After Stephen Curry went down with a shoulder injury, a lot had to happen for the Warriors to continue their ups and downs and reach a playoff spot. Nothing was more obvious than this scenario: Jordan Poole needed to get the reins and moonlight in scoring as Curry’s doppelgänger in the Warriors’ complicated offense.
Poole has been touted as a stand-in for Curry for several reasons. He has grown into a dynamic off-ball force, causing confusion and causing confusion among defenders. That fear can be used against them in many ways.
Poole isn’t quite up to the level of fear-inducing Curry, but he should be a fear-generating machine enough to create a useful advantage in the Warriors’ offense. The aforementioned shooting should constitute a major component of his ability to create an advantage, but so far it has been more theoretical than practical.
After a season in which he shot 36.4% over the arc on 7.6 attempts (1% above the league average), Poole has attempted 3s on the same basis every game this season, albeit with less accuracy. (33.1%, down 2.4%). league average). Some of his problems were due to questionable shot choices (location, temporality, etc.). Also, some are simple shots that didn’t work, even though they produced an open and efficient look.
It’s also interesting to note that, aside from 3-point accuracy, Poole’s shot profile this season hasn’t deviated much from his profile last season. and are creating them at similar speeds. Since his sophomore season, he’s shot at the rim no less than his 65%—again this year.
One shot that showed a clear decrease was the rate of three-shot attempts. He’s down to 33% of his total shots this year, down from 37% last season, according to Cleaning the Glass. Reducing the percentage of shots coming from outside doesn’t mean you’re getting much more efficiency.
As a result, his overall scoring efficiency dropped significantly from last season. Last year he was near 60% TS mark, but this season he has dropped to 56.9%, putting him 1.4 points below the league average.
That mark hasn’t been lowered for several reasons. One is the pool’s ability to apply pressure to the rim. Tons of rim For a team that doesn’t generate his pressure — the Warriors are dead last in shot count at the rim — Poole is one of the few paints to get out of a self-made shot. is.
Against toronto raptorsPoole displayed a three-level scoring performance that showed all he could do as an offensive weapon. rice field.
Pool’s advantage over most defenders is speed. His ability to explode at the point of attack catches most opponents off guard—but even if he’s 1% too fast for what is normally required, he risks losing all control.
Poole has certainly had moments where he lost control and was all over the place. But when he uses the right amount of burst, his speed-altering chops and clever use of cadence and tempo give him and the team an advantage.
The coverage Poole sees doesn’t make it easy for him to get the attention from the outside. They throw in a slew of aggressive coverage, including screen-level step-ups, hedges and doubles, to make Poole a passer rather than a scorer.
In the rare case where a defense puts its trust in an on-ball defender to recover in a timely manner, the pool must have a midrange chop to punish drop coverage. Pool is unreliable unless you catch it, but whether it’s a long two or a floater, it will try to shoot when the defense drops.
Much like Curry, Poole’s attacking power will come down to how well he can capitalize on shooting threats and how effectively he combines off-ball 3s with shots off the dribble.
Being interchangeable on set, both created and improvised, is what characterizes Curry and has given Poole such an important role on the offense. usually has many types of ancillary support, often undermining his effectiveness.
Without Curry, he’s more powerful because suddenly he’s the focus of the whole flow.
Pool’s pull-up chop dribble, on the other hand, gave him the same kind of ball-screen set that Curry, one of the most efficient pick-and-roll operators in the league, usually receives. A high ball screen in spread alignment, or a double drag screen with an on-ball defender through the ringer:
Being a pull-up threat around the ball screen has helped Curry create an efficient offense even while damming possession of the ball. Leveraging his short-roll playmaking talents, he produced hockey assists and buckets against unfavorable defenses.
When the pool is at its most dangerous, the defense treats him like a curry around the ball screen.
Poole’s 43 points (77.2 TS%) on a career-high 23 shots was the result of being able to replicate the offensive threat presented by his style mentor. Steve Kerr’s offense relies on a ton of freelance improvisation, constant movement off the ball, and creating advantage based on dynamic shooting threats.
If this is the start of a pool run that reminds us of last season when the Warriors finished 6-6 without Curry, then the absence of their best player for a while could be a drug they can swallow. It’s not a completely painless experience, but having a figure like Poole can mitigate the effects of an attack that loses its central engine.
