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Zaza Pachulia Will Exceed 2016-17 Season Expectations

By Angelo Mendoza

Dec 30, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Zaza Pachulia (27) drives to the basket as Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut (12) and Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) defend during the first half at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 30, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Zaza Pachulia (27) drives to the basket as Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut (12) and Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) defend during the first half at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia has the potential to become Andrew Bogut 2.0 in Steve Kerr‘s system.

Signing unrestricted free agent center Zaza Pachulia was the best move the Golden State Warriors made this offseason.

Even with Kevin Durant now replacing Harrison Barnes at the wing, no other Warriors signing in the 2016 offseason was better than Golden State adding Pachulia to their shallow frontcourt.

Not David West. Not Anderson Varejao. Not James Michael McAdoo. Not Ian Clark. Not Patrick McCaw. Not Damian Jones.

ZA. ZA. PACHULIA.

While the incredible tale of how Durant — one of three best players in the league — decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder after nine long years for the same team that knocked him out of the 2016 playoffs after being down 3-1 is certainly a story for the ages, it was no secret that Durant’s addition to the roster would come at the cost of at least two of their core players.

In the end, Golden State opted to keep the bench intact by retaining Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala, choosing to give up Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut, who both ended up with the Dallas Mavericks when everything was said and done.

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While Durant filling in for Barnes was certainly a relief for many fans that had grown frustrated with Barnes’ stunted growth, the glaring hole left by Bogut’s departure was unlikely to be filled by a player either equal to or better than Bogut in terms of overall team impact.

By team impact, of course I’m referring primarily to the fact Bogut had grown to be an important cog in Golden State’s system, anchoring their defense and providing the team with the kind of rim protection that the last couple decades of Warriors teams would have killed to have.

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For context, Bogut allowed a field goal percentage of 45.1 percent at the rim, ranked 7th in the NBA per Nylon Calculus. Bogut ranked 13th in contest percentage (36.2), 5th in points saved per 36 minutes (2.1), and 7th in points saved per game (1.21), as well.

Secondly, Steve Kerr‘s use of Bogut as a playmaker proved absolutely genius in the team’s championship season. In fact, Bogut posted a total of 180 assists over the course of the 2014-15 season per Basketball-Reference.com — his largest number in that category since the 2007-08 season. He also posted the team’s second highest assist ratio (27.3), which ranked 2nd among eligible centers per NBA Stats.

By comparison, it would seem like Pachulia would have a difficult time measuring up to Bogut, but looking at the numbers more closely reveals Pachulia has the potential to give the Warriors exactly what they wanted out of Bogut…and then some.

Starting off, Pachulia has proven to be a capable rebounder, which of course was something the Warriors so desperately needed throughout the 2016 playoffs.

Defensively speaking, Pachulia’s rebounding is on par with Bogut’s. This past season, Pachulia posted a defensive rebounding percentage of 26.2 percent to Bogut’s 25.2 percent. Offensively speaking, however, Pachulia’s offensive rebounding percentage of 13.7 percent is far more impressive than Bogut’s 9.4 percent.

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    • In addition, Pachulia’s unselfishness will surely surprise members of DubNation that are relatively unfamiliar with the Georgian big man, who ranked 10th among eligible centers in assist ratio this season (15.3) and 20th among eligible centers in assist percentage (10.1) per NBA Stats.

    While Pachulia’s per game average of 1.7 assists may not seem quite as great as Bogut’s 2.3, fans can expect Pachulia to get plenty more passing opportunities when surrounded by Golden State’s deep arsenal of shooters (as opposed to Dallas or Milwaukee).

    Lastly, Pachulia may not be the rim protector that Bogut continues to be, but the fact that Pachulia’s field goal percentage allowed at the rim was equal to that of Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (52.4) serves as evidence that Pachulia isn’t all that bad a defender as some believe.

    Many more will be shocked to find that Pachulia’s contest percentage of 34 percent, ranked 21st in the league this past season, was in fact better than that of Rudy Gobert, Nerlens Noel, Al Horford, Karl-Anthony Towns, DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol, and Anthony Davis — not to mention Drummond once again — per Nylon Calculus.

    And the cherry on top? Other than the fact Pachulia is a 74.6 percent free throw shooter and will likely be limited to playing a relatively small, but hopefully efficient role, the 32-year-old turned down a two-year deal with the Washington Wizards worth roughly $20 million…all to play for the 2016 runner-ups for $2.9 million.

    So sure, the Warriors are playing it pretty tight financially with Durant basically taking up both salary spots left over from Barnes and Bogut, but not only do the Warriors get a more-than-capable replacement for HB, but they also get a potential replacement for Bogut at nearly FOUR TIMES LESS THE COST.

    This guy was nearly voted a 2016 All-Star after averaging a double-double prior to the break, ends up averaging 8.6 points and 9.4 rebounds on 46.6 percent shooting with the Mavericks, then turns down $10 million a year for just a year worth less than $3 million…just to get a ring. At that price, averaging a double-double would be more than enough.

    Zaza Pachulia. Translation to English: light years ahead.

    Obvious caveat: Kerr needs to figure out HOW to play Pachulia. Pachulia shouldn’t be playing 20+ minutes a game, trying to be exactly like Bogut.

    If Kerr can find a way to utilize Pachulia in short, explosive bursts (same goes for the other true big men on the roster) then rely more so on Golden State’s small ball lineups, the rotation and overall gameplan will prove to be that much more solid. We’ve all seen what happens when Kerr plays Varejao too many minutes — a practice from which we want to stray away.

    Less Zaza is more Zaza.

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