Jordan Poole is playing his fourth season in the NBA and the 2nd postseason of his career right now. The 23-year-old has managed to carve his way into the team’s rotation and make himself a crucial part of the squad. While he’s been doing well, people sometimes forget how inexperienced he is, compared to his future Hall-of-Fame teammates. Poole often lands a lot of criticism for his ‘naive’ actions. Steve Kerr today described how he’s quick to bounce back.
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The best example of the same is what we saw last night. Poole averaged 12.0 points, 3.0 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 7 games, shooting 33.3% from the floor and 25.7% from the deep. People started mocking him and questioning his $140 Million contract extension.
However, Poole bounced back against the Lakers in Game 1, scoring 21 points, getting 6 assists, and shooting 6 of 11 from the deep.
Steve Kerr praised how Jordan Poole bounced back from the Kings’ series
It was a very tough series against the Kings for Jordan Poole. He couldn’t get his shots to land, no matter where he shot them from. He was missing layups, open threes, and all the other shots that he usually makes. While we could see JP was frustrated with himself, the noise on social media and the scrutiny in the press did not help.
However, he dealt with all the harsh criticism and put together a rather great game against LeBron James and the Lakers. Steve Kerr talked about his performance on Willard and Dibs on 95.7 The Game.
“Jordan’s mentally tough. [Poole]’s a bit of a lightning rod. People are judging him on a daily basis. It’s not easy as a young player and person to have that type of scrutiny on your every move. The way he responded last night, I thought he was great.”
This wasn’t the only time Steve Kerr had seen Poole do this. JP’s often found ways to get to spots where people criticize him. However, he always finds a way to win the love back with solid comeback performances. People hope he also has an answer for the missed game-tying shot.
Kerr explains why he liked Poole’s shot against the Lakers
The internet was split in two after the Warriors-Lakers game. While the outcome was a Lakers win, the debate was around a shot Jordan Poole chucked. With around 10 seconds left in the game, Poole shot a three from nearly 30 feet to try and tie the game. His gamble failed, and the Lakers ended the game with a 5-point win.
While Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr defended Poole yesterday, today, Kerr explained gave his reasoning behind it.
“Steph got doubled at half court so I knew somebody would be open on the weak side, so I didn’t want to take a timeout…I love that Jordan [Poole] took that shot.”
When one thinks about it, Kerr could’ve taken a timeout, but instead, he trusted his team. Steph could’ve driven to the hoop, but he trusted his team. Draymond could’ve passed to anyone, but he gave it to Poole. If the team trusts him and were okay with the shot, what other people say shouldn’t bother JP much.
