Out of the Kiddie Poole: How Jordan Poole is Taking the NBA by Storm
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You’ve seen it too many times before.
Some variation of: Draymond Green passes the ball from beyond the 3-point line to a Warriors big (be it Andrew Bogut all those years ago, Zaza Pachulia, or now, Kevon Looney). A Splash Brother, waiting at the top of the key, immediately jets towards Green, who sets a screen behind the line. The big with the ball then kicks it right out to the Splash Bro, who, having just been given a sliver of daylight from Green’s screen, pulls up and cashes a wide open 3.
But if you tune into a 2022 Warriors game, someone else is taking those shots too: Jordan Poole. The third-year guard took one of the biggest year-to-year leaps in NBA history this season, from a G-League regular to one of the most electrifying scorers in the league on a team with realistic title hopes.
But what’s nearly as impressive is how seamlessly he fits in to Golden State’s offense. Rarely do you have a young star growing into an established system, surrounded by Hall of Famers with significant roles, take on a role like Poole has. It’s a testament to his skills, the Warriors’ development staff, and, most importantly as it pertains to roles on the court, Curry, Thompson, and especially, Green. Their ability to integrate Poole into the offense not only gives it an entirely new dimension, but has turned Golden State into maybe the most dangerous team in the league.
Poole’s scoring prowess has quickly turned him into one of the most valuable players in the NBA. What pops out the most are the 3s. And honestly, yeah. They’re incredible.
Poole developing into a 37% shooter from deep has opened up the floodgates, turning him into a real threat with or without the ball. His unique, herky-jerky handle is tight enough to where he can make complex moves with the ball and generate separation. Few players in the league possess Poole’s combination of footwork, skill, and unabashed confidence, which leads to plays like these.
He uses these skills in other scoring areas, too. His footwork in the midrange is genuinely elite:
Only 8% of Poole’s shots came from the long midrange this regular season, per Cleaning the Glass; when these shots become more available in the playoffs, Poole’s skills will only become more valuable. We are already witnessing the fruits: 70% of Poole’s 3-pointers and 40% of his midrangers were assisted during the regular season; those numbers went down to 40% and 17%, respectively, during their first-round series vs. Denver, when Poole shot 50% from 3 and 57% from the midrange. Golden State having another shooter around Curry and Thompson who can operate both with and without the ball is invaluable to the variety and pressure of their offense.
Poole is also effective in transition. Off of live balls, he pushes the bill:
He also runs out after turnovers, looking to create easy offense:
Poole isn’t perfect; he takes too few shots at the rim (23% during the regular season down to 17% in the playoffs, placing him in the 31st percentile among guards, per CTG). His handle can get him into some trouble:
But in the face of these flaws, it’s important to be reminded of Poole’s incredibly rapid growth. A season ago, he was in the G-League, and his NBA future was anything but certain. To go from that to this in such a small period of time is just about unprecedented in the history of the league. Poole has plenty of time to work on his shot diet and handle; he’s come this far without much time at all.
Golden State isn’t built on scoring, though. To succeed in Steve Kerr’s offense, you need to be willing to move on and off the ball, make quick decisions, and read & react to every play. Poole’s growth within that offense cannot be overlooked as one of the most important pieces of his growth in Golden State. And it is here that we get to the player who, more than any other on the Warriors, demonstrates just how much Jordan Poole has grown: Draymond Green.
The trust built between Poole and Green over the past three seasons has started to yield tangible results for the Warriors. The chemistry Green built with Curry and Thompson over the course of their dynasty created an unstoppable offense when humming, and Poole has become a part of that.
This is a play Curry and Thompson have run hundreds of times, if not more, during their careers. Poole has slid right into their role, which inherently means Green, too, has played a role in getting him there. The trust Green has put into Poole is incredibly significant; Green sometimes chooses to get Poole a shot that could have gone to Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson! But that trust has proven to be worth it, and both Poole and Green are taking full advantage. Sometimes, it’s as simple as a quick dribble handoff:
Sometimes, there’s more nuance. Watch this play involving Poole, Green and Kevon Looney:
Poole has the ball in between Green, positioned between the elbow and the baseline, and Looney, ready to screen to get Poole open above the break. Zach Collins is between Poole and Looney to prepare for a potential screen action, which leaves the baseline wide open. Seeing this, Poole gets the ball to Green and runs into a dribble handoff in order to attack the gap with momentum. Josh Primo and Keldon Johnson blitz the handoff, which is where Poole’s individual skills come into play. Breaking down Johnson and moving fast enough to capitalize on the baseline space, Poole slithers to the rim for the finish.
It’s this combination of synergy and skill that has made the Poole/Green duo so deadly. As that synergy has improved, Poole and Green have become great improvisers, a key cog in why the Green/Curry two-man game has thrived for so long.
