Golden State Warriors: Critical Jordan Poole comments totally unjustified

Despite having their opportunities in both Games 1 and 2, the Golden State Warriors return home finding themselves down 0-2 to begin their first-round playoff series against the Sacramento Kings.

The Warriors led by ten during the third-quarter in Game 1, then had Game 2 tied at 95 with just over five minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the defending champions, they haven’t quite had the necessary output from a few key players.

Jordan Poole’s abysmal performance in Game 2 has drawn scathing criticism, with the Golden State Warriors guard under pressure to bounce back in Game 3.

Fourth-year guard Jordan Poole has been the most disappointing Warrior to date, putting up one of his most forgettable performances in recent memory on Monday in Game 2. Poole had four points on 1-for-7 shooting, limited to less than 16 minutes as he became practically unplayable down the stretch. Speaking after the game, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor didn’t hold back on his thoughts regarding the 23-year-old.

"“Jordan Poole, I have no hope for him. He’s not a good basketball player and at this point he’s getting benched in the second-half for good reason.”"

While Poole’s performance in Game 2 is hard to argue against, O’Connor’s comments are a massive reach and with his time again, perhaps he’d use his words a little differently. At his best, Poole is a highly-skilled, explosive guard capable of running an offense — he’s shown that in games where Stephen Curry has been out.

The issue is that the gap between his best and worst is enormous, and the overall lack of consistency brings an unreliability that’s hard for Golden State to deal with come playoff time. However, in the last 12 months, Poole has been a key piece of a championship team, and averaged over 20 points across an 82-game season — that’s a good basketball player and one game doesn’t alter it.

Let’s add some context to this as well. Poole had 17 points within three-quarters of Game 1 before sustaining an ankle injury late in that period. While that doesn’t totally excuse his disastrous Game 2, there has to be some recognition of the impact that has had. Teammate Klay Thompson mentioned post-game that Poole is “playing with half a foot right now.”

Now, if people want to argue that Poole isn’t worthy of the four-year, $140 million contract that will begin from next season, then that’s a completely different conversation. But to label him ‘not a good player’ and having ‘no hope’ is totally unfair to someone who’s still young, developing, and who has worked his way up from the 28th pick in the draft.