NEW YORK — Malachi Richardson and Wade Baldwin were seated at a pair of elevated tables about 20 feet apart on Wednesday afternoon at NBA Draft Media Day at the Grand Hyatt New York.
It only seemed appropriate that the two Jersey Boys were addressing the media at the same time since their prep careers in the Garden State overlapped and intersected at critical moments.
Three years ago, Richardson and current Syracuse forward Tyler Roberson teamed to lead Roselle Catholic to its first New Jersey Tournament of Champions title with a 65-49 victory over a St. Joe’s-Metuchen team that included Baldwin and Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Kentucky.
“I hate him because he beat me in junior year in TOC,” the 6-foot-4 Baldwin said with a smile. “I’m just kidding, but it’s cool. I was watching that Syracuse game where [Richardson] was knocking down shot after shot and scoring at will [against Virginia]. It’s happy when you see a kid that you’ve been playing against your entire life and you guys made it up one spot. It’s pretty cool.”
Rest assured, Richardson hasn’t let Baldwin forget about that game.
“We talked about that at the [NBA] Combine,” the 6-5 former Syracuse shooting guard said with a smile. “Just being able to be here with guys like that and I talked to Karl a little earlier so it’s just a blessing that we’ve come so far being in high school and now being here, going through college and now fulfilling our dreams.”
Baldwin’s recollections of that TOC final were kind of like his visions of the Virginia game.
“Oh yeah, he hit a lot of threes against us,” Baldwin, who went on to win the TOC with St. Joe’s in 2014, said of Richardson. “I remember our quote-unquote ‘Big Three’ [of Towns, Baldwin and Marques Townes] but really our entire team played a bad game. Tyler Roberson was effective, Malachi had a game for the ages, so it happened that way.”
Now the two could both end up being lottery picks, or certainly first round picks.
Baldwin is currently projected at No. 14 to the Chicago Bulls by DraftExpress.com, while Richardson is slotted at No. 17 to the Memphis Grizzlies.
A third player who played high school ball in New Jersey, former St. Patrick’s standout DeAndre’ Bembry, is projected to go No. 27 to the Toronto Raptors.
“I think the state breeds a lot of excellence,” Baldwin said. “It’s a real competitive state. That whole TOC process, state champions, it’s Northeast basketball.”
Richardson, who split his time between Trenton Catholic and Roselle Catholic, said the TOC process helped him get tougher.
“Going through the state tournament is tough,’ he said. “Going through Roselle Catholic, St. Pat’s, St. Anthony’s, great coaches. You gotta be battle-tested to get to this point.”
Garden State pride is flying high these days, especially after former Jersey prep stars Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith and Dahntay Jones won the NBA championship Sunday night with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Aboslutely, it’s cool seeing those guys get championship rings and us Jersey guys walking into the NBA,” Baldwin said of the Cavs. “That’s cool.”
Asked if he feels pride in Jersey, Richardson added: “Yeah, always. I don’t think Jersey gets enough respect and I think right now we’re doing a lot for our state.”
Towns, the newly minted NBA Rookie of the Year, has been hanging with both players the last few days and giving advice on handling the draft process.
“[He said] just to keep playing,” Richardson said. “Everything happens for a reason and just to go about it in a professional manner.”
Baldwin said they all enjoyed a laugh over the new Foot Locker commercial featuring Towns, Simmons and D’Angelo Russell (who was also coached by Boyle).
“I was in Karl’s room [Tuesday] night, chilling with him,” Baldwin said. “Talking abut that new Foot Locker commercial that just came out. I know D’Angelo as well so it was cool.”
While the 7-foot Towns was a projected top-2 pick, Baldwin and Richardson are in slightly different shoes.
“It’s a lot different,” Baldwin said. “I feel like when he worked out and went through this process he was either 1 or 2. I’m working out for [many] teams so it’s a lot different.”
Baldwin has worked out for Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, Sacramento and MIlwaukee and said he’s heard he could go “as high as 8 and as low I don’t know.”
His draft stock has definitely risen and he feels he showed his athleticism via his vertical leap at the Combine and by dunking in individual workouts.
“Just never quit and always have confidence,” Baldwin said. “Out of high school I wasn’t even a Top 100 guy, maybe right outside of it. Going to Vanderbilt, I was kind of under the radar and now two years I’m knocking on the door of being a lottery pick.”
Unlike guys like Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram, Richardson didn’t enter school as a projected one-and-done, but he helped his stock tremendously with that Virginia game and by leading the Orange to the Final Four.
He’s now worked out for nine or 10 teams, most recently Toronto on Sunday.
“It’s definitely surreal,” he said. “Whoever would’ve thought this would be happening right now?”
Richardson stays in touch with Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, who was a one-and-done back in the 2003 Draft with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Anthony called Richardson after Syracuse made the Final Four.
“He was just congratulating us and told us to stay ready,” Richardson said.
“You definitely gotta look up to Melo,” he added. “He was the one guy that took team to a national championship game and won, so he’s had a great career and hopefully he gets a championship.”
Both Baldwin and Richardson will now chase an NBA championship of their own. But first comes Draft night — and the Green Room wait for the two Jersey Boys.
“One thing I will say,” Richardson said, “I just don’t want to be the last person there.”
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NMalachi Richardson and Wade Baldwin were seated at a pair of elevated tables about 20 feet apart on Wednesday afternoon at NBA Draft Media Day at the Grand Hyatt New York.
