Zaza Pachulia Is Going Around Slapping People Now, And Me Thinks The Warriors Have Rubbed Off On Him

Zaza back at it again □□‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/Z9zqVAnG31

— NBA Lowdown (@NBALowdown) January 24, 2017

Excuse my ignorance here, but has Zaza Pachulia always acted like a tough guy or is this a recent development? I should probably know that answer already, but - unfortunately - I don't pay much attention to dime-a-dozen European big men that spend a majority of their career rotting away in Atlanta and Milwaukee so I'm not too familiar with his reputation prior to joining the most villainous team in basketball. This might be a risky proposition, but I think I am going to assume that I would have heard about it if he was going around blatantly slapping opponents upside the head prior to arriving in Golden State.

If that is - indeed - the case then it's pretty clear that we have a perfect example of a man not being able to handle success. One fan vote that was completely rigged for comedic purposes goes his way and all the sudden Zaza fucking Pachulia is carelessly throwing his limbs around like he's Draymond Green. A couple months at the top of the food chain and he's bodychecking Russell Westbrook and standing over him like he's not just roster filler that's being paid the veteran's minimum to grab a few rebounds and get the fuck out of the way. I may not like the Warriors, but at least their "Top Guns" have earned the right to be cocky, insufferable assholes. The same can't be said for the guy that was jettisoned from the Dallas Mavericks only to show up as an extra in an All-Star cast thinking it's okay for him to temporarily assume the role of 'Maverick'.

Zaza Pachulia takes down Westbrook. pic.twitter.com/2Ly6clfhAc

— SLAM Magazine (@SLAMonline) January 19, 2017