Jordan Poole has arguably been the biggest breakout star of the NBA Playoffs thus far. But he's been doing this for the Golden State Warriors all season. He's now just getting a bigger stage to do it.
As the Warriors faced instability all season long with injuries to Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and a recovering Klay Thompson, Poole has been the consistent offensive force keeping them afloat. And yet he's not only going to be snubbed from winning the Most Improved Player award, he's not even listed as one of the top 3 finalists.
That's rubbed Warriors teammate Draymond Green the wrong way enough for him to give a passionate rant about the matter earlier this week.
Via Jason Dumas:
“If Jordan Poole isn’t the Most Improve Player, the NBA really needs to relook at their process. You cannot find a guy on that list who has made a bigger improvement,” Draymond said of his Warriors teammate.
“So if we’re going off the name of the award, it’s Jordan Poole. If it’s not Jordan Poole, I’m starting a petition on Change.org to rename these awards. It’s just not accurate.”
According to Green, Jordan Poole is the definition of what the Most Improved Player is supposed to be. No disrespect to the actual finalists in Ja Morant, Dejounte Murray, and Darius Garland, who all had fabulous seasons in their own right, but Poole at least deserves to be among the finalists.
In light of Jordan Poole not being named a finalist for the Most Improved Player award, he is what Draymond Green said regarding Poole's candidacy and the award in general today after practice: pic.twitter.com/AnHX3oAd5e
— Jason Dumas (@JDumasReports) April 17, 2022
3 reasons Jordan Poole got snubbed for MIP
Started from the bottom
The strongest case for Jordan Poole is taking into consideration where he started from. The Warriors guard was literally in the G League last season. That really should be enough said. He played in 11 of the Santa Cruz Warriors' 15 games during the 2020-21 G League season, averaging 22.4 points in 33.5 minutes per game. He went from playing the bulk of development league games to buoying the Warriors offense for a good chunk of the season, a team that finished with the third best record in the Western Conference at that.
He was also the the 28th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. His fellow draft classmates in Garland (5th pick) and Morant (2nd pick) were both in the top 5. Dejounte Murray, in all fairness was the 29th pick for the San Antonio Spurs, but he's already been in the league for years and has been penciled in as his team's lead guard for a while now. That's exactly the second point in Poole's favor.
How high Poole jumped in the hierarchy
Pascal Siakam won the Most Improved Player award back in 2019. He went from promising bench player who started in five games the previous season, to a bona fide offensive weapon the team started and had to play to close out games in their best lineups.
Jordan Poole made a similar jump this season from last, starting in just seven games the previous year to 51 out of his 76 games played this season with a much increased role in the offense. He would oftentimes be one of the top two primary weapons on the floor to close out games. While part of that was due to injuries, he certainly made the most of his opportunities.
Ja Morant, Darius Garland, and Dejounte Murray were all All-Star point guards this season and started every game for their respective teams. Last season, both Morant and Murray already started every game and acted as the offensive focal point for their clubs. Darius Garland started in all but four games last season for the Cavs. They were already the lead guards for their respective clubs. While their improvement has been undeniable, it's still not as great of a leap as Poole's from relatively obscurity as a bench player to an indispensable part of the Warriors' attack.
Best ability is availability
One underrated factor in Jordan Poole's MIP candidacy was his availability. That's what's made him so valuable for the Warriors this season amidst a slew of injuries to key players. Much has been made of Nikola Jokic's ironman ability to stay healthy which helped his MVP case, but it's the same for Jordan Poole. He played in 76 out of the 82 games this season.
In contrast, Dejounte Murray and Darius Garland played in just 68 games this season. Ja Morant, the likely frontrunner, played in just 57. His Grizzlies also had an absurdly great record when he wasn't on the floor during that span.
While the award is highly subjective, the evidence backing Jordan Poole is just too strong to ignore. He may not be deserving to some depending on what criteria you're using, but the Warriors guard should undoubtedly be in the conversation.
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