Jordan Poole frustrated at being dropped from Wizards' starting five

He was the headliner of the Wizards' recruiting last summer. But after a frankly disappointing first two thirds of the season, Jordan Poole is back in the role he held at Golden State, as a replacement.

Holder for his first 52 games with Washington, the back was taken out of the starting five on Thursday in Denver, with the return from injury of Kyle Kuzma, the great recent form of Deni Avdija, while offering Frenchman Bilal Coulibaly the minutes to to grow. A situation that does not really please Jordan Poole who tried as best he could to put on a good face, not without hiding a certain annoyance.

“ If you use common sense in this situation, you should know how I feel » he reacted after the new joke received from the Nuggets. “ But I'm just going to come off the bench, do what I can to help the team, move them forward. » Before summarizing his thoughts with a verse from the Bible: “ What I do you do not understand now, but you will soon. » « This is how I take this whole situation. »

Become the leader of the bench rather than just another starter

Wizards interim coach Jordan Keefe explained that he made this choice to try to revive a drifting formation, whose performances do not seem to be going in the right direction, in addition to piling up defeats (46 for 9 successes). Without a replacement leader since the buyout granted to Delon Wright, Brian Keefe wants to put Jordan Poole back in a position similar to the one he had at Golden State, namely to be the engine of the bench.

“ One of the things we've liked about Jordan since I took over is that I've definitely given him the ball more and allowed him to be a player that makes the big decisions. With the roster getting smaller, there is now an opportunity for him to do that more and make our team more complete and be able to play a full 48 quality minutes. […] This is actually a credit to Jordan. This gives him the opportunity now that he is part of the 'second unit', to be the main carrier of the ball, the one who makes the decisions and to be in some way our offensive engine. »

4/17 for his first as 6th man…

The maneuver was not the most effective with 30 minutes of play for Jordan Poole but a terrible 4/17 from a distance, for only one decisive pass, and a new action that will apply to Shaqtin' a Fool of the week.

On a throw-in under the Nuggets basket, he got completely confused, letting the ball slip out of his hands without making the effort to return to defend behind.

Jordan Poole, however, felt that he had mitigating circumstances for this frustrating start to his experience in the capital. “ I was a point guard the last three years of my career. I haven't really played my position all year, I'm just trying to adjust to it. If being a backup is a way of trying to pass the ball to me, I guess that's what we have to do. But I've said it before, I've been a playmaker, I've been the main ball carrier, I've been a facilitator, a playmaker, as well as a scorer. I have the feeling that this is a bit how I proved my game and my way of playing, on my strengths, and that was not the case this year unfortunately. I'm just trying to get better at other aspects of the game. »

Whether he is happy about it or not, Jordan Poole will obviously have to get used to this change in scenario. As for whether this new rotation would be kept after losing by 20 points in the Rockies, Brian Keefe assured “ This is something we will be observing for some time to come. »

How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.