I enjoyed watching Paschall when there wasn’t much to watch - though I think I was always of the opinion he was not going to be a long term warriors contributor. I also remember thinking they should have traded him when his stock was high to see if they could pick up something with a better chance of fitting with the team. Due to that missed opportunity I think the C grade is fair, if not generous. Sure we made a decent pick at 41. But he did not fit and we got nothing in return. As for Smailagic, wow, that guy was was not ready for the NBA.
Eric Paschall- 34 points and 13 rebounds in the first ever Golden State Warriors' victory at Chase Center San Francisco on November 4, 2019- his birthday!
The more I look at how things go, the more I feel like the second round of the draft is nearly meaningless. Undrafted players seem to have a similar success rate to second-rounders, especially late second-rounders. Second round draft picks are thrown into deals like "free bonus" swag and mostly seem to be used to save face because they're "more than nothing" on deals that are otherwise totally one-sided.
I think as we see the league develop more and more towards a farm-system-like model, second rounders should be viewed as draft picks for the minor league team. Which, I guess is kind of fun in its own way, but it's more surprising than not when a second-rounder moves the needle in a major league game—rookie or otherwise. In that regard, Paschall was a steal.
Problem was, he was only capable of moving the needle if the other team wasn't ready for him, as became clearer after he had that initial breakout. Between getting beaten off the dribble and being out of position guarding three-point shooters, Paschall's fundamentally unsound defense might have cost us more points than he scored, especially in games against "real competition". Most rookies are like that, but when his second season started looking like more of the same but worse, it became clear that he wasn't going to be part of our championship plans.
As for the Smiley pick, most stuff has been covered, but the fact that he was occupying a guaranteed roster slot in year 3 was another big opportunity cost that was arguably a worse decision than drafting him in the first place. When he couldn't be counted on to soak minutes at center even when every other Warrior over 6'7" was injured, we knew: he was absolutely a project that should have stayed in Santa Cruz.
I'm a person in the camp that we mismanaged Paschall! The kid was talented but we never properly developed him forcing him into a small ball center only role while also never putting him in a position to flourish (he was forced to be one of the main creators in the second unit!)
There was a time where I remember people saying: "Pretend Pashcall was picked #28 instead of Poole to cope with the draft results." And it wasn't indefensible after their rookie seasons.
And then the rumors came in about Poole being the hardest worker of the offseason, and Paschall being out of shape. And all of a sudden, it's Poole with the ball who's indefensible and Paschall is being traded for cash. The NBA moves fast.
I agree with the assessment of Paschall. Always seemed like a nice guy & he was fun to watch in the lost season. I'm glad he got to play with his best bud last year. But I think only being able to get a 2-way from Minnesota is pretty much the last chapter of his NBA career.
Since Smiley never had the opportunity to work with him, I am more than a bit curious if he would have developed into a useful player if Dekkie had been on the coaching staff for his time here. It was pretty much sink or swim as far as big guy development went while he was with the team.
Paschall was a good pick who might have had a different career trajectory if not for the Covid shutdowns. Feels like covid really separated the self motivated workers from others since many of the young guys had to go out of their way to figure out how to get work in. Second round picks weren’t playing with the resources that established guys had during covid.
Can't really argue these grades given the reasoning behind the picks. Still, I think the Paschall pick reflects positively on Myers and the FO for getting a bit of value so deep down in the draft. Hard to find an NBA-quality player midway through the second round.
Thought Smiley had some unfortunate injuries that stunted his development.
Even still and like other have said, being unable to keep their mouths shut about how much they liked him pre-draft and backing themselves into a corner to give up assets to draft him makes that a clear F grade.
As for Paschall, I can pinpoint the moment I jumped off the wagon, and that was preseason his 2nd year, the moment he took a 3pt shot and his jumper looked exactly the same. Also didn't help that when the Warriors had an in-house scrimmage, they had to hold Paschall out of it for conditioning reasons.
Once it was clear the coaches weren't going to be able to fix that in any reasonable time, it was clear he had to go. That one offseason where he was going to work on it, and came back with the identical shot, was the death knell for his career.
So Smiley will get one more trivia fact about him. He will be the last Warrior to ever wear #6.
The one positive of Smailagic is that I'm pretty sure the franchise learned some important lessons from that at a relatively low overall cost.
