Getty Jordan Poole defends Maxi Kleber during a playoff game between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks.
Of all the weirdness that has surrounded the Golden State Warriors in the early campaign, the stuff involving rising star Jordan Poole has been the weirdest. It began when Draymond Green decided to… aggressively use the baller’s face as a resting place for his fist? And the strangeness has continued into the regular season with Poole largely failing to make a positive impact on the court.
Given the way in which Poole broke out last season — not to mention the fact that the Dubs essentially branded him as the face of the franchise’s future by giving him a massive contract extension — his early-season struggles have been a jaw-dropper.
As weird and wild as his underperformance has been, though, Poole’s continued missteps on the defensive end have arguably been the biggest issue.
The 23-year-old is hardly the source of all the Warriors’ early-season woes. But if he can’t improve on the 115.9 D-rating he was posting heading into Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings, the club is going to have a tough time successfully defending its title.
How can Poole actually get better at guarding, though? Is there a specific area of improvement he should be focusing on? A Western Conference coach recently gave Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney his opinion on the situation.
Coach Sounds Off on Poole’s Lackluster D
While Poole’s extension was reported to be in the $140 million range over a four-year span, a lot of that money can only be earned in the event that he qualifies for some unlikely incentives. That includes a $1 million payout for each and every time he captures the league’s Defensive Player of the Year trophy.
Here’s what the aforementioned coach thought about that specific clause in Poole’s deal, via Deveney:
I laughed when I saw they put that in his contract. It’s a smart thing to do, because it sends a message to him, like, ‘Hey, we think you can be a lot better than you are.’ They get on him a lot about it, if you watch Steph [Curry] or Steve Kerr or the coaches… [Andre] Iguodala. Because, really, he is a lot like [Andrew] Wiggins in this way — the only thing keeping him from being a very good defensive player is between his ears.
With that being the case, the coach believes that Poole’s best avenue toward becoming a serviceable defender would be to establish a blueprint for how-when-why he responds to what opposing offenses are doing on the court.
Consistency, Consistency, Consistency
Asked whether there was a specific thing Poole should be focusing on where checking the opponent is concerned, the coach maintained that it was as simple as doing the same thing every time (and doing so with thought/purpose).
“It is consistency,” the coach said. “It is getting rid of dumb mistakes, chasing the wrong guy, getting caught up in a bad screen. Physically, he has the tools to be a really good defensive player and there are times he puts it all together and you think, uh-oh, as an opponent. Because he can be really good and if he gets that part of the game; that is one less weak link you can attack them with. You can’t set him up for the switch the way you want to do now.
“But, it’s a thing where you watch him and you say, get into position, man. Every time, get your feet right, bend, watch the hips. That is where it starts for him.”