The text message landed quickly in Eric Paschall’s inbox. After the Warriors selected Paschall with the No. 41 pick, his future teammate greeted him warmly.

Fitting that Draymond Green welcomed Paschall to the Warriors immediately. After yielding endless comparisons to each other’s games, Paschall now has a direct pipeline on learning what it takes to become the next Draymond Green. Green can show Paschall himself.

“Thank you,” Paschall recalled texting back. “I’m willing to learn from you.”

Too early to call Paschall the next Draymond Green, obviously. Green has cemented himself as a three-time NBA champion and a three-time All-Star. After fielding relative demotions on the NBA’s All-Defensive second teams the past two seasons, Green has plenty incentive to reclaim the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award (2017) and return to the league’s All-Defensive First teams (2015-17) for financial and competitive reasons.

With Green expected to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, the Warriors consider it their top off-season priority next summer to re-sign him so they can continuously keep Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Green as their core players. The Warriors remain mindful that virtually no one can duplicate Green’s blend of positional versatility, defensive intensity and effective playmaking.

Still, Green became one of the Warriors coveted All-Stars seven years after drafting him at No. 35. And Paschall could follow that same path after the Warriors drafted Paschall at No. 41 despite expecting to be a first-round selection. Paschall also showed similar skills that Green has in high school (Dobbs Ferry High, St. Thomas More Prep) and college (Fordham, Villanova). Paschall wants to pump the brakes, though, about those comparisons for understandable reasons. He had just completed Summer League when he averaged encouraging numbers in two games of the California Classic (11 points on 62 percent shooting and 2.5 rebounds) and one game in Las Vegas (12 points on 44 percent shooting, five rebounds, four assists). And when does anyone glean anything significant from good or bad summer-league performances?

“I see it as flattering. But at the same time, there is a lot I have to do to reach that and be that type of player,” said Paschall, who added he also studies LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Paul Millsap. “He’s a heck of a player. He does everything for the team. I just want to be part of the Warriors. It helps me out a lot that I can learn from a guy like that.”

The Warriors and those around Paschall feel encouraged about his trajectory for a simple reason, though. Just as Paschall appears willing to learn from Green on how to enhance his game, he has arrived to the NBA because of his ongoing quest toward reinventing himself in hopes to become a complete player.

“I have so much respect for Draymond, so I would fear comparing him to Draymond,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said about Paschall. “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.”

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Nearly a decade before becoming Green’s teammate, Paschall’s father stressed an adage that would likely make Green nod in agreement. Juan Paschall often told his son, “the moment you’re the best player in a gym, you should find a new gym.”

It did not take long for Paschall to become the best player in his gym. By his junior year at Dobbs Ferry High School (Westchester, NY.), Paschall became only the fourth junior to win his hometown’s “Mr. Basketball” honor along with Elton Brand, Ben Gordon and Jabarie Hinds. He also led the Eagles to the Section 1 Finals after averaging 26 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists. As Paschall admitted, “I was by far the best player.”

No wonder former Fordham coach Tom Pecora laughed after recalling how his 10-year-old son gave him his own scouting report on Paschall when they attended one of his high school games.

“He goes, ‘This one kid is way too good to be playing with these other kids,’” Pecora recalled, laughing. “Here we are thinking we’re ‘Joe Recruiter’ and we can pick out talent.”

Since the talent around Paschall hardly matched his own, he soon felt unchallenged. Hence, the message that his father preached.

So after committing to Fordham for college, Paschall spent his senior year of high school at St. Thomas More Prep (Oakdale, Conn.), an all-boys prep school that coach Jere Quinn said has helped over 300 players receive scholarships. Quinn added, “we always run our program like it’s a college program” since players lived in dorms and completed more strenuous workouts.

“We never let Eric settle,” Quinn said. “As soon as we recognized he was settling, we sat him down.”

Those moments happened early on when Quinn disliked Paschall’s conditioning. Or when he observed that Paschall did not consistently arrive to the gym the moment it opened at 6:30 am. Eventually, Quinn noticed that “Eric flourished in discipline” and changed those habits.

