End of Season Grades: Jordan Poole

Hey y’all! Been a diehard wizards fan for a few years now lurking the sub. I’ve been looking forward to us tanking for a while now and PHEW what a ride! As a hooper and avid nba fan in general I think I’m pretty knowledgeable about the game so I’ll start posting on this sub and see how it goes, so lemme know what y’all think!
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STATS:
17.4 PTS 2.7 REB 4.4 AST 1.1 STL 2.4 TOV

41.3% FG 32.3% 3PT 87.7% FT

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EVALUATION:

So… Jordan Poole. Where do I start?

Pretty much as up and down of a season as you can get. C- is fair imo. We all know how bad he was to start the year, no need to rag on him with that. But in short he seemed super out of his element and lacked the twitch and burst he had in years prior with Golden State. Wes was notorious for utilizing him the wrong way this year, and for good reason! Poole played ~70% of his minutes at point guard last year. It’d be hard for anyone to adjust swapping positions and roles from a primary on ball creator to someone mostly playing off ball and being plopped in the corner.

Now obviously. Can’t make excuses for him either, it goes both ways. He flat out had to be better. Egregiously bad decision making and lack of effort alongside questionable behavior plagued him in the first half of the year.

It wasn’t an immediate shift but once Wes got fired and Brian Keefe entered the fold, Poole started to trend up again. Once he started being put in better positions he flourished and got his confidence back. Shot selection’s probably going to continue to be an ongoing issue with him, but he’s got undeniable talent as a playmaker and facilitator. I’d like to see what he can do as a full time point guard with a big that has true interior presence (like Gaff ironically) for a long stretch.

But overall, good learning experience for him. Hella ups and downs, but he got through the year and played almost every game. Gotta give him bonus points for that. He’s earned the chance to be a full time starter next year so with Tyus most likely departing I’m excited to see what he can do.
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POINTS OF EMPHASIS GOING INTO NEXT YEAR:

• we need some consistency effort wise on both ends. Defensively he’s proven not to be a total cone when he’s locked in but we need to see that more. He’s not bad guarding the man he’s assigned to but he struggles a lot with timely rotations and shifting laterally to close out on shooters quick.

• Shot selection: cool it with the heat checks. He’s gotta do a better job playing himself into rhythm if we ever want to see more consistency from him. 35 foot bombs from mid court when he’s got nothing going and we still have a full shot clock, ESPECIALLY in a tight game is not a good habit to have.

• Continue making sharp decisions off screens. Poole’s at his best when he’s going downhill since it puts pressure on the defense, improves his shot quality, and opens up opportunities for him to make decisions to get his teammates involved. I think Keefe realizes this, so should he return next year as our full time head coach, I expect Poole to continue being put in positions regularly to hone this aspect of his game.