What has happened to Jordan Poole?
During Monday’s edition of 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast,” hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky were trying to solve the riddle of Poole’s drop in production during the postseason.
While Shasky called Poole “horrific,” Bonta used the word “awful.” In 10 games this postseason, Poole is averaging 11.6 points per game while shooting just 35.5 percent from the floor and 28.8 percent from the 3-point line. Check out their reactions on the YouTube video below.
“I know we keep pivoting back to the (Draymond Green) punch (in October),” Shasky said. “That, to me, feels a little bit reactionary when he has a bad game. I’m kinda nauseated and exhausted by that as a backdrop excuse. Why does he not feel for the game, and play so quick? What is it? Is he just a streaky player? Is he simply erratic? Did we crown him too soon? He was really good in the playoffs last year and he hasn’t come close to that this year? Why? Is it the surrounding cast?”
Even though Poole's four-year, $123 million extension is about to kick in for the 2022-23 season, many Warriors fans on social media have argued that Poole needs to be traded.
“I don’t know, maybe he needs a change of scenery,” Bonta said. “I don’t know. I can’t answer that. I’m not at practice, I’m not at coaches’ meetings. What I see with my own two eyes, is I see a player who’s indecisive. I see a player on defense, let’s face it man, teams hunt him all day long. He plays defense half the time with his hands down. You can’t do that.”
Rotations tighten up in the postseason, so minutes have been harder to come by for young players like Poole and Jonathan Kuminga. For now, they still have to be considered the centerpieces of the next wave of Warriors, along with Moses Moody, who has leapfrogged JK in Steve Kerr's rotation.
Poole is known for being a scorer, but has been a relative non-factor in fourth quarters throughout the postseason, when the Warriors need to get stops. At the beginning of the season, Kerr singled out Poole’s defense as a limiting factor for his playoff playing time. Those restrictions are still in place.
“He’s not moving his feet, he’s not moving his legs,” Bonta said. “For as good as his footwork is offensively – because he can get to the cup, he can do things with the basketball that this team can do. But defensively, it’s like his feet are stuck in cement. Like he’s playing in quicksand, defensively. Then he has his hands down, then he’s getting beat on backdoor cuts. He’s not aware of anything. When he’s playing in the zone, he gets lost.”
Last year in the playoffs, Poole averaged 17 points per game on 50.8 percent shooting and 39.1 percent from 3-point land. He had a penchant for hitting clutch shots during the postseason, but that talent has seemed to dry up.
It’s worth mentioning that Poole is still just 23 years old and going through the lumps that a lot of young players experience. What’s alarming is it seems he is regressing from last year’s leap. If the Warriors want to repeat, they’ll need Poole’s scoring and composure, because his out of control dribbling and poor late-game management has been an issue all season long.
