Golden State Warriors: Jordan Poole’s three-game stretch summises his inconsistencies

Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors showcased the best Golden State Warriors’ guard Jordan Poole has to offer — a career-high 43 points on 61% shooting to lead the team to a much-needed road win.

Yet two games later, a night after a solid if not spectacular game against the New York Knicks, Poole was a no-show as Golden State were demolished by the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. The 23-year-old had 13 points on 4-for-17 shooting (1-for-11 from three) to go with an equal career-high seven turnovers.

Jordan Poole’s four-day stretch is a reflection of much greater consistency issues throughout the Golden State Warriors’ season to date.

The fourth-year guard is averaging 19.1 points on 43% shooting in 33 games — reasonable numbers although the efficiency from the field, and particularly from three-point range (31.8%), could certainly do with a jolt.

The bigger issue is it’s difficult to ascertain what you’re going to get from Poole on a nightly basis. His four-year, $140 million contract kicks in from next season, and he was given that primarily thanks to an explosive scoring ability for which he’s flashed again throughout this season.

Poole scores less than 15 points about once in every three games — he has 12 games of under 15 points this season. He also has 14 games in which he’s shot less than 40% from the floor. Compare that to Andrew Wiggins, for example, who was scoring less than 15 around once in every four games prior to his injury (six times in 22 games), and has just three games shooting less than 40%.

Wiggins’ extension was slightly less than Poole’s during the offseason, yet the former is a much more consistent and trusted offensive player — that’s before you get to the other aspects of their game where Wiggins provides ten-times as much on the defensive end. If Poole isn’t scoring efficiently or playmaking effectively for others, then he becomes a net negative on the floor.

There’s reasons for this — Poole’s asked to be a shot-creator and will always take more difficult attempts than Wiggins. He’s also largely played off the bench prior to Stephen Curry’s injury, and has been asked to carry an underwhelming bench unit. Still, these issues remain a concern.

Poole’s young and still on the improve, but the Warriors need him to find a better baseline if they’re to turn their disappointing season around. The gap between his best and his worst is far too wide, and it simply must become the next evolution in his game in order to become the All-Star level player he wishes to be.