Jordan Poole’s career has been on an up-and-down trajectory since he entered the league as the No. 28 overall pick in 2019.
From his rookie year struggles to his renaissance in the G League bubble to last year’s title run to his $123 million extension, Poole has been through a lot in his four NBA seasons. After his struggles in the first-round against the Kings were a hotly discussed topic, Poole found himself in the spotlight again after Game 1 against the Lakers, when his last-minute 3-pointer from 27 feet rimmed out.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr joined 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” Wednesday and said he understands that there is a lot of attention heaped onto the 23-year-old. At the end of his interview, Kerr discussed how Poole has navigated the playoffs so far.
“I loved Jordan’s game last night, I loved his approach,” Kerr told hosts Mark Willard and Dan Dibley. “He’s pretty mentally tough. Jordan is a guy – who is a little bit of a lightning rod. People are judging him on a daily basis. It's not easy as a young player and young person to have that type of scrutiny with your every move. The way he responded last night – knocking down shots, competing, boxing out, fighting over screens – I thought Jordan was great.”
Like he said in his postgame address, Kerr reiterated that he had no problem with Poole’s final shot. But he conceded JP maybe could have moved a bit closer to the 3-point line. Though the clock was running below 10 seconds, Poole was open as Jarred Vanderbilt tried to close out late.
“I loved his confidence and his willingness to try and step up and try to knock that thing down,” Kerr said of Poole. “But he could have been a closer to the line, made it a slightly easier, for sure.”
Poole ended up with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 6-of-11 from 3-point land, along with six assists and no turnovers. The Warriors will need Poole’s shooting to continue to space out the bigger Lakers and unclog the paint.
“Every game’s different,” Kerr said. “You never know how things are gonna play out, but we do know that we’ll need Jordan to be aggressive. I have great faith in him.”
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