NEAR GREATNESS
Pachulia knows what it’s like to play with Curry and Antetokounmpo
Buried somewhere behind pictures of his four children, Zaza Pachulia still has the image on his phone of Stephen Curry, in October of 2018, congratulating Klay Thompson on breaking the NBA record with 14 3-pointers made in a single game. What stands out to Pachulia is not necessarily Curry jumping in the air or his ear-toear grin, but the fact that Curry is celebrating Thompson breaking his own record.
These are the sort of moments that stand out to Pachulia when he recalls playing with Curry — the greatest 3-point shooter in league history, three-time champion and two-time MVP. But Pachulia has to go back a ways when remembering playing with another two-time MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, when Antetokounmpo was a rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks. Antetokounmpo, drafted No. 15
overall in 2013, came into the league as a skinny 19-year- old out of Greece and had Pachulia as a teammate.
Like Curry, Antetokounmpo would go on to change the geometry of the game. Instead of demanding attention beyond the 3-point arc, however, he forces teams to send help in the paint, where his numbers are comparable to prime Shaquille O’Neal.
In this way, Curry and Antetokounmpo are similar, and Antetokounmpo selecting Curry as his 2019 All-Star teammate was a nod to their mutual respect. Today, the two will face off in a marquee Christmas Day game.
The Bay Area News Group spoke with Pachulia about the differences between the two superstars, what they are like as teammates, and who is more dif
ficult to defend. This interview has been edited and condensed.
You’re one of just five players who have ever played with Curry and Antetokounmpo?
Let me see, who are the rest? ... I’m struggling, who are the rest? Help me out.
One signed with the Warriors on a 10-day contract late last year.
No, you got to help me out.
Dragan Bender. And Ekpe Udoh, Jeff Adrien and Chris Wright.
I played with Jeff Adrien and Chris Wright. OK.
Do people ask you much about playing with both Curry and Antetokounmpo?
Because towards the end of my career I played with Steph, everybody remembers that. When I tell people I played with Giannis they don’t remember it as much because I played with him in the first two years of his career, so he was not as flashy. Most of the questions are about playing with Steph, and not necessarily about Giannis. You’re one of the first five people that have asked me that question.
When you talk about Curry, what’s your favorite story from the couple years you played there that you like to tell?
To me, the most important thing with Steph is his humanity. Because I’ve played with multiple superstars and very few of them — I’ll probably say Dirk ( Nowitzki) that comes to my mind — and Steph are definitely on top that they treat everybody the same from top to bottom. He doesn’t care what status you have in the organization, there is no hierarchy for him. He treats everybody so nicely and says hello. It’s amazing. And it’s a challenge, to be honest, to be able to have a conversation with every single employee of the organization and be
nice and spend a couple minutes here and there, especially when you’re a superstar and there’s so much going on, on and off the court.
Everybody knows that Steph Curry changed the game. He’s such a great athlete, but that’s all we see on the TV, on the highlights on social media. I wish we could see what type of people they are more, because that’s the leadership to me, that’s the inspiration to me. Even my kids do the same moves that Steph does and I love it. Of course I want my kids to learn from the best. But let’s be honest, those moves are temporary, you can maybe use it or maybe not, but that leadership and humanity is going to be a life lesson. I don’t care where you take it, it’s going to help you.
Is there a specific instance that you remember when Curry showed that leadership toward you when maybe you needed it, or to a teammate?
His work ethic is insane. We all know Steph Curry on the court, making a lot of spectacular plays, shooting 3s from anywhere, from the half court. But what I saw, especially when (Kevin Durant) was part of it, after every practice, KD and Steph would shoot together, drill five shots, five spots,
total 25. And I would stay on the court, working on my game, and they were right across. So I had a perfect angle to watch after every single practice. One would make 23 or 24 out of 25, and the other one had to be perfect to win. This is the healthy competition, your teammates pushing each other to be perfect.
Another example I can come up with is when Klay Thompson broke Steph’s record, Steph was the most excited guy on the court. I still have the picture, actually, in my phone. Steph was the one who passed to Klay to break his record, and Steph was very excited. He was excited for his teammate obviously, but I’m pretty sure he was excited to be motivated, and also be pushed to be better and then go for 15.
Looking from outside, you see this skinny guy who barely speaks English, moving from one country to a different culture. But it’s been your dream to play in the NBA. What Giannis was going through kind of reminded me of my childhood because I came into league when I was 19
too, but my situation was different because I had experienced moving to Turkey from Georgia at the age of 14 so that was good preparation for me to move even further from my family. So I was used to it. But for Giannis, it was the first time being away from family, so it’s hard, and there’s so much work to do to get better and learn.
I’ll tell you one thing, the guy’s character and heart was so special. He was so hungry for success. I’ve never seen anything like that. We’ve all seen so many talented guys who didn’t have the heart. I’d rather be less talented and have that attitude about things, rather than be more talented but not have the character that he has.
How does Antetokounmpo interact with his teammates? What kind of sense of humor does he have?
I’d put on my favorite house music in the weight room, and he has a diverse background with his family being from Africa and living in Europe, so I was expecting him to like the house music even though most of our teammates wanted to hear the hiphop. Once a week we had a house music day and sometimes he would dance, and I have videos of him dancing to house music.
His English was not as good as it is now, but it’s not about what you say, it’s about who you truly are, and he was so authentic. I always valued that. You might not be funny, but don’t force it. Just be authentic because people are going to always appreciate that more.
Like you said, you played with Antetokounmpo when he was a rookie, long before he was an established, dominant player and twotime MVP. What was he like back then?
You were always one of the smartest defenders in the league, and you played with and against both Curry and Antetokounmpo. So be honest, and I know you work for the Warriors now but put that aside: Who was harder to defend, Curry or Antetokounmpo?
Interesting question. It depends. Maybe my response is boring, but for both players, it’s about how you make it difficult for him. It’s not about Steph and Giannis, it’s about their teammates. When you think of the Warriors from 2016 to 2018, you had great passers that complement Steph. Giannis needs shooters for him to be the best.
We played against him in my last year (with Detroit). Blake (Griffin) was guarding him, we had Andre Drummond and myself. He was still scoring but when you put three guys in front of him and he doesn’t have shooters around him, you win the battle, especially in the playoffs in a seven-game series. He is still going to be effective, but not as effective as when he has shooters.
Same thing goes with Steph. It started with Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green setting screens to get him open, Klay helps because teams cannot really load on Steph because if you leave Klay open, Klay’s going to make 14 3s against the Chicago Bulls. With Kevin Durant, one of the best players in the league, Steph has more freedom and he can be who he is. But if you have this amazing defender on him and a big man down there waiting for him, then Steph is going to struggle, too.
So I think the teammates make a difference. If you’re guarding them 1- on-1, good luck. They’re both tough because one is going to destroy you from inside and the other is going to shoot from anywhere on the court. I am not trying to be diplomatic. In my opinion, that’s how it is.