With fresh haircut, Warriors’ Poole ready to excel in second season.
Secondyear guard appears ready to embrace bigger role in rotation
the eve of the Warriors’ first practice of training camp, a Bay Area photographer named Chano tweeted two pictures of Jordan Poole with a prediction: “He gonna go off this season.”
Part of the reason behind that forecast was Poole’s hairstyle in the two photos. The long, curly mane he wore during his rookie season with the Warriors and two years at Michigan had been traded in for a traditional buzz cut.
Those close to Poole believe that the new hairdo represents a personal transformation of sorts. During a nearly ninemonth offseason defined by the uncertainty of the coronaOn
virus pandemic, Poole, 21, spent much of his time studying video from his upanddown rookie season. His big takeaway: Far too often, Poole overcomplicated his movements. A simpler approach would better serve him in his second NBA season.
By cutting off the curly locks that had become his trademark, Poole was telling the world — and, perhaps more importantly, himself — that he was ready for the next phase of his career. With Klay Thompson out for the season with a torn right Achilles tendon, the Warriors need Poole to provide wing depth behind Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre, Jr.
From time to time, Golden State also will ask Poole to fill a role as a secondary ballhandler. His 3point clip must be better than the 27.9% he posted as a rookie. On defense, Poole needs to make better use of his 6foot7 wingspan and improve his understanding of angles.
The reviews from his offseason workouts suggest that he is poised for a breakthrough. But if Poole reverts to bad habits and again looks overwhelmed on an NBA court, he could be at risk of not being brought back to the Warriors for 202122. The final two seasons of his fouryear rookie contract have a team option.
“I’m in competition with myself, and I’m just trying to get 1% better every day,” Poole said. “It sounds pretty cliche, but if you get 1% better for how many days, you get a lot of percent better. It’s important to keep it simple.”
This started to become a theme for Poole last season.
Just a few months removed from hearing 27 names called before his on draft night, he was thrust into the Warriors’ rotation when injuries thinned their wing depth. The problem for him was that he had been drafted as somewhat of a developmental project. After being a complementary option for Michigan as a catchandshoot specialist, Poole struggled to read NBA defenses and find open looks.
As his shooting percentages hovered among the league’s worst, he deviated from the Warriors’ motion system, lacing dribbles between his legs before he flung up illadvised jumpers late in the shot clock.
To help him find a rhythm, the Warriors sent him last December to the G League, where he averaged 26 points on 46.3% shooting ( 42.3% from 3point range) in three games with Santa Cruz.
Poole returned to Golden State more efficient in his movements. Impressed with Poole’s decisionmaking and ballhandling, head coach Steve Kerr started him a handful of times at point guard. During a fivegame period beginning in late February, Poole averaged 16.8 points on 49.2% shooting, 5.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 31.4 minutes.
By the time the NBA shut down in midMarch to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, Poole was making a case for a spot in the Warriors’ longterm plans. What most resonated with Kerr was the rookie’s resilience. Young players who endure heavy public scrutiny often let their season derail, but Poole recalibrated and, in the process, showed the Warriors that he can be more than just a spotup shooter.
During the shutdown, Poole pored over video of all 1,274 minutes he logged as a rookie. In June, when the Warriors finally reopened their practice facility to players, Poole started working out five times a week with assistant coach Chris DeMarco.
As DeMarco took Poole through drills focused on facilitating and defensive spacing, he noticed an urgency in Poole that he hadn’t seen last season. Poole has long heard from coaches that players often make their biggest gains between their first and second NBA seasons.
Few players are a better example of that than Thompson, who flashed enough potential as a rookie for Golden State to trade Monta Ellis to Milwaukee in March of that season, in part, to create more playing time for him. The following summer, Thompson slogged through a 16week defensive boot camp with assistant coach Darren Erman, knocked down several hundred jumpers a day and began blossoming into a twoway force.
No one within the Warriors’ organization expects Poole to become the next Thompson, but coaches see parallels in the players’ offseason diligence. DeMarco, who has worked closely with both Thompson and Poole, told The Chronicle, “People are just starting to see what Jordan is capable of. With the way he puts in work, I have no doubt he’s going to surprise some people.”
Added Kerr: “He’s been our most consistent worker. Day in and day out, he’s been at Chase Center working with our coaches. He’s put the time and the effort in. He’s really earned the right to play and get his opportunity.”
Poole also cut back on social media. With a potentially makeorbreak season looming, he wanted to keep his life as simple as possible. Cutting his long, curly mane was just part of that process.
“Having so much time off until our next game gave me a lot of time to learn, a lot of time to think and a lot of time to analyze and just grow — whether it’s on the court, off the court, mentally, emotionally, spiritually,” said Poole, who recommitted himself to the weight room over the summer and added several pounds of muscle. “The period in between games gave me a lot of excitement to want to come back.”