Why Steve Kerr says Eric Paschall alone made Warriors season a success

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With the NBA season suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus, the Warriors might not play again this season.

If that ends up being the case, they will finish with the worst record in the league at 15-50.

The team dealt with a ridiculous amount of injuries and also traded away D'Angelo Russell before the Feb. 6 deadline.

So were there any positives at all?

"Our young guys got really valuable playing time. That was important," coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday on "The TK Show" podcast with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. "Eric Paschall looks like a guy -- because of his physical strength, his power, his confidence obviously -- we could throw into a playoff game right now and he would hold his own.

"That's one of the ways that we kind of look at players and look at the league. When you watch the two best teams in the league play in a regular season game or when you watch any playoff game -- can this player on our roster be out there? The answer with Eric for sure is a resounding yes. And that's exciting.

"To be able to get a guy like that in the second round -- and watch him grow and develop -- that alone makes this a successful season."

Wow. That truly is incredibly high praise.

Paschall got his rookie campaign off to a strong start, averaging 17.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists over the Warriors' first 24 games, while shooting nearly 51 percent from the field.

He then somewhat hit a wall from mid-December to mid-February, but came on very strong after the All-Star break.

The 23-year-old averaged 17.5 points and 4.1 rebounds over his last 10 games, and shot 56.5 percent overall.

But perhaps most impressively -- Paschall averaged 4.2 assists during that span, and 6.4 assists his last five games.

The main thing for Paschall to work on during the offseason is finding consistency from beyond the arc, as the rookie is at 28.7 percent from deep.

[RELATED: Kerr discusses Warriors' three options with high draft pick]

"Now, he's got a lot to improve upon," Kerr told Kawakami. "He can work hard on his 3-point shot -- he's talked about that this year. But he's got the modern profile -- big strong kid, can guard multiple positions, nobody is gonna overwhelm him on the post or on the perimeter."

This is the perfect time to remind you that Paschall is a member of the Warriors because Golden State acquired the No. 41 overall pick on the morning of the draft in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks.

Note to general manager Bob Myers -- well done.

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