There are still four months before the start of the new season, but there is no surprise that we can already predict who will be the first scorer of the new season.
As long as there are no injuries and subsequent transactions, 24-year-old Jordan Poole, one of the key members of the champion in the 2021-22 season, he, who averaged 20.4 points last season, was almost certainly one of the players who took up the most power of the Wizards.
Warriors are willing to send Poole, Rawlings, and Baldwin, as well as the protected first 20 spot signatures in 2030 and the second round sign-in Wizard in 2027 in exchange for Chris Paul. Affected by the Poole contract, the deal is expected to be finalized in early July.
What qualities can Poole bring to Wizards?
In order to answer this question, TA invited warrior reporter Anthony Slater and Wizard reporter Josh Robbins to answer this question together. The former reports the entire career of Poole warriors, while the latter reports the Poole who will start a new career in the Wizards next season.
Robbins: I want to know more about Poole’s career as a basketball player, especially his advantages and disadvantages. What did the warrior expect from him when he first chose him on 28th in 2019? How did these expectations change?
Slater: in 2019, many people thought it was risky to choose him in the first round of 28. Many analysts thought he belonged to the second round in the mock draft, but after the draft, there were rumors that the Spurs wanted to choose him in the 29th place, but they were captured by the Warriors.
His rookie season warriors was a disaster. When Durant had just left, Clay needed to recover from the ACL. Curry broke his palm in the fourth match, and then they ended the season with the league’s worst record of 15-50 before the outbreak. Due to the need of the lineup, Poole was forced to play, although he was not ready yet. As a short defender, he felt at a loss and the efficiency was also the lowest in the league. At that time, it seemed that this was a failed draft.
His career changed in the second season. At first, he was just a marginal person who replaced the rotation. Coach Cole slowly gave Poole the trust he needed. In terms of rotation arrangement, Cole chose the more experienced wernamaker to be in front of Poole, while Poole was sent to the development alliance. This experience brought miracles. In the Development League, he is one of the best players, while warnamak is not performing well. Due to Poole’s unremitting working attitude, Cole gave Poole more playing time, and the latter began to grow rapidly.
Poole played an amazing performance in the first two months of the third season. Because Clay needed to recover from the Achilles tendon tear, he became the starting point guard, and the Warriors made a start of 18 wins and 2 losses, and his performance was of great contribution.
Curry sprained his foot in March, and Poole became the starting point guard in the last month. Look at the data of Poole during this period, which is the level of Lillard. The hit rate of 41 percent of Poole was 85 points and 3 points, with the largest league in the same period, with an average of 24.7 points. In fact, Poole was also the best free throw player that season. Then, Poole played a wonderful role many times in the playoffs to help the team win the championship. This is also why he signed a big contract before the start of the fourth season.
Robbins: You and I both know that the fate of a player may change overnight. Last summer, from my point of view on the East Coast, everything went perfectly for Poole. He helped the team win the championship. In mid-October, he signed a contract with the team for 4 years and 0.123 billion years, including reward terms.
What has changed? If it is a dream chasing that punched him in the training camp and changed everything, is this statement too one-sided?
Slater: that’s interesting. In fact, you and the Wizards experienced the last positive period of Poole in the Warriors. Do you still remember the trip between the two teams to Japan in the preseason?
Robbins: Oh, yes, I remember it clearly. We went to a seafood market in Tokyo with other media colleagues. I also asked you questions about Poole and other warriors during that walk.
Slater: everything was beautiful at that time.
Until the team came back from Japan, the notorious boxing event-and the video leaked to the gossip website TMZ-made everything out of control. Just take a look at the interview of Cole’s playoff. That incident made the team unable to gather again, and this kind of turmoil seemed to have an impact on Poole’s performance on the court.
He had a crazy season, and the performance of the stadium was spiraling. His total number of mistakes ranked fourth in the league. There were too many unwise choices in three points, resulting in a three-point hit rate falling. His concentration and effort on the defensive side have weakened, which makes the coaching staff feel depressed. His performance in the playoffs was also very bad.
Nevertheless, he played 82 regular season games with an average of 20.4 points, and always improved his performance when starting as a substitute, which is enough. In Curry’s absence of 26 games, the warrior achieved a record of 14 wins and 12 losses, and in the 43 games starting with Poole, he averaged 24.6 points.
