Channeling the inner Steph Curry on that half court heave!
I highly respect Sam Vecenieās opinion and not just because he follows me on twitter for some reasonā¦
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Another great player on the lengthening list of those talents who much of the self-appointed experts in the fan base decided just werenāt good enough.
Really, I think it was his cats and sartorial flair that put them off. So much depends on whether Mark in Peoria decides, in his infinite wisdom, that Player X is disciplined enough.
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Might be time to listen to smarter people.
I donāt think anyone (worth listening to) ever said Jordan Poole wasnāt good enough. People did point out that Poole really struggled over the last 2 months of his sophomore year.
Wrote about this quite a bit when he declared.
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Yeah, I think it came down to Poole shooting like 30% from 3 in Big Ten play and the team being swept by MSU.
I agree with Dylan - no one said he wasnāt good enough. I think any frustration with Poole was that he never lived up to his full potential at Michigan - struggling significantly for a large part of his sophomore year. People knew he could be great - they just wanted to see it in a Michigan uniform. Either to play within himself, to not go off script on offense, to put more effort in on defense, etc. or to come back for another year and see if Beilein could help him get there.
He was a good player at Michigan - glad to see heās finally reaching his full potential after that stint in the G-League.
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I think Mattski is referring to the seedier portions of the fanbase. Not necessarily analysts or the average UMHoops commenter. And even here people got very personal after the MSU games where he was given most of the fault for the losses
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Yeah, my point was that itās not worth amplifying those people.
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IIRC the main concern (from scouts) with Poole was whether he had enough athleticism to consistently get in the paint at the next level.
Also, Vecenie is both right and wrong.
Poole has definitely been much much better than last year, when he was arguably the worst player in the league depending on the minutes threshold you want to use.
The issue is that heās risen to mediocre/below average.
He had two weeks where he shot like Chris Paul on high volume, but aside from that, heās spent the vast majority of the season shooting under 40% of the floor.
His career is not for the moment āin the balanceā but itās not inconceivable he could get back there either as the Warriors get Klay back.
That piece was amazing. My favorite thing Iāve read here, for the way you used the data to destroy that narrative.
But heās also showing a lot of things skills wise, and even jumping from beyond awful to possibly average in one year is a massive jump and a testament to the work JP put in. Making that big of a jump in one year is something. Heās playing rotation minutes for a western conference playoff team. Thatās already more accomplishment than half the Michigan guys in the NBA (obviously a pretty low bar lol). Good chance GSW could see him as a valuable future piece.
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That was a case where everything was just out there plain for all to see. The lapses, MSUās very clear strategy, Zās in-real-time frustration on the court. Sometimes it is what it looks like, and its on us as fans to remember that these are kids and its a maturation process and they arenāt getting paid and we need to keep all of it in perspective. I donāt mix wilth players or recruits on social media in any circumstance ā just not me ā but for those that do, itās incredibly important to remember that. And itās also good to remember that there are family and friends of players sometimes here on the board.
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That comment about him shooting consistently below 40% from the field besides one hot streak is also just not really true. Looking at monthly splits, here are his numbers. Keep in mind December only had 4 games.
December: 39.1%
January: 44.7%
March: 49%
April: 34.6%
May: 46.6%
If anything heās had one cold stretch, not one hot stretch. Heās also been chucked around into drastically different roles all year and I canāt imagine that has helped anything. Like we were talking about earlier, I think some people just harp on him because of the end of 2019.
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I realize that Iām on the skeptical side as it pertains to Pooleās pro prospects, but I think heās established he belongs on a roster, but not really in a rotation. āRotation on a playoff teamā is literally true of him but I think sort of side-steps that itās not a very good (and extremely thin) playoff team being carried by a one-man supernova. For instance, I do not at all think itās a given that Poole is a rotation player for them next year when Klay returns (not just because of Klay but I think they are going to add talent), and no matter how you slice it, shooting under 40% is bad.
I will admit to doing a bit of the āwell aside from the times heās good, heās badā thing - that hot streak happened and counts. So heās probably not as poor a shooter as Iām saying - but heās also not league average.
To the point on other things - yes, his growth as a passer is definitely encouraging.
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People need to stop thinking these young guys are failures if they do not become stars within there first 2 years. A lot of players including Poole need to adjust to the NBA as most need to add strength, learn the pro game and consistently play defense not to mention play hard all the time. Does anyone remember what Kobe Bryant looked like his first year. Wasnāt pretty.
As for Poole at Mich. to me JB never took full advantage of the guaranteed games to build his bench strength and to create/build alternative options in the pick and roll game. He was going down with the ship with X Simpson once conference play started and Poole probably had a little to much flavor for him at times.
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Pooleās game was made for the āopennessā of the NBA. I enjoyed his time at Mich and thought he brought something unique to the table; albeit something that didnāt always gel with how Coach Beilein teaches the game. I think it might have been the wrong system for Poole numbers wise - but Iām hoping he took some of the lessons and skill development from UM and the experience made him a more complete ballplayer.
Not worth rehashing this debate ā¦ better to follow Dylanās lead here. But I think Beilein gave Poole a ton of chances to be a key piece of our offense. Sometimes it just takes both time and the right flexibility between both player and coach.
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as expected