Adding Jimmy Butler clearly was worth the Warriors not having a first-round pick for a second straight NBA draft.
The Miami Heat might find a nice prospect at No. 20 overall. He might even contribute as a rookie and have a solid season. The rookie also won’t be Butler, and for sure not in Year 1.
In last year’s inaugural two-day draft, the Warriors went into the second day with the No. 52 overall pick. The selection then took a long and winding route to ultimately become Warriors center Quinten Post.
General manager Mike Dunleavy, on the morning of the second round, traded the pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for shooting guard Lindy Waters III. The Thunder then sent the pick to the Portland Trail Blazers before the Warriors bought it back hours later to select Post. It was the first time the Warriors owned the No. 52 pick since drafting Ognjen Kuzmic in 2012, and Post already looks like he’ll have a more successful Golden State career than Kuzmic ever did, even though he is technically a 2015 champion.
The Warriors went 12 years between having the No. 52 overall pick. The franchise had the pick twice before in 1962 and 1964, but neither selection ever played in the NBA. They have a more recent history with their pick this year at No. 41, seven years more recent, and have held the pick just twice before this draft – with each pick having its own unique team history.
His playing career was best known for making the game-winning shot in the 1987 NCAA championship game, but Warriors fans would get to know Keith Smart the coach years later. Smart was taken by the Warriors in the second round of the 1988 draft, one year after that historic and heroic shot for Indiana. He never was really a Warrior as a player, though.
Golden State waived Smart not even four months after the draft, a few weeks ahead of the season. The San Antonio Spurs picked Smart up two days later, and his career lasted a total of two games, 12 minutes and two points scored. Smart never did play again in the NBA, yet he didn’t walk away that quickly. His playing career continued for years in a handful of obscure leagues.
He immediately jumped into coaching, first for the Fort Wayne Fury of the CBA from 1997 to 2000, when Smart made his way back to the NBA. Smart spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers, including 40 as an interim head coach to finish the season in 2003. The Cavs went 9-31 under him, and Smart joined Eric Musselman’s Warriors staff the next season.
Smart remained an assistant under Mike Montgomery and Don Nelson. He was on staff for some of the more wild Warriors seasons, witnessed the craziness of the “We Believe” squad and his final season as an assistant was Steph Curry’s rookie year. Smart, before training camp of Curry’s second season, took over for Don Nelson as head coach.
As an assistant, Smart lasted seven years with the Warriors. He wasn’t as fortunate with the head coach label. The Warriors’ record improved by 10 wins in 2010-11 to 36-46, but in came a new ownership group led by Joe Lacob, and out went Smart’s near decade in Oakland.
Smart moved on to be an assistant for the Sacramento Kings, where he also was head coach for another 141 games over two seasons. He had a lowly 48-93 record, and has since been an assistant for the Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks and the University of Arkansas. This past high school season he became the head coach of Utah Prep to coach top recruit AJ Dybantsa.
Curry and Draymond Green, like always, were in Steve Kerr’s starting five to open the 2019-20 season. So were D’Angelo Russell, Glenn Robinson III and Kevon Looney. Looney is a fan favorite and three-time champion. The other two feel like trivia questions.
Kevin Durant was gone. Klay Thompson’s season already was over before it ever began after sustaining a torn ACL in the NBA Finals. Curry’s season essentially ended when he broke his hand in the fourth game, and just like that, the Warriors were at the bottom of basketball after five straight trips to the Finals and three titles.
The team’s tough luck was a perfect opportunity for someone like Eric Paschall. He was a four-year player before the pros and spent five years in college, like the majority of the prospects the Warriors are working out for the 2025 draft. Paschall was ready to contribute, not potential that was a work in progress. The Warriors lost his debut by almost 20 points, but Paschall scored 14 points off the bench.
Paschall scored 20 points in his first start, which was just his fourth NBA game. He came off the bench in the next game and then returned to the starting lineup, where he scored 25 points and then 34 points. Paschall averaged 14 points as a rookie, had two 30-point games, scored at least 20 points 13 times and was named All-Rookie First Team.
Since then, Paschall played another 40 games with the Warriors and 98 overall in the NBA. He was traded by the Warriors to the Utah Jazz in the summer of 2021, and he only 5.8 points in 58 games for his new team. Kerr wanted Paschall to learn from Green and model his game after PJ Tucker. Paschall saw himself as a scorer who could put up 20 a night, and has talked about his struggles playing next to Curry.
Now, he hasn’t played an NBA game in more than three seasons. Paschall averaged 10 points per game in Italy last season.
With a two-year window of Curry, Green and Butler, would the Warriors take a First Team All-Rookie player with their one pick this year? Certainly. They’d also love for those stats to mean a little more than they did for Paschall, and for the party to have a happier ending in a Warriors jersey.
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