When someone brings up the Golden State Warriors, who comes to mind? Most would say Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, or Draymond Green. Well, add Jordan Poole to that list. As of writing this, the Warriors are leading the Nuggets 3-0 in the best of seven series. In Game One, Jordan Poole dropped 30 points, which made him the leading scorer for both teams. In Game Two, he scored 29 points and had 8 assists. Finally, in Game Three, he had 27 points. We all knew the Warriors were good; however, a lot of people wondered how the Warriors would do if Steph Curry had an off night. Now we have an answer – they can still win. And not just that, they can still dominate.
Now let’s get into how this 22 year old has come to this point of his career. Poole played for Michigan in college and was very solid there, averaging 12.8 points per game. After college, he declared for the draft and was selected 28th overall by Golden State. In his first season for the Dubs, Poole played 22 minutes per game, averaging 8.8 points. This is not good, especially because his shooting splits were atrocious. He shot a 33% field goal percentage and a 27.9% three point percentage. If you don’t know, a solid field goal percentage is 45% and a solid three point percentage is 35%. That shows how bad his rookie season was. As you would expect, after this less than stellar performance, Poole was assigned to the G-League. However, he came back in his second year as a much improved shooter. His three point, field goal, and free throw percentages were up significantly. Now let’s get into how he became so good this season.
It all started during this year’s pre-season. In the first game, Poole surprised us all and scored 30 points. He continued to shock all pre-season and won a spot on the All Pre-season Team. He averaged 21.8 points per game. Now you might say, it’s just pre-season and it doesn’t mean that much. You would be correct. No one thought Poole could translate his stats to the regular season. However this season, Poole has done just that. This season, Poole has averaged 18.5 points per game with elite shooting percentages. He has a field goal percentage of 44.8%, a three point percentage of 36.4%, and a free throw percentage of 92.5%. He is now known as one of the most elite shooters in the NBA. Even after this great regular season, he still found a way to turn it up in the playoffs.
Now that the Warriors have created, “The Death Lineup”, it doesn’t look like anything will be stopping them. If Curry has an off game, Poole and Thompson will be there. If Poole has an off game, Curry and Thompson will be there. You get the point. And then there’s Draymond Green, always a consistent player. No matter what happens, the Warriors, without a doubt, will be one of the most exciting teams to watch in this series and in many future seasons to come.
Third Down With Devin 