In Golden State, young star Jordan Poole is enduring the first scandal of his career. After being caught on the wrong end of Draymond’s first, Poole has been at the front and center of all the tabloids.
For his part in it all, Poole hasn’t done or said much of anything, at least, not publicly.
For that, Warriors coach Steve Kerr made sure to give him props. Here’s what he said in a recent chat with the media:
“My observation of Jordan is that he’s an incredibly mature young guy,” Kerr said. “I think we’ve seen that on the basketball side, with his work ethic and his ability to work through his rough rookie season, and go to the G-League bubble and do everything to get where he is now. It takes a lot more than just talent,” Kerr said of Poole. “This is a pretty special young guy. It was already reported after the incident he worked out for another hour on his shot. Came out whatever it was, a couple nights later, and scored 15 straight points at one point. He’s cool. Not much fazes him. I think that’s part of why we’re going the way we’re going, because we know that he’s fine, we know that he’s willing to move forward—he’s willing to basically get back out on the floor with Draymond and go to work.”
https://twitter.com/ArmstrongWinter/status/1580260222420951040
Jordan Poole’s Approach To Draymond Altercation Could Save Him Millions
As the victim in this whole thing, Poole is playing it smart and safe by keeping his head down. As he negotiates a deal with the Warriors behind the scenes, he’s not going to let some petty beef with Draymond get in the way of his earnings or his role on the team.
“When I look at Jordan Poole, I think Steve Kerr talked about his mental toughness — think about it,” said Kendrick Perkins on Poole. “A lot of people would have been embarrassed, especially in the world that we live in as far as social media and people having access to be able to’at’ you and mention you about this whole situation. But for Jordan Poole, it told me, one, that he got his mind on his money and rightfully so. Nothing is gonna get in the way of him getting his bag and that’s the great thing… He didn’t do anything wrong as far as we saw in the video, he was the victim in this case. But at the end of the day, it just goes to show the leadership that’s still in that locker room, even without Draymond Green and that he has his mind on his money.”
It remains to be seen how this ordeal will get resolved, but don’t bet against the Warriors working through this and finding a way to reconcile.
As for Poole, he has shown a lot of patience and maturity through all of this, and he continues to show why he’s worthy of the shiny new extension he’s sure to get in the coming days.