The on-the-fly decision making here is the hallmark of good chemistry. When you give a basketball mind as advanced and fast-processing as Green’s a tool as potent as Poole to work with, you get results like this. Green and Poole barely acknowledge each other. One second, they’re jogging down the floor; the next, Poole is wide open off a Green screen. The defense doesn’t even have time to really process it. It just happens.
From Stephen Curry’s foot injury until the start of the playoffs, the Warriors struggled as a team overall, but Poole flourished. In those 12 games, Draymond Green averaged 24.8 passes to Poole per game. (Second? Kevon Looney at 9.1). To put that into perspective, here are Draymond’s average passes per game to Curry every season since 2014-15 (except 2019-20, when Curry played 5 games), per NBA.com:
2014-15: 21.9
2015-16: 28.9
2016-17: 23.9
2017-18: 19.7
2018-19: 18.6
2020-21: 29.0
2021-22: 12.4
During the 3 seasons in which Green passed more to Curry than he did to Poole to close this season, Curry won 2 MVPs, 2 scoring titles and a championship. Attributing Curry’s greatness to Green is silly and that isn’t the point of this. Rather, it speaks to Green’s incredible ability to amplify perimeter players within an offensive scheme. Green and Poole’s game within the game has become an integral—and deadly—piece of Golden State’s offense. Lineups with Poole, Green and Curry (without whom the Warriors routinely struggle) boast a +12.9 net rating per CTG, the mark of an utterly elite grouping of players.
Green’s intellect and unselfishness make him the perfect big man complement for a scoring guard, provided they have enough intellect and unselfishness themselves. Poole has proven that he possesses the smarts and the skills to make it work.
Golden State now having three star-level scoring threats who are all wonderful complements to their primary playmaker gives them a level of potency they haven’t seen since Kevin Durant was in town. But Poole’s role in the offense isn’t just as a play-finisher. In fact, he has become better as a playmaker and passer with the ball in his hands within their system.
Here, Klay Thompson sets a ghost screen for Poole which the Pelicans switch, putting the tiny Jose Alvarado on Thompson. Thompson then jets past Green, who sets a quick screen on the perimeter. Poole, seeing the size mismatch and the space Thompson created for himself, gets him the ball on the move. Three points, Golden State.
Passes like this may seem simple, but they all play into Golden State’s read-and-react identity. Someone is always moving; an advantage is always being created. It’s on the players to find it and capitalize. Poole has obviously been a beneficiary of this from a scoring perspective, but he also creates looks for others within the scheme.
Poole’s assist percentage climbed up to 20.7% this season after 2 stagnant years at around 15%. This demonstrated growth as a passer is indicative of how well he plays in Golden State’s offense, particularly its read-and-react nature:
Here, Green and Looney set up Double Drag, where Thompson starts in the corner and runs to the top of the key, running his defender through 2 screens at the very start of the possession. Crossmatched to weird matchups in transition, Jeff Green and Will Barton mess up the first screen, leaving Klay wide open. Instead of waiting for the play to develop, Poole realizes this and whips him the ball early, generating a wide open 3.
If you’ve noticed that all of these plays have ended in a Klay Thompson 3, that’s not by accident. Poole assisted on the second most Thompson shots of any player this season, only behind Curry, per PBP Stats. Whether that speaks more to their synergy or their roles within Golden State’s offense is a question, but the results are the same regardless. This came to a head in Game 4 of the Denver series, where Poole assisted on 6(!!!) Thompson 3-point makes.
The role that Poole has taken on in Golden State requires a lot out of him physically and mentally. From running off screens on one possession to bringing the ball up the floor and making the correct play on the next, Poole has a lot of responsibility to deliver. To this point, he hasn’t only embraced it, but he thrives in it.
This has all been an incredible development for the Warriors, who have spent the past 2 years trying to straddle maximizing the Curry/Thompson/Green core while it still exists and building for a life post-dynasty. Fans and pundits alike have criticized this mentality, pointing to things like the Warriors’ choice to draft James Wiseman over All-Star LaMelo Ball, the choice to use both lottery picks they held in the 2021 NBA Draft (which became Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody) instead of trading one or both for veteran help, and the entire Alen Smailagic saga (if you don’t know, honestly good for you).
Poole is the bridge. His rise has, for now, justified this mentality in a gigantic way. It’s really rare for a team with one Hall of Famer, let alone three, to accept a young budding star into their ecosystem to mutual benefit. Even Kawhi Leonard, who won a title next to Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, wasn’t this big this fast. Poole’s seamless fit in Golden State’s ecosystem is incredibly unique, and beautiful to watch. The torch is being passed from Curry and Thompson, through Green, to Poole before our very eyes. Golden State’s proven ability to fit Poole right into what has won them championships in the past might just lead them to doing it again.