Jordan Poole’s crunch-time turnovers haven’t shaken Warriors’ confidence
in him
Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Warriors' vets say Poole is growing as a
ball-handler
>Golden State Warriors’ Jordan Poole (3) lays on the court after
falling against the Utah Jazz in the second quarter at Chase Center in
San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay
Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: January 10, 2023 at 10:38 a.m. | UPDATED: January 10, 2023 at
10:45 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/10/jordan-pooles-crunch-time-turnovers-havent-shaken-warriors-confidence-in-him/

SAN FRANCISCO — There are some lessons you can only learn through trial
and error, and Jordan Poole remains in that stage of his career even
after signing a massive extension last offseason.

Poole is 23 and in his fourth NBA season after making big contributions
to winning the title this summer. But he’s far from a finished product,
and his turnover numbers are a reminder of that.

Poole stepped up after the Warriors’ starting lineup took two hits in
the last month — the first being the loss of Andrew Wiggins for 15 games
with injury and illness, and the second being the absence of Stephen
Curry, who injured his left shoulder last month.

Scoring hasn’t been an issue for Poole. He entered Tuesday averaging
27.9 points in the 11 games since Curry went down with a partially
dislocated shoulder Dec. 14. During that span, he’s eclipsed the
40-point mark twice.

But Poole has struggled with the increased attention he’s getting from
opposing defenses. The added pressure has led him to be frantic with the
ball at times, rushing to make plays — a problem that’s only been
exacerbated without Curry on the floor. As a result, Poole has had an
uptick in turnovers over the last month.

Poole has committed four or more turnovers in 12 of his last 15 games as
a starter, tallying a league-high-tying 69 turnovers over that span. The
more glaring issue recently has been ball-handling late in games with
the score in balance. Poole entered Tuesday tied with Draymond Green for
the team’s most turnovers (8) recorded in clutch time, which is when the
scoring margin is within five points with five minutes or less remaining
in a game.

Andre Iguodala believes Poole should treat this stretch as a learning
experience.

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“It’s just a process that a ball-dominant guy has to go through in the
NBA,” Iguodala said. “You’d rather go through it in January and
understanding how important those possessions are so it helps you in
June. So it’s not something that I’m overly stressed about and he’s a
guy who’s really into the game of basketball, and he really cares, and
he’s more upset than everybody else. So I’m not worried about that.”

Iguodala is among the choir of teammates who sang support for Poole as
he grapples with his mistakes. Green came to his defense earlier this
month, saying he doesn’t believe Poole’s turnovers are at all problematic.

Klay Thompson pulled Poole aside last week after the Warriors’
last-second loss to the Detroit Pistons — a game that featured a Poole
turnover in the game’s final six seconds — and reminded the young guard
that he’s a clutch player who was vital to the Warriors’ recent
five-game win streak. Thompson also emphasized to Poole that he trusts
him to have the ball in his hands during those late-game scenarios.

Meanwhile, Curry empathized with the growing pains Poole is experiencing.

“I used to get benched down the stretch in big games my second year in
the league and it was because I had a lot of careless turnovers
throughout the course of the game, where I wasn’t necessarily the most
trustworthy guy at the time to close out the game even though I was
slowly getting better,” Curry recently said. “Just that time period of
my career I remember really well because it wasn’t necessarily given to
me, I had to go earn it and figure out how to prove yourself trustworthy
with the ball in terms of volume reps and whatnot.”

Curry’s mindset during those achy growing periods was to stay hungry and
play unafraid of failure. He sees a similar drive and fearlessness he
had as a young guard in Poole, who has responded to the miscues exactly
the way his teammates want him to.

Poole has acknowledged there’s room for improvement, Curry said.

“Everything he’s done has been accountability and asking the right
questions,” Curry said. “It’s a vulnerable position in that space when
you have the ball in your hands and everybody is counting on you to do
the right thing and sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s
the nature of the game. But the mentality and the right approach he’s
shown that from the jump.”

That’s why the Warriors are going to stick with Poole in high-leverage
moments for the time being and encourage him to continue to be aggressive.

“There’s a reason he’s an NBA champion. We would not have that banner
without Jordan’s efforts,” Thompson said. “So it’s just about sticking
to the process… the work will reveal itself, so I have no worries than
Jordan.”