It’s been difficult for Wizards guard Jordan Poole to adjust to Washington on the court, as he’s averaging 17.5 points on 40.8% shooting from the floor while taking 15.1 field-goal attempts per game. However, as Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes, he’s been an excellent fit off the court for his new team.
“He’s always got a smile on his face,” teammate Corey Kispert said. “He can talk to anybody. Off the court, he’s just a ray of light. He always brings good energy, and it’s good to see Jordan every single day when I walk into the building. I know I can count on him to pick me up if I’m not feeling great.”
While Poole has been rough on defense and inconsistent on offense, he’s approaching this season with a positive outlook, Robbins writes.
“This is the most that they’ve been on me other than the playoffs or the finals,” Poole said. “I think it’s awesome, honestly, just to feel that over the course of the game how teams are over and over and over night-in, night-out coming out with physicality because that’s what’s in their game plan. That’s what coaches think would be a good way to slow me down. So, I’m embracing it, learning from it, growing from it.”
It’s evident that despite their 5-23 record as of Saturday, Poole and his teammates have established solid chemistry.
“Porzingis was the same way — kind of a pleasant surprise in the same way,” Kispert said. “We all heard a lot of rumors of him coming from Dallas and the things that happened there. And then when he showed up in our locker room, he immediately took me by surprise, and he treated everyone great. Anybody off the team or in my circle of friends back home who were asking me about him — I could only say positive things about him. And Jordan’s been the same way: [He’s] been an absolute pleasure to be a teammate of and to get to know.”
In another story about Poole’s acclimation, The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace writes about the guard’s specific adjustments to his game and the switch from Golden State to Washington. Wallace points out that Poole is no stranger to this, as it took him two years to find his groove with the Warriors.
“You’ve got to just keep going, every day. The plan is the plan,” Poole said. “Someone just told me that the other day, and I kind of like it. Everything will pan itself out, you know? You’ve just got to keep doing what you’re doing as long as you’re doing it with the right intent, which I believe in 100 percent. It’s just a matter of time.”
We have more from the Wizards:
- While Kispert’s efficiency on three-pointers is down so far this season — to 37.4% from 42.4% in 2022/23 on roughly the same attempts per game — Wallace writes that he has shown improvements in other areas of his game. Kispert has improved as a play-maker and off-ball mover, Wallace observes, and he’s taking smarter shots. “The growth doesn’t change no matter what my output says in the box score,” Kispert said. “I still feel it. I still know it. Obviously, I can’t let it discourage me. But some things are just out of my control as a player, and that’s just kind of the way things go.“
- Guard Landry Shamet missed eight games in a row for the Wizards but made his return Friday against the Warriors (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network). Shamet played just 13 minutes in his return and didn’t score.
- Forward Kyle Kuzma exited Washington’s Friday game against the Warriors with right knee soreness and did not return (Twitter link via the team). However, Andscape’s Marc J. Spears tweets that Kuzma told him that he expects to be ready for the Wizards’ next game (vs. the Magic on Tuesday).
Poole looked like more like the guy from 2 years ago last night. But I still think Paul ads more value. Paul plays defense. He locked up Jason Tatum at a crucial point the other night
CP3 is amazing, but can he stay healthy and stay on court at season end?
And by god love TJD!
So much better than Wiseman :(
Wizards need to learn how to play defense before they will be any good.
Even offensively they are mostly playing selfishly. They are all mostly forcing their shots.
Offense is the easiest thing to find. Defense needs to be taught. they have a few assets they could trade close to deadline and find better players in the next draft.
Poole is in a great spot. He is inefficient scorer, playing in a bad team that isn’t trying to win. He is more of a 2nd unit scorer off the bench
But he was much better as a starter on Warriors team. Go check his stats for the last 2 yrs.
He will never look good as a Wizard because they dont play team basketball. They dont know or accept their roles on the team. They dont play winnng basketball and they dont try to make others better. Poole is same.
I always thought of Poole as a 6th man off the bench for instant offense. His defense is still not very good. I did not see the Wizards making very many screens for Poole.
Washington should concentrate on a top three pick ….. it would do wonders for them.
Sarr or Bradshaw can help this team. Both going to be solid bigs. Or a PG will be there too.
I probably saw poole played good for the wiz maybe 2 games and the rest are head scratchers. He’s always rushing his shots and makes silly mistakes all the time. His decision making is questionable. If he’s really good then i have not seen him play like they all describe him bef coming to the wiz.