Jordan Poole: 31-8-9
Jordan Poole comes off the bench to lead GSW to big game 1 win over Memphis. Congrats to you, man.
wASn’T NbA ready!
But he was drafted in the first round and grew into it.
His hair was too heavy. When he cut it, he could jump higher, thus cutting down the angle necessary to make shots. #science!
This is true, current hair is also more aerodynamic. #science!
NBA isnt ready*
FIFY
for this jelly
This is such a tired take. Jordan Poole did not have the smoothest transition from college to NBA and it's quite possible that it would have been a smoother transition with another year of college. He got paid to develop his game. That's awesome for him. But stop acting like people were wrong to think he wasn't quite ready for the NBA because hes having success 3 years after he was drafted.
I find it to be a considerably less tired take than the generally accepted one, that when it comes to college sports less time on task is the best path to improvement.
Agreed. Do we have to relitigate this every time his name comes up? Clearly he is a great NBA player. Let's just talk about that.
"Not ready for the NBA" does not mean "will never be ready for the NBA."
Most people thought he had pro potential, but didn't know if he would get picked in the first round, which is basically what "ready for the NBA" means.
As it turned out he did get picked in the first round, though he had to sweat it out until Golden State came through with the 28th pick.
All in all, things worked out for Jordan. Good for him, and who gives a flying fuck how he got there? Everyone who graduates from Michigan takes a roundabout path to realize their career objectives, but athletes get singled out for criticism if their path isn't what we think it should be. We should all go fuck ourselves.
He reminds me a bit of a shorter Steve Smith. He has that silky smooth drive to the basket where it looks like people are stuck in quick sand around him. Get your rookie cards why you still can folks!
He's playing with an unreal confidence and has emerged as a leader already in his young career. If you haven't watched him play lately I highly suggest you do so. He's singlehandedly (for me at least) brought excitement back to watching the NBA that I haven't really had since the 90s
Don’t be ridiculous.
He clearly uses both his hands.
Memphis actually looked better than I thought, unless they were kind of going through the motions against Minnesota, because 2 or 3 of Memphis' wins could have easily gone Minnesota's way. I saw some "analyst" say take GS and Boston giving the points, GSW was favored b +2.5 and Boston by 5 - gulp!
He is the only reason I’ve been watching the NBA playoffs
Congrats to Jordan for proving the naysayers wrong. I admit I was a naysayer when he declared.
Go Blue!
I say this in every JP thread, I'm in the bay area, he wasn't ready out of college, he was criticized a ton for taking bad shots, defense (sound familiar?) and was sent to the G-league, twice. There were people that thought the Warriors did better with their second round pick, Eric Paschall, from Villanova. You could argue that he would get better preparation in the NBA instead of UM, sure.
I'm also in the Bay Area.
As a Michigan fan, I was disappointed that Poole left after his sophomore season because I truly believed he would be an All-American caliber player as a junior and a lottery pick.
But as a Golden State Warriors fan, I was THRILLED because it allowed Golden State to pick him. If Poole had gone to the NBA one year later, he would've been out of our range.
Poole's decision to leave one year sooner than he should've ended up being a major blessing for the Warriors.
Poole had a LEGENDARY workout with the Warriors who were extremely impressed by him in the pre-draft process. He also had a strong workout with the Spurs. Odds are if Warriors hadn't drafted him, then the Spurs would have (which would've been super annoying to me as a Warriors fan).
Instead, Warriors now have a ridiculous amazing young player who is on pace to earn a max contract and become a future cornerstone who extends their NBA Championship window.
-----
A lot of Warriors fans doubted the pick because (1) they had no idea who Poole was and (2) he wasn't projected to go to the Warriors in any of the mock drafts.Warriors fans wanted someone else like Keldon Johnson or Bol Bol.
Poole had a rough rookie season (2019-20) but that Warriors team was missing Klay Thompson and then Steph Curry. So Poole was thrown to the fire. A GLeague stint his rookie season did wonders for him. If you look at his numbers in the NBA pre-GLeague and post-GLeague, there was substantial proof that he was much improved.
Heading into his 2nd season, Steve Kerr mentioned at how amazed he was at Jordan Poole's improvement which meant JP had worked his ass off during the summer to get better. But strangely, Poole didn't get many minutes in meaningful games (because Kerr has a tendency to overrely on vets). But Poole was sent to the GLeague once again and he returned an even more improved player. Over the final 2 months of his 2nd season, Poole was putting up some very impressive numbers.
