Although players arriving at the Orlando bubble for the restart of the NBA season will steal most of the headlines, draft season is quietly heating up. With the Draft Lottery approaching, mock selections for the top picks are beginning to pour in.
However, instead of looking back to 2020, USA Today’s Rookie Wire hit rewind on the clock for just one year. Rookie Wire’s Cody Taylor re-drafted the entire first round of the 2019 class.
Both of the Golden State Warriors’ picks from 2019 made the list, with one young forward earning a spot in the top 10. Although he landed with the Warriors in the second round, Eric Paschall was taken off the board at No. 6 in the Rookie Wire’s 2019 re-draft.
In his debut season in the Bay Area, the Villanova product averaged 14.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 60 games. Over his rookie year, Paschall was able to hit the starting lineup in 26 contests for Steve Kerr. Paschall ranked in the top 10 for rookies in both points and rebounds per game.
Paschall’s jump from 41 to six was one of the more significant swaps in the 2019 re-draft. Paschall, Memphis’ Brandon Clarke and Cleveland’s Kevin Porter Jr. were the only three players to be named in the top 10 that were initially drafted outside of the top-20. Paschall was the highest second rounded selected in the re-draft.
Jordan Poole was also included in Rookie Wire’s re-draft, getting selected one clip higher than last year. The former Michigan Wolverine was tapped at No. 28.
After a shaky start from Poole, the young guard strung together a handful of notable performances. In his rookie campaign, Poole averaged 8.8 points, 2.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds per contest. Poole’s 2.4 dimes per game were solid enough to place in the top 10 of rookie assist leaders in 2019-20.
View the rest of the Rookie Wire 2019 Re-Draft here.