By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Named EuroLeague MVP of the Month for the first time in his career, Wade Baldwin IV has led Maccabi Tel Aviv to a perfect unbeaten 5-0 streak in March, averaging a competition-high 18.4 points per game while also putting up 4.6 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.4 steals throughout the month.
Claiming his name to be inserted in the debate regarding the “Best Offensive Player” in this year’s EuroLeague, the former Bayern Munich and Baskonia guard disagrees with Kendrick Nunn, who stated to Eurohoops that he is the one to deserve such an award.
“For him, he probably feels like that. He’s made some big shots in situations, but there are statistics that show who the best offensive players are”, he first stated to the official EuroLeague website. “There’s all sorts of different net ratings that you could do and he’s not on top of the board right now”, he added.
Listing some names to prove his point, Wade Baldwin IV continued. “You have Mike James, Keenan Evans, myself, Markus Howard, who’s playing phenomenal right now”, the current Israeli yellow-and-blue powerhouse’s guard also commented.
According to Hack a Stat, among these five players, Kendrick Nunn is last in Individual Offensive Rating with 103.7. Markus Howard follows at 108.0, Wade Baldwin IV is third with 109.8, while Mike James (124.8) and Keenan Evans (136.5) are on a totally different scale at his point in time.
When it comes to True Shooting, among these five players, Panathinaikos‘ guard has the smallest percentage at 53.0%; Mike James (57.0%), Wade Baldwin IV and Markus Howard (60.0%), and Keenan Evans (67.0%) all have higher TS% than Kendrick Nunn.
“He’s getting there, he’s definitely doing what he needs to do and it’s very impressive that in his first EuroLeague season as an American guard, what he’s doing is great. But you can’t call yourself No.1 and best offensive player when you have guys who are statistically doing better”, Wade Baldwin said.
Maccabi‘s number 5 went on to conclude. “But we’ll see. The postseason and the end of the season is what matters most and he had a big game-winner against [Virtus] Bologna. The race and the challenge could be on for who that crown is”, he finally stated.
Commenting under Eurohoops’ post on Instagram that included Wade Baldwin’s quotes, Kendrick Nunn said that he doesn’t want “no smoke with someone that averages 3pts for career average”. Maccabi’s guard has averaged 3.1 points in his 3-year NBA career.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague