Golden State Warriors power forward Eric Paschall was selected by the powers that be in the NBA to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge, where rookies and sophomores will get split into a USA vs World game.
Paschall is averaging 13.5 points per game as of this writing, but has not been starting as much as he did earlier in the season (22 starts out of 45 games played) and recently had a stretch of scoring just 9, then 4, then 4 points before last night’s 16-point redemption game at Cleveland. Here he is from from Warriors morning shootaround in “The Land” yesterday:
Ironically, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ point guard and 2019 first-round draft pick Collin Sexton, currently leading his team in scoring at over 19 points per game, was left out of the Rising Stars Game, which angered journalists who have a rooting interest in the Cavs:
Sexton, though, probably deserved a nod, especially considering the recent plight of the Cavs after LeBron left. Who knows if there’s a certain number of sophomores vs rookies the NBA was aiming for. So look for Sexton to be included in the Skills Challenge after this snub, just to keep things balanced.
The omission of Michael Porter, Jr., who has been playing well off the bench for the Denver Nuggets, pissed off certain NBA journalists who hail from that region, even though “MPJ” has only started one game out of 39 and is averaging 8.0 points per game:
Others blamed the world — oops, I mean, the World team that has to be partitioned off from the USA team. I so wanted to use that Simpsons grandpa “old man shakes fist at cloud” GIF there, oh well too bad!
What is “Dead Hand” doing on Twitter anyways? GTFOH, you mild-mannered person, you! 😆
If you’re on Twitter, you’re supposed to be mad as hell that Zion Williamson got selected despite only playing four games so far. Technically, he’s an injury replacement for Wendell Carter, Jr. Can’t wait to watch Zion do some things we’ve never seen before in this game, whilst his previously peeved naysayers jump on the bandwagon and tweet away as if they never said they didn’t want him in it in the first place. Very Trumponian, IMO.
But back to the serious talk, “our guy” Kendrick Nunn made it, too, although he’s been dealing with a minor Achilles issue of late. That’s right, it’s “Gap Year”, so we can start claiming dudes. Nunn is our guy. Yes. He is. Literally, he was.
What a year he’s having: 16.2 points per game on the fourth-best team in the East. Guess who we’re rooting for in the Eastern Conference Playoffs?
DubNation, looks like we have ourselves a horse in this race: Let’s go USA!
Just please, please don’t be that guy (or gal) who’s like, “Why THE HELL didn’t we keep Nunn?” Let this serve as a reminder that we didn’t need scoring last year. You know, we had these three gentlemen named Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.
At least we finally have a reason to watch the Rising Stars Challenge — and the fourth quarter of the actual All-Star Game. They changed the rules so that every quarter won nets a charity donation, then to honor Kobe Bryant (#RIPMamba), they’ll add 24 to the winning team’s score through three quarters and declare that the final score to reach to win the game. The losing team has to make up their deficit as well as the additional 24 before the winning team does, to win the game. The NBA issued this “legalese” to further confuse those of us who did not go to law school:
Was the Paschall selection a bone thrown to the Warriors by the NBA powers that be? Was Sexton and/or MPJ snubbed? Are you rooting for Nunn? What do you think of the new Kobe Q4 rule? Discuss! 👇
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Are the rising stars teams sometimes all sophomores? It seems so freakin obvious that you don't have to be putting up the same numbers to make it as a rookie that you would as a second year. Are people just dumb enough not to think this once while they type up complaints?
Looking at the “World” Rising Star selection - it definitely sprinkled some expensive himalayan salt to the open wounds of players who thought they deserved to be in there. I mean, Alexander-Walker? Oooof.
Sorry for the delay in getting to these comments. What a crazy 36 hours in Miami. Crazy. More details coming soon...
Paschall deserves to be there. Those that don’t believe that probably think that Draymond is overrated.
Why THE HELL didn’t we keep Nunn? (only kinda kidding ;)
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the divine being that is the Warriors front office?
In the last seven years:
Kent Bazemore (13-14)
Dewayne Dedmon (13-14)
Seth Curry (13-14)
Justin Holiday (13-15)
Festus Ezeli (13-16)
Patrick McCaw (16-18)
Damian Jones (16-19)
Quinn Cook (17-19)
Jordan Bell (17-19)
Chris Boucher (17-18)
Kendrick Nunn (18-19)
Danuel House Jr. (18-19) [kinda]
Alfonso McKinnie (18-19)
Kevon Looney (15-)
Damion Lee (17-)
Ky Bowman (19-)
Eric Paschall (19-)
+ a whole lot of other prospects that the Warriors made into reliable NBA players.
Also hey guys, never posted on gsom but lurked for years. Nice new site!
Are the rising stars teams sometimes all sophomores? It seems so freakin obvious that you don't have to be putting up the same numbers to make it as a rookie that you would as a second year. Are people just dumb enough not to think this once while they type up complaints?
Dang! Tough loss for 49ers. Atleast it wont hurt like that game few years ago as I am just a 49ers bandwagon fan.
Let's Go Warriors! Next year, the chip is ours.
Looking at the “World” Rising Star selection - it definitely sprinkled some expensive himalayan salt to the open wounds of players who thought they deserved to be in there. I mean, Alexander-Walker? Oooof.
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