I enjoyed watching Paschall when there wasn’t much to watch - though I think I was always of the opinion he was not going to be a long term warriors contributor. I also remember thinking they should have traded him when his stock was high to see if they could pick up something with a better chance of fitting with the team. Due to that missed opportunity I think the C grade is fair, if not generous. Sure we made a decent pick at 41. But he did not fit and we got nothing in return. As for Smailagic, wow, that guy was was not ready for the NBA.
First, I've seen of KD being interested in going to Philly.
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/nba-trade-rumors-kevin-durant-sees-sixers-desired-landing-spot
I wanted Smiley to succeed so badly, admittedly mostly out of Euro solidarity and the whole "Look at how smart our org is". Alas, it was not to be.
Eric Paschall- 34 points and 13 rebounds in the first ever Golden State Warriors' victory at Chase Center San Francisco on November 4, 2019- his birthday!
Honorary Warrior for Life candidate....?
The more I look at how things go, the more I feel like the second round of the draft is nearly meaningless. Undrafted players seem to have a similar success rate to second-rounders, especially late second-rounders. Second round draft picks are thrown into deals like "free bonus" swag and mostly seem to be used to save face because they're "more than nothing" on deals that are otherwise totally one-sided.
I think as we see the league develop more and more towards a farm-system-like model, second rounders should be viewed as draft picks for the minor league team. Which, I guess is kind of fun in its own way, but it's more surprising than not when a second-rounder moves the needle in a major league game—rookie or otherwise. In that regard, Paschall was a steal.
Problem was, he was only capable of moving the needle if the other team wasn't ready for him, as became clearer after he had that initial breakout. Between getting beaten off the dribble and being out of position guarding three-point shooters, Paschall's fundamentally unsound defense might have cost us more points than he scored, especially in games against "real competition". Most rookies are like that, but when his second season started looking like more of the same but worse, it became clear that he wasn't going to be part of our championship plans.
As for the Smiley pick, most stuff has been covered, but the fact that he was occupying a guaranteed roster slot in year 3 was another big opportunity cost that was arguably a worse decision than drafting him in the first place. When he couldn't be counted on to soak minutes at center even when every other Warrior over 6'7" was injured, we knew: he was absolutely a project that should have stayed in Santa Cruz.
I'm a person in the camp that we mismanaged Paschall! The kid was talented but we never properly developed him forcing him into a small ball center only role while also never putting him in a position to flourish (he was forced to be one of the main creators in the second unit!)
There was a time where I remember people saying: "Pretend Pashcall was picked #28 instead of Poole to cope with the draft results." And it wasn't indefensible after their rookie seasons.
And then the rumors came in about Poole being the hardest worker of the offseason, and Paschall being out of shape. And all of a sudden, it's Poole with the ball who's indefensible and Paschall is being traded for cash. The NBA moves fast.
I agree with the assessment of Paschall. Always seemed like a nice guy & he was fun to watch in the lost season. I'm glad he got to play with his best bud last year. But I think only being able to get a 2-way from Minnesota is pretty much the last chapter of his NBA career.
Since Smiley never had the opportunity to work with him, I am more than a bit curious if he would have developed into a useful player if Dekkie had been on the coaching staff for his time here. It was pretty much sink or swim as far as big guy development went while he was with the team.
Rollins > Paschall?
Santos > Smiley?
FYI The most recent open thread is at https://dubnationhq.com/p/open-thread-63a
Paschall was a good pick who might have had a different career trajectory if not for the Covid shutdowns. Feels like covid really separated the self motivated workers from others since many of the young guys had to go out of their way to figure out how to get work in. Second round picks weren’t playing with the resources that established guys had during covid.
Can't really argue these grades given the reasoning behind the picks. Still, I think the Paschall pick reflects positively on Myers and the FO for getting a bit of value so deep down in the draft. Hard to find an NBA-quality player midway through the second round.
Thought Smiley had some unfortunate injuries that stunted his development.
Even still and like other have said, being unable to keep their mouths shut about how much they liked him pre-draft and backing themselves into a corner to give up assets to draft him makes that a clear F grade.
As for Paschall, I can pinpoint the moment I jumped off the wagon, and that was preseason his 2nd year, the moment he took a 3pt shot and his jumper looked exactly the same. Also didn't help that when the Warriors had an in-house scrimmage, they had to hold Paschall out of it for conditioning reasons.
I could never get past Paschall's shot .
Once it was clear the coaches weren't going to be able to fix that in any reasonable time, it was clear he had to go. That one offseason where he was going to work on it, and came back with the identical shot, was the death knell for his career.