SAN FRANCISCO – Jordan Poole walked into his first NBA training camp three years ago with the confidence of a seasoned veteran, the hunger of a fringe player and the belief that he could be one of the best players in this league.
Fast forward to now, and none of those three character traits have changed for Poole, the NBA’s biggest breakout star this season as he’s emerged from Stephen Curry’s understudy to being a co-star alongside the Warriors’ championship core.
Ask any of Poole’s teammates why he’s been so successful this season and they’ll point to his unwavering confidence and work ethic.
“From Day One, he had the confidence of a star player when he shouldn’t have [had] it,” said Kevon Looney, who laughed as he recalled the memory. “He would shoot crazy shots and everybody on the bench would be looking at him like, ‘Why does he think he should be able to shoot these shots?’ But he put the work in, kept working at his game and it’s been paying off.”
Last season, Poole’s basketball career was at a crossroads. After underperforming in his first season-plus with the Warriors, Poole was sent down to the G League. But rather than letting the demotion demoralize him, Poole locked in and grinded and his improvements carried over into this season.
“The maturation of his game in these three years has been unbelievable,” Curry said. “Just his confidence in himself to be able to take it up another notch at this stage, it’s extremely impressive. You can give the direction and the X’s and O’s and the approach and all that, but you’ve got to go out there and do it. The player has to go out there and do it and that’s what JP is doing night after night, that can’t be taught. That’s something that you either have or you don’t. I’m glad that he has it.”
That confidence goes far beyond his college basketball days, according to former Michigan coach John Beilein, who now serves as a senior player development advisor for the Detroit Pistons.
When Poole was a sophomore, Beilein challenged his shot selection and suggested the guard step closer to the 3-point line before shooting.
Beilein saw Poole’s long-range attempts as unnecessary, and he crunched the numbers to prove it. Poole was statistically better at shooting from the college 3-point line than from the NBA range at that time.
Poole, of course, respected his coach’s request, but he didn’t necessarily agree with it.
“I thought I was open,” Poole says three years after the fact. “And I would practice shots like that all the time when I would work out, so I never really thought too much about it.”
Some believed it was Poole’s lack of spatial awareness that had him launching shots from five feet beyond the line. It was instead his confidence from hours of shooting that had him convinced shooting deep was the right call.
OK, that and he might’ve been watching a few too many Curry highlights on YouTube.
But all that time in the gym practicing those shots and enduring lengthy film sessions have paid off this season.
There will never be another Curry, but Poole is starting to look like a 2.0 version of the league’s best shooter, especially in his first two playoff games.
Poole has scored a combined 59 points, going 10-for-17 from deep, against the Denver Nuggets in the first two games of the Warriors’ first-round playoff series. Both performances were speckled with highlight-worthy driving layups, long-range shots and tongue-wagging celebrations.
“He’s been watching Steph a lot and he’s doing his best impression,” Draymond Green said, “and it’s incredible.”
Green has developed a telepathic connection with Poole similar to the way he’s in sync with Curry. That resulted in Green being able to treat Poole like Curry in terms of facilitating dribble handoffs and no-look passes to the nimble guard.
Poole has spent the last three years closely observing how Curry gets his looks and has started to mimic him.
“He’s really good at creating space and dominating mismatches and his off-ball movement,” Poole said. “I’m lucky to be able to watch him every single day and watch him in film.”
Poole said he’s honored to be what fans call a “Steph Disciple.”
“It’s definitely dope, that’s one of the greatest players of all time,” Poole said. “I definitely try to add a lot of stuff that he has in his game into mine but I think what makes Steph so special is that he’s just a unique player and he plays his own style of basketball and luckily, I’m able to come onto a team and organization where they allow me to play my unique style as well and definitely beneficial.”