Fastforward to this season, Warriors coaches/players/management were giddy about how much Poole had improved yet again. He showed out in the preseason with big outings. And then in March of this season (when Poole was inserted into the starting lineup), Poole started putting up ridiculous MVP-caliber numbers when he was permanently inserted as a starter. He has stayed hot ever since and is now validating that stretch by balling out against elite teams in the playoffs.
Steph Curry + Klay Thompons + Draymond Green is the dynastic proven older core.
Jordan Poole + Jonathan Kuminga + Moses Moody is the hungry next gen core.
(We'll see on Wiseman but he hasn't shown enough to be trusted.)
Warriors might be the rare franchise that can harmonize and pull off the "2 timelines" approach.
tldr
Early in the 2nd round, but Jordan has been the best Warrior in the playoffs.
A star is born! Did not see that coming!
I was a 'don't go' guy, but he clearly had the gumption and believed in himself. Go Jordan and Go Blue!
This got me thinking about our 2018 championship game, even though we were dominated, both teams have put alot of good players in the NBA. With Simpson getting some NBA run recently, thats5 NBA players that Michigan produced from that team. And a couple are big contributors on championship caliber teams in Poole and Duncan Robinson. Wish we could rematch Villanova!
That max contract is going to be something else. 5 year 186 million
I remember being pissed when I saw the taxes that were taken out of my pay at the end of my first year. Can you imagine the taxes on $37 million?
I would be more than happy to have his W-2, even now.
Nice! The 3-minute ESPN highlight package has only 1 clip of Poole — it's all Curry, Draymond, Klay, and Ja. Had no idea of his dominant performance til I saw your post.
Let's also make sure to note that Nik Stauskas saw the floor for the Celtics in a loss. +/- may be a flawed stat, but Nik ended up with a +2 ;) GO BLUE
Can you imagine a player with those stats not getting the lead for game highlights? Crazy.
Yeah, the ESPN national segment didn't highlight Poole's very impressive performance but the NBA's official channels (on Twitter, YouTube, native site), ESPN's YouTube Channel, and Golden State Warriors all shined a spotlight on Poole.
31-8-9, so no triple double?
Do not want...
Jordan did lead the Warriors with double digit 10+ in the (+/-) stats, so there’s that.
Nice piece on Poole from cbs sports (with gifs!): Poole's scoring has been electric in his first postseason, but don't ignore his crucial work as a facilitator
They are calling him Splash brother Jr. Quite a compliment. Good for him.
He was the biggest impact player for the warriors yesterday, which is saying something. At one point they were playing a Beilein-esque small 5 shooter offense
I am blown away by his passing in the extended highlights I watched. Just some unbelievable, quick, heady decisions and deliveries. I don't remember that being a huge part of his game with UM but maybe I'm not remembering correctly?
Congrats to Jordan for his great play recently.
Now the big question: Does a player develop more in college, playing ball while also playing school? Or does it make more sense to leave early and play ball full time? I wonder if that's what Houstan and Diabate are considering right now. It might not be about 1st vs. 2nd round draft pick, just about catching on with NBA tutelage to help you develop.
All else equal, you will probably develop more in the pros as you are going up against older, more talented players and have more time to work on your game.
But all else may not be equal. If a guy is picked in the first round, he has the security of a guaranteed contract and can expect that his team will give him a few years to develop. OTOH, a 2nd-round pick or undrafted free agent is a lower priority for a team, and it may choose to cut a guy loose if he doesn't show quick progress.
If you're projected to go in the first round, it's an easy choice to go pro, unless you simply love the college experience. A second-round projection is dicier.
It's a good question and I'd take the easy way out and argue it's a case-by-case basis. Maybe the biggest distinction I see: Developing NBA Talents or NBA Mental vs. Fundamentals or basic athletic gains (without running out the timer of your rookie contract).
Best recent B1G examples for each extreme(in hindsight):
Jordan Poole needed an NBA mindset to compliment his strong ball skills, shifty-ness, and stroke. How much would he benefit from playing within typical NCAA slower set offenses vs. GSW's quick, flowing guard-dominated offense? I'd argue Jaden Ivey will fit here with great physical tools for a star player.
Bigs like Garza and Dickinson have pretty glaring physical / developmental holes to hang on an NBA roster, and traditionally they hang around. Kofi stuck longer without a pure shooting / spot up game. It seems harder to find a wing / guard in this situation, maybe a Denzel Valentine who was NBA-sized but tried to develop a 3pt shot -- or Caris LeVert who desperately needed some weight
So hard to root for any team with Draymond Green on it.