During a season defined by injuries and losses for the Golden State Warriors, Eric Paschall shined as one of the lone bright spots.
After landing in the Bay Area with the No. 41 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Eric Paschall quickly blossomed into a key offensive factor for Steve Kerr. During his rookie season, the Villanova product started 26 games, averaging 16.5 points on 44.7% shooting from the field. Paschall added 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per contest.
Along with being named to the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team, Paschall earned votes in the race for the Rookie of the Year.
Despite his decorated debut season, the 6-foot-6 forward has one area his game that could use some fine-tuning. On 2.2 attempts per game, Paschall shot only 28.7% from beyond the arc in 2019-20.
During Golden State’s extended offseason run, Paschall has been working on his long-distance jumper. In an interview with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami on “The TK Show,” Kerr said Paschall is “getting more comfortable” with his 3-point shot.
Via The Athletic’s “The TK Show:”
He is working hard on the 3-point shots with Theo Robertson and Theo is doing a great job with him. Eric is really putting in the work. The shot looks much more consistent to me — better arc, better release. He looks like he’s getting more comfortable with it. Obviously, the proof has to be in the pudding, I mean, it’s got to show up during games and that’s a much bigger step because there’s defense and there’s game pressure and all that, but I really liked what I saw with Eric’s shot and with the work that he’s put in.
With more spacing on the court due to the presence of Curry and Thompson, Paschall should be able to get more opportunities when it comes to finding his spots. Suppose Paschall’s shot can continue to develop. In that case, the flashes of power he showed last season when getting to the basket could be more effective.
After his impressive rookie season, the Warriors have high hopes for the New York native. Kerr told Kawakami the Warriors hope Paschall can “emerge as a consistent wing” in his second season in the NBA.
In many ways, he’s one of the crucial young pieces that we have going forward. When you think about being healthy again and having Steph [Curry], Klay [Thompson] and Draymond [Green] out there — we’re still relatively thin in terms of proven depth. And so we really need Eric to emerge as a consistent wing for us — kind of a three slash four player who can guard multiple spots and provide the type of offense and power that he gave us this past year.
We’re working hard with Eric; he’s so coachable, he’s such a hard worker and so easy to be around. He’s a joy to coach, so everything is going smoothly with him and we’re hopeful that he’s going to become one of our key guys next season.
At Golden State’s voluntary offseason minicamp, Paschall received his first dose of sharing the court with Thompson. The 23-year-old will have to wait till the start of preseason training camp in the Bay Area to work with the Splash Brother duo.
Alongside healthy editions of Curry and Thompson in 2020-21, Paschall will have the opportunity to double-down on his electric rookie campaign.
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