The Golden State Warriors coasted through the regular season with Kevin Durant on the roster.
However, the tenacity and hunger that the Warriors young players are competing with coupled with their depth and superstar talent could give this team their best regular-season record since that illustrious 73-win team.
The Golden State Warriors are looking like the NBA’s best team, and they’ve been able to be so versatile because of the player guard Jordan Poole has become.
When the Dubs had Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green on the court, there hasn’t a team ever created that could compete with them. That will to win didn’t always seem there in the regular season.
All four had been in the league at least half a decade and knew what it took to win, saving the best for the postseason.
Many of the young guns Golden State has now haven’t experienced that high-level success and are hungry for regular-season wins. Even veterans like Damion Lee and Otto Porter Jr. might have been on good teams, but they haven’t been on teams nearly as competitive as Golden State.
While every player is ready to bring is on a nightly basis, it’s been Jordan Poole that’s been the key difference this season. He’s averaging 17.5 points per game, almost topping his previous season’s scoring averaging by 50% in each of his three seasons in the league.
Poole, despite shooting just under 30% from deep, is hitting a career-high 44% from the field.
Along with his 94% free-throw shooting, Poole has become a staple of this Warriors offense. Poole and former No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins have been the score-first players Curry needed alongside him.
Poole has the team’s second-highest usage rate and a 8.7 net rating. He’s been called upon often, and especially in the team’s last game in which he dropped a season-high 32 points, he’s answered that call.
The key that makes Poole difference isn’t his shot making, but his shot creation. He’s the one that can get a bucket, unlike players such as Juan Toscano-Anderson, Porter Jr. or Kevon Looney. Poole also has the team’s fifth-best offensive rating.
He can do it all, and defensively, his liability is oftentimes covered up by the Warriors top-tier schemes or by Wiggins and Green’s aptitude on that end of the court. Overall, without Poole, these wins wouldn’t have been stacking like they are.
He’s been huge for them and can push them to a level that the league hasn’t seen since Golden State won 73 games during the 2015-2016 season.