Jordan Poole Has Been, And Can Continue To Be, Elite
Having Stephen Curry has been a luxury for the Warriors. His brilliance has been able to mask a myriad of issues with the rosters he’s played with, and in his absence, it’s often that Golden State has issues staying afloat. But the Warriors are now on a win streak, own the best home record in the NBA, and Steph hasn’t played in 8 games. How is this possible?
Jordan Poole, the Steph Disciple, of course.
The 4th-year guard, coming off an offseason where he signed an extension to make him a Warrior for at least the next four or so years, is starting to turn a corner… again. Since Steph’s gone down, Poole has averaged 29.3 points per game (including two 40-balls), 3.5 assists, and 2.3 rebounds on 45% shooting from the field. He’s been excellent as the team’s first option, but he’s not getting it done in ways that we’ve come to expect from the third Splash Brother.
JP is currently shooting 30% from three over the last 8 games, which is not ideal from somebody who takes 45% of his shots from the outside. For a guy whose off-ball movement has been one of his best assets in the Warriors’ motion-heavy offense, he’s making only 29% of his catch-and-shoot threes, even in his stretch of excellent play. His efficiency as a whole is marred by the volume of triples he takes, and the clip he makes them at.
So it’s not his three-point shotmaking. While Poole had a dynamite performance against the Blazers on Friday, hitting 5 of his 10 threes en route to 41 points (which would’ve been a career high, had he not hung 43 on the Raptors last week), he’s struggled with shooting consistency.
Jordan’s shooting 58% from 2-point range in the last 8 games. The majority of that comes at the rim, where he’s converting just over 63% of his shots. His midrange game has been solid at 45%, but his volume indicates how he prefers to get his buckets. And he isn’t just getting those looks from his teammates: 51% of his shots within 8 feet are unassisted, meaning he got the opportunity to score on his own volition.
It’s no shock to anyone who watches the games that Poole is mostly great off the drive. He’s explosive and crafty, able to move at high speeds with a lightning-fast first step and the ability to finish at the rim in traffic. Where he tends to struggle is when he overcomplicates things, taking too many dribbles when one or two moves will work to beat a defender, or settling for shots which are much more difficult. He’s shooting 26% on stepbacks currently, including 18% from the outside.
Something interesting about that figure, however, is that his pull-up game has been perfectly fine. He’s shooting 48% on pull-up jumpers (and 37% on pull-up threes) since Steph has been sidelined. It’s almost as if the threat of his drive makes it harder for guys to contest him, as they don’t want to give up a lane to the basket because he can collapse the defense and force help that draws attention away from his teammates, who happen to be one of the NBA’s best shooting teams.
This stretch of 8 games for Jordan Poole has been incredibly important as the season moves forward. He’s built a rapport with fellow bench mob savant Donte DiVincenzo, as well as with the starters who he’ll often close games with. He’s been elite as a lead guard, putting up more points per game than anyone except for 10 other guys.
So how does he sustain it moving forward? The obvious first step is to continue putting on the rim pressure and utilizing the spacing his team provides to force defenses to help in space. His shot selection is the number one improvement he can make to do so, opting for a more drive-oriented game to capitalize on his strengths while working on getting his shot back. Some positive regression in terms of his shooting is expected, but in a lot of ways, he has the inverse skillset that Steph does, obviously to a much lesser degree: He can be so excellent at beating his man downhill that teams will play him with some space to shoot because they don’t want to have Poole triggering collapses, and once he gets his jumper back, he’ll be able to capitalize on that.
There is one big issue that he needs to clean up if he’s going to maintain this high a level once he moves back to the bench, however. Shocking to absolutely no one, a Warriors lead guard struggles mightily with turnovers that cap how well he can affect a game. Steph has gotten a lot better about it over the years, as one would expect from more experience, but the biggest earmark about JP’s excellent level recently is that he’s averaging 5 giveaways a game. In order to be elite without the starter minutes, he needs to clean them up, especially at a 0.7 assist-to-turnover ratio.
These strides and improvements will come with time, and in all honesty, Poole’s excellence has been such a high point that it’s hard to notice the shortcomings. He’s even serviceably average on defense, largely in part to the lineups he plays with but it’s an improvement. There’s plenty of room for him to maintain his elite level of play, so long as he keeps being patient and selecting his shots carefully.
(Photo credit: Harry How / Getty Images)