His offensive arsenal
The first thing you notice when you watch Jordan Poole’s game is that he really is not afraid to shoot. He lets it fly with enough confidence to make Klay Thompson nod his head in approval, and this has been rare for Warriors rookies in recent years.
One of the unfortunate drawbacks of Pat McCaw was his hesitance on the offensive end, but the Dubs will not have this issue with Poole. Averaging ten field goal attempts per preseason game demonstrates that, if the opening is there, he will shoot.
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This is important for the upcoming season.
With Klay out for a while, much of the offensive load will be on the shoulders of Steph Curry and D’Angelo Russell. In fact, the offensive structure of the Warriors could look startlingly similar to that of the Finals versus the Raptors when one of the duos sits.
Among other factors, the Warriors lost to Toronto because of the Raptors’ ability to play a box-and-one on Steph. Everybody else was frightened to shoot, it seemed. Am I saying that the Warriors would have won if they had Poole last year? Not exactly, but he is a step in the right direction.
Poole has averaged around 13 points per game throughout the preseason, and if this translates over to the regular season, this will be something that Kerr will be able to smile about in a season that could really go either way.
What will be relatively assured is that Poole will have games in which he will catch fire.
You can just tell. There is potential for a couple of twenty-point games – maybe even a little more – and with such a grueling regular season ahead for Steph and D-Lo, those kinds of games will be invaluable.