This is also Poole, who I expect to play a similar performance in the Wizards next season. Over the past two years, he has always believed that he is ready to welcome more playing time, shooting opportunities and stable first-time point guard roles. I think he will get these opportunities when he arrives at the Wizard.
Robbins: I estimate Poole will definitely become the main scorer of Wizards. When the Wizards trade away Porzingis and Bill, it means that a large number of shots have to be allocated to other players. If Kuzma is signed in the free agent market or traded by signing first and then changing, then the three players of the wizards who made the most shots last season-Bill, both Kuzma and Bozin are not in the battle. There may also be more deals later, which may involve Monte Morris, delang White, and even the newly added Tyus Jones.
A remarkable feature of coach onselde during his coaching was that he gave Kuzma great freedom, which has been the case for two seasons. Kuzma wanted to expand his role on the offensive side. Anselde allowed this, with almost no restrictions. I think Poole will have similar opportunities.
You may have mentioned it before, but where is the upper limit of Poole? What is his biggest disadvantage?
Slater: he has excellent offensive talent, and his playing style is interesting and attractive. I think as the main point guard, he can help the reconstruction team attract local fans. When he is in hot condition, he can perform well for several weeks. Fans will be attracted by him. When he was in the best period, his fans even went to the stadium with swimming pool equipment.
In my opinion, his upper limit on the attacking end depends on his three-point shooting rate, and to a large extent depends on his improving his shooting choices. Yogueta can control himself to reduce those crazy shots and improve the quality of shots. I think his three-point shooting rate can be close to 40%. For a player with a large number of three points, this is a huge difference from 33%.
Be prepared for the night when he sometimes breaks out and pulls across. He sometimes scored 42 points and became the best player on the court. But sometimes there will be 7 mistakes, 2 out of 14 points, at least it won’t be boring to see him play.
On the defensive side, he will be the target of the opponent. Cole always thinks that Poole’s defensive side lacks physical confrontation. The Warriors hope that he can give some confrontation and delay when his opponent runs tactics. However, he is unwilling to find a confrontation on the defensive end. When he focuses on and uses his body, he has fast hands, a certain height and smart defensive instinct. At present, his defensive skills are far below the average level, but the Warriors coach team thinks he can defend in the future.
But he must know his role on the defensive side. He must accept his situation. Do you think he can do it in Qi Cai?
Robbins: I expect him to accept the overall environment in the Wizard. I say this for two reasons.
First, the 18-year-old striker coolibali, the first round show of the Wizards this year, received a welcome message from Poole. Poole can take the initiative to accept the youngest player in the team, which is definitely a friendly signal for the Wizards.
Secondly, I think there are some similarities between Poole’s arrival and kurzma of the Wizards two years ago. Kuzma has won the championship ring in the Lakers. Of course, it must be admitted that in that team, in Barkley’s words, Kuzma is not the one who drives the bus. But kurzma has developed more personal attacks in Wizards. From his personal development, it is definitely beneficial and can help him win a big contract this summer.
Poole also has a ring. Although he has already got a big contract, I think he will embrace the role of “leading role” in the Wizard. I expect Poole to be the focus of the wizard’s attack, even the only focus.
As for defense, I think Poole’s prospect is not very optimistic. Generally speaking, in the two seasons that angselde coached, he did not fully develop the defensive potential of the players, which is the aspect that he needs to improve.
Before we end this topic, can you talk about the other two young players with relatively little attention-Rawlings and Baldwin?
Slater: Baldwin was a top player in high school, with Holmgren and bankelo. But he suffered a severe ankle injury and did not fully recover. In his freshman year, he worked at his father’s University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and did not perform well, falling to 28 places.
The warrior adopted an adventurous strategy. They recovered his ankle. As a rookie, Baldwin had some bright moments. He was 6 feet 10 inches tall and the three-point shooting was silky. Yogueta can keep healthy and improve his physical condition. He has the potential to become a rotating player.
Rollins was an uncertain existence. The Warrior chose him in the second round, but found that he had a fracture in his foot. His recovery is enough for him to play many games in the Development League. But the pressure after the fracture still exists, and his season is over because of the surgical treatment. He hasn’t had a chance to prove that he is ready to contribute to the team. The reason why Warriors traded him was to release a lineup seat.
Author: Anthony Slater & Josh Robbins
Compilation: Fontaine
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