Paschall noted that Quinn harped on him about “playing very aggressively and to have the confidence to be the best player on the floor at all times.” That soon became Paschall’s scouting report, despite being the program’s lone senior on a team full of fifth-year players. He also finished as the New England’s Prep School Athletic Council’s player of the year. Quinn concluded that “Eric flourished in discipline.” Unlike Green, Quinn observed Paschall as “a quiet leader.”

“He knows the game well enough like a poor man’s version of Al Horford, who can step away and score inside and score outside. But [Paschall] puts the ball on the floor a lot better,” Quinn said.“A lot of people try to equate him to Draymond Green, 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.”

Paschall wants that, though.

“It’s just to be ready for college in terms of being ready physically against better players,” Paschall said. “I felt like it was very necessary for me and my development.”

Paschall seemed more than ready at Fordham. In his debut, Paschall set a program record for most points as a freshman (31) along with 10 rebounds). He eventually became the Atlantic 10’s 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.”

Green has felt that way occasionally. He has argued countless times with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and coach Steve Kerr on the sideline. Green and Kerr infamously almost came to blows at halftime of a regular-season game three years ago after Kerr criticized Green’s shot selection. Last year, cameras caught Kerr telling assistant coach Mike Brown that “I’m so (bleeping) tired of Draymond.” Still, Green has forged strong relationships with Izzo and Kerr because of all of them are directly honest with each other and share a similar competitive fire.

Paschall hardly shows such body language. As Pecora said with a laugh about Paschall: “he was respectful to the guys he was dunking on.” As for Green, he often talks trash after stopping his opponent or making the occasional 3. Still, both players have remained extremely loyal and close with their past and present coaches.

Paschall showcased that when he resisted teams from trying to convince him to renege his commitment to Fordham. He demonstrated that again after Pecora was fired following a 10-21 record.

Afterwards, Pecora stressed he would support Paschall if he either wanted to stay or transfer. Since Paschall committed to Fordham because of Pecora, he wanted to leave. So Pecora became helpful with accommodating Paschall’s want to play for Wright. Pecora had been Wright’s associate head coach at Hofstra before he left for Villanova in 2001-02. Wright also considers Pecora “one of my best friends.”

“Tom let us know he is a winner,” Wright said. “You don’t have to promise him he’s going to get a certain number of shots or a certain number of minute.”

Paschall validated Pecora’s words with his own actions. During his official visit with Villanova, Paschall expressed indifference toward being the team’s leading scorer and stressed he remained consumed with becoming a complete player in a team-oriented culture. While sitting out in 2015-16 because of transfer rules, Paschall channeled his frustrations toward keeping his conditioning sharp, bulking up in the weight room and studying the team’s defensive schemes.

Though Paschall could not play in any games, he could still practice. In related news, Wright credited Paschall’s role for the Wildcast’ 2016 NCAA national championship because “our practices were sometimes harder than games.” Once Paschall returned in 2016-17, Paschall averaged a modest 7.2 points on 51.3 percent shooting and 3.8 rebounds on a team, while “doing the dirty work” as Wright put it.

“I wasn’t complaining about it,” Paschall said, “because you saw the results.”

Paschall then elevated his numbers in 2017-18 (10.6 points, 5.3 rebounds) and 2018-19 (16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds). He focused on what he called the “little details” that Wright stresses, including a strong defensive stance, spacing the floor and tempering step-back jumpers. In turn, Wright credited Paschall for being “a major part of our national championship” in 2017 and that “he took over the game” in the 2018 Big East championship because of his defensive versatility and hustle.

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. 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,” Wright said. “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 have the same qualities, but they recognize it takes time for any rookie to blossom fully. It would also take time for Paschall to live up to any Green comparisons.

Thankfully for Paschall, Green will be there to show him some tips. The Warriors also have a team-oriented culture with their front office, Kerr and Stephen Curry. And the Warriors believe Paschall can represent one of many key role players to offset the departures to Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala as well as an injured Klay Thompson to open next season.

One of the reasons? Paschall has thrived on reinventing his game, becoming a complete player and embracing every challenge that he faces. He also has admittedly felt like an underdog, saying he thought an NBA team would draft him in the first round. All of those things might remind the Warriors of Green.

“You just have to make yourself known at every stage,” Paschall said. “The competition gets better at every stage.”

Paschall will find that out soon once he competes against Green in practice. Paschall might find the competition easier, though, with Green on his side.

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