As far as second-round draft picks go, the Warriors were confident Eric Paschall could step in and contribute, at least in a minor role, right away.
Paschall spent four seasons at Villanova, helping Jay Wright's team win two national championships. The versatile forward was an important cog in Wright's operation, even if he didn't always feature Paschall the way he did other stars like Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Omari Spellman and Donte DiVincenzo.
With Steph Curry (broken hand), Draymond Green (torn finger ligament) and D'Angelo Russell (ankle) all getting his with the injury bug early in the season, Paschall has been thrust into a much larger role for head coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors. He has thrived with the spotlight placed on him.
Paschall scored 25 points in the Warriors' loss to the Hornets and then followed that up with a 34-point performance in a win over the Trail Blazers at Chase Center on Monday night.
Following Paschall's big-time performance, which came on his 23rd birthday, Kerr took a joking jab at Wright for his use of the forward at Villanova.
Steve Kerr: "The only guy that can keep Eric Paschall under 20 is Jay Wright."— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) November 5, 2019
Sports
Steve's got jokes.
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Paschall, fellow rookie Jordan Poole and two-way player Ky Bowman have shown that while injuries have zapped the Warriors of their star power, the Dubs still will fight tooth and nail every night.
The injuries will allow Kerr and the Warriors to gauge which young players have long-term staying power in the organization, and which ones might not be long for the Bay Area.
Paschall already appears to have penciled his name into the Warriors' future plans. Kerr might want to thank Wright for his underuse of Paschall (joking) or else he might not have fallen to the Warriors in the draft.
