Warriors: Jordan Poole slow to adjust to Klay’s return

Klay Thompson’s return is a resounding win for the Golden State Warriors. However, no one will have to make more adjustments to his approach than Jordan Poole. Thus far, the process has been slow.

Jordan Poole has stumbled a bit lately as Klay Thompson makes his return to the Golden State Warriors and shakes the rotation.

Klay makes the team better in every way. Offense, defense, morale boost — you name it.

While Stephen Curry is happy to have his Splash Brother back, Jordan Poole is the one getting the short end of the stick. At least, in terms of staying in the starting lineup, where Poole was having a career-best year.

Being pushed to the bench was not breaking news for Poole. We all knew this day would come and it is easy to see how a sixth man role will actually be better for Poole in many ways.

Nevertheless, it comes with a cost. Poole is playing a slightly different role with slightly different lineups. How has he responded?

Poole and Thompson have played strong together

The sample size is small as Poole and Thompson have only shared the floor for a grand total of 17 minutes so far. Yet, they have been an incredible pairing with the Warriors posting a Defensive Rating of 75.0 with them on the floor.

Thompson has always been a strong defender but it is fantastic to see Poole continue being a positive factor on this end of the floor. He has a surprising amount of length and pop athletically and exerting himself on defense has been paying off.

The offense has been a bit slower, however. Their OFF RTG of 110.8 is nearly identical to the team’s overall rating of 110.9 but it is well below the duo of Poole and Curry — which posts a rating of 115.8.

This can be explained by a few obvious caveats. First and foremost, Poole and Thompson have hardly played together and building chemistry takes time. What’s more, the thrashing delivered by Milwaukee recently put a dent in their analytics.

Lastly, and more importantly, Poole has been a little off his game lately. He shot an efficient 6-of-12 on Klay Day but went 5-of-18 across his next two games (3-13 from deep). Once reinserted into the starting lineup against Chicago, Poole popped off for 22 points and 5-of-8 3-point shooting.

Poole’s inconsistency will be the x-factor

Anyone who has watched Poole understands that a three-game stretch of less-than-ideal shooting is nowhere near out of character. He’s a sporadic shooter who can score (and miss) in bunches.

Notably, Poole scored 32 points on 12-of-17 shooting off the bench just a few games before Klay’s return. This serves as an indicator that Poole is suited for this spark plug type of role.

His inconsistencies will be the x-factor for Golden State. The path to a championship can not be realized without reliable performances from their most important bench player. Poole will need to build chemistry and familiarize himself with this new role as soon as possible.

The goal should be to increase reps next to Thompson and get Poole acclimated to a new Splash Brother. The sooner the Warriors can accomplish this, the sooner they will become unbeatable.