Golden State Warriors: Eric Paschall should be given a chance at small forward

The Golden State Warriors could have a hole at the small forward position early in the season. Rookie Eric Paschall should be given a chance to play the position.

The Golden State Warriors decimated their already thin depth in the offseason following an abundance of cost-cutting moves. But to their credit, they’ve actually done a decent job at replacing some of their more important role players.

While it’s hard to replace the impact that veterans like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston brought to the team, the Warriors youth movement is in full swing. It will be up to cheap free-agent signings, young returning talent, and 2019 draft picks to round out the roster this season.

However, one major hole still remains at the small forward position.

Losing Kevin Durant in free agency obviously hurt and his loss was made worse when the team was forced to trade away the aforementioned Iguodala in the offseason. That left the team, for all intents and purposes, without a viable, starting-caliber small forward.

At the time of writing, the anticipated starter at the position when the team takes the court this fall is third-year pro Alfonzo McKinnie. At least, that should be the plan until Klay Thompson returns.

Thompson will miss the majority of the season rehabbing a torn ACL suffered in the team’s final game of the season. But when Thompson returns, the team could very well stick him at small forward and have Stephen Curry and D’Angelo Russell run the backcourt.

It will be a change of pace for Thompson who has never played the position with regularity in his NBA career, but he has the size, length, and defensive prowess to get it done. But the issue isn’t when he returns, but rather before he does.

McKinnie is a fine role player but ultimately lacks the offensive or defensive promise to be viewed as a starting-caliber player. He’s an average outside shooter with limited ball-handling capabilities and is probably around below average as a defender.

The only other true small forward on the roster is the newly-signed Glenn Robinson III but his defensive struggles should keep him as a role player going forward. Veteran Alec Burks could also play the position but it’s unlikely he is handed the starting job over McKinnie.

As such, the Warriors’ options appear to be limited.

But there is one option that’s a little outside the box and seems to be getting overlooked. The Warriors selected Villanova big man Eric Paschall with the 41st overall pick in this year’s draft and there’s a case to be made that he should be given a shot to play the position.

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Paschall is a well-rounded talent who really doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses. He is a well-versed offensive player, he can rebound, and he could play some solid defense. There isn’t one area of Paschall’s game that stands out in particular.

Rather, his work ethic and consistency make him a prime candidate to make an early initial impact in his rookie season. Paschall’s primary position is at power forward but he has enough athleticism to be pushed out to the wing and play at the three.

At 6-foot-9, Paschall would be on the bigger size for small forwards and his athleticism wouldn’t be on par with that of a true wing player, but his defensive skills would be a welcome change of pace over the likes of McKinnie, Robinson, and Burks.

In fact, Paschall initially committed to Fordham as a small forward and played that position a lot during his freshman year of college.

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On top of that, Paschall wouldn’t be a liability as a shooter as he shot over 35% from three-point range over his final two seasons at Villanova. He doesn’t have to be Thompson out there, but he should at least command enough respect to allow the Warriors to adequately space the floor on offense.

This isn’t to say that he should necessarily be starting games either. McKinnie still makes the most sense as a starter for the time being as Paschall could get exposed by more athletic small forwards.

But playing him as part of the small forward rotation alongside McKinnie, Robinson, and Burks does make sense. Depending on the matchup, each player could be deployed and have their own share of success.

Paschall provides something that none of the others bring to the table — defense. And that alone should be enough to convince the Warriors to let him play some small forward.