Draymond Green has never hidden from the fact that he detests the voting process for NBA awards, and seeing his teammate get snubbed really set off the Golden State Warriors star.
Jordan Poole has emerged as a key figure on the Warriors, who currently sit ahead of the Denver Nuggets 2-0 in their playoff series. During the regular season, Poole went from reserve player to key part of the rotation and regular starter, improving his shooting from his first two seasons while becoming the league leader in free throw percentage.
But when finalists were named for the NBA’s Most Improved Player, which is voted on by the media, it was Ja Morant, Darius Garland and Dejounte Murray, with Poole missing the cut.
Whatever the case for the snub, Green on his podcast, amid a rant about the voting process, took aim at voters for not including Poole.
“It’s a shame that Jordan Poole – not only will he not win Most Improved Player, he’s actually not even in the top three, and he’s actually the most improved player in the NBA," Green said. "The kid is out there looking like Steph Curry, 12 months ago he was on his way out of the NBA. He’s now in the playoffs looking like Stephen or Dell. That’s who he’s out there looking like now, and y’all mean to tell me that a kid who was on his way out of the NBA 12 months ago is now out there mimicking and looking like Stephen Curry? …
“He’s out there mimicking Steph, he’s doing an incredible job doing it, 12 months ago the kid was almost out of the NBA and he’s not the Most Improved Player? You’re out of your mind. You are out of your mind that he’s not the most Improved Player – which he isn’t by these terrible standards that we have to live by. … Y’all wonder why I say basketball heads don’t know basketball, you clearly don’t know basketball.”
Poole has been on a tear this postseason, and if the Warriors make a deep run he could be the playoff hero who helps push Golden State forward.
Presumably, that would be satisfaction enough for him, even if he didn’t get a fair shake in the voting process.
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