Steph Curry Reacts to Jordan Poole's Struggles
As expected for a young player, it has been an up and down season for Jordan Poole. Overall, his numbers are up across the board from where they were a year ago, as he has taken on a much bigger role this season. Averaging 16.1 PPG, Poole is currently one of Golden State's four players averaging double figures; however, his production has fluctuated significantly throughout the season.
As a starter, Poole is averaging 18.3 PPG on 43/35/95 shooting splits. Coming off the bench, he's averaging 12.2 PPG on 44/29/91 splits. While the scoring drop off is to be expected when coming off the bench and ultimately playing fewer minutes, it is the overall level of engagement that Warriors superstar Steph Curry is most focused on.
When asked about Poole's recent struggles, Curry said, "Ya, I mean he's been asked to do a lot of different things this year, and he's still coming into his own as an experienced player that has had some success and has had some struggles, but honestly just making sure he's engaged is the biggest thing."
Recognizing that Poole's role has fluctuated significantly this year, Curry said that "No matter if he's making shots or not, or how many minutes he's playing, just making sure he's engaged on both ends. Because he's gonna help us. He's gonna help us win games when it matters. For him to be who he wants to be in this league, I think he has to have a little bit of versatility in terms of being able to play different styles, and sometimes starting and sometimes off the bench, sometimes 30 minutes sometimes 15, like you gotta be able to be yourself through all of those kinda situations. At some point we all kinda go through that, so I think he's built for it, and he's gonna have something to show for it."
Coming off of a game where he failed to make a single field goal, Poole will have an opportunity to bounce back against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. For Steph Curry, his primary concern with Jordan Poole is not his offensive production, but rather his level of engagement regardless of where that production lies.
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