As a freshman at Fordham University in 2014-15, Eric Paschall averaged 15.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
He sat out the 2015-16 season after transferring to Villanova, yet played an integral role in helping the Wildcats win the national championship because as his college coach Jay Wright told Mark Medina of the Bay Area News Group: “Our practices were sometimes harder than games.”
Paschall -- whom the Warriors selected with the No. 41 overall pick in last month's NBA Draft -- got better each year in college:
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- 2016-17 = 21.7 minutes, 7.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 27.9 percent from deep
- 2017-18 = 29.8 minutes, 10.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 35.6 percent from deep
- 2018-19 = 36.1 minutes, 16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 34.8 percent from deep
The 6-foot-7 forward is extremely mature for a rookie (he will turn 23 years old on Nov. 4), and Wright has high hopes for the New York native.
“He might be a better NBA player than he was a college player," the two-time Naismith College Coach of the Year told Medina. "He’s done everything. That’s why I feel like 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.”
Golden State Warriors
[RELATED: The one thing Dubs pick Paschall wants to work on most]
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr certainly will get a detailed scouting report on Paschall in the coming months, as he and Wright are serving as assistants with the USA Basketball Men’s National Team this summer.