Sometimes, when things just *happen* right in front of you, you don’t notice ’til later.
Like, by the time November 2010 rolled around, most of us woke up from a daze and said: “Wait . . . did the Giants just WIN THE WORLD SERIES?”
And then we fell back into a daze.
This isn’t on a Market Street Parade-level (yet), but I’m dedicating this week’s Jock Blog to the thing that is happening right now:
His name is Jordan Poole.
And he’s happening.
The skinny: 22 years old. Third year in the NBA. 6-foot-4 inch guard. Michigan Wolverine. Born and raised in Milwaukee. Turning into a dude, right before your eyes.
The latest and greatest was Poole’s 30 points in Miami Wednesday night, right there in the home of the Eastern Conference-leading Heat. Poole’s outrageous accuracy — 10-of-18 from the field, 7-of-13 from 3-point land, 3-for-3 from the free throw line — was so effective, and flummoxed the Heat so much, Jimmy Butler, Udonis Haslem and coach Erik Spoelstra damn near threw hands on each other in a timeout huddle.
Jordan Poole: Making Buckets, Tearing Opponents Apart At Their Fabric.
A star is being born right now, in the middle of your Jimmy G angst, and your concerns over the Giants’ bats and your fretting over Steph Curry’s foot. While all that static is clouding our world, the mustachioed Poole is knocking back pull-up