Draymond talk flatters Paschall
The text message landed in Eric Paschall’s inbox shortly after he’d been drafted by the Warriors. It was a congratulatory greeting from Draymond Green, the man to whom Paschall is often compared.
“Thank you,” Paschall texted in return. “I’m willing to learn from you.”
Too early to call Paschall the next Draymond Green, obviously. Green is a threetime NBA champion, a threetime All-Star, a three-time member of the All-Defensive first team and winner of the
NBA’s Defensive Player of the
Year award in 2017.
Paschall, 22, is a veteran of three summer league games. (He averaged 11.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists in 27 minutes.)
The Warriors drafted Paschall in the second round, No. 41 overall, and that’s where the comparisons begin. Like Green, Paschall expected to go in the first round. Like Green (No. 35 overall), Paschall has the body of a rumbler and a skill-set that allows him to
play any position on the floor.
Paschall wants to pump the brakes, though, on the comparisons to Green.
“I see it as flattering. But at the same time, there is a lot I have to do to be that type of player,” Paschall said. “He’s a heck of a player. He does everything for the team. It helps me out a lot that I can learn from a guy like that.”
Jay Wright, the coach at Villanova, where he worked with Paschall for four seasons, says: “I have so much respect for Draymond, so I would fear comparing him to Draymond. But I think the similarities are that he is a winner, he’s got the ability to score, and he’s willing to do all the other things.”
When Paschall was in his early teens, his father gave him a valuable piece of advice.
“The moment you’re the best player in a gym, you should find a new gym,” Juan Paschall told his son.
Paschall took that advice to heart. At Dobbs Ferry High in Westchester, New York, he became only the fourth junior to win his hometown’s “Mr. Basketball” honor, joining Elton Brand, Ben Gordon and Jabarie Hinds. Paschall averaged 26 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in leading the Eagles to the Section 1 Finals.
Paschall committed to Fordham. Tom Pecora, then the Rams’ coach, recalled the scouting report from his 10-year-old after they’d watched one of Paschall’s high school games.
“‘This one kid is way too good to be playing with these other kids,’” Pecora said, quoting his kid. “Here we are thinking we’re ‘Joe Recruiter’ and we can pick out talent.”
After committing to Fordham, Paschall spent his
senior year of high school at St. Thomas More Prep, an all-boys prep school in Oakdale, Connecticut. Jere Quinn, the coach at More, describes Paschall as “a poor man’s version of Al Horford, who can step away and score inside and score outside.
“A lot of people try to equate him to Draymond Green,” Quinn said, “but he plays the game a little more quietly. He just competes. I just think he’s a hard-working kid who has been gifted
with a lot of talent and has been fortunate to want to be coached. Not every kid wants to be coached.”
In his Fordham debut, Paschall set a program record for most points as a freshman (31) along with 10 rebounds). He was the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year.
Similar to Green, the numbers did not capture Paschall’s value. He listened to Pecora’s instruction on thriving as both a wing and frontcourt player. Paschall focused on staying disciplined
with his footwork and ball handling. He developed as a shooter.
“We were excited about taking him in because we knew we were going to be able to push him. We could get the best out of him,” Pecora said. “He was really coachable. He wasn’t an arrogant kid that thought he had all the answers.”
As Pecora said with a laugh about Paschall: “he was respectful to the guys he was dunking on.”
When Pecora was fired
after a 10-21 season, Paschall transferred Villanova. He had come to Fordham specifically to play for Pecora. In a show of mutual allegiance, Pecora helped Paschall get to Villanova. Wright and Pecora are friends, dating back 20 years when Pecora was on Wright’s staff at Hofstra.
“Tom let us know he is a winner,” Wright said, referring to Paschall. “‘You don’t have to promise him he’s going to get a certain number of shots or a certain number of minutes.’”
Paschall validated Pecora’s words with his own actions. During his official visit to Villanova, Paschall expressed indifference about being the team’s leading scorer and stressed that his primary goal was to become a complete player in a team-oriented culture.
As a transfer, Paschall couldn’t play the 201516 season — the one that ended with Villanova winning the national championship. But he could practice. He spent a lot of time on conditioning, bulking up in the weight room and studying the team’s defensive schemes.
The next season, he averaged 7.2 points on 51.3 percent shooting and 3.8 rebounds while “doing the dirty work” as Wright put it.
In 2017-18, Paschall got to play on a national championship team, helping Villanova win its second title in three years with 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Last season, the numbers went up again (16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds).
Since Paschall will likely no longer command double teams against NBA players that more appropriately match his 6-foot-9, 255-pound frame, Wright predicted “he might be a better NBA player than he was a college player.
“He’s done everything,” Wright said. “That’s why I feel he has the ability to have an outstanding pro career because he has the talent to do anything a coach needs. He also got the character and intelligence to do what is needed to win. He doesn’t have the ego that it’s got to be his way. He is the ultimate team player.”
The Warriors expect Paschall to bring all that with him. It will take time for him to blossom. And it will take more time for him to become the next Draymond Green.
Then again, he will have the best guy to show him the way.