games and lost in an NCAA First Four play-in game to Wichita State on a night when Baldwin scored only nine points.

Still, Baldwin had his moments, including a 19-point, nine-assist, six-rebound game against Mississippi on February 6th. He’s a strong 3-point shooter, nailing 40.6% of his looks from behind the arc this season and 42.2% for his college career. He turns 20 on Tuesday, and his two years at Vanderbilt have been beneficial for his stock, since he wasn’t in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index top 100 coming out of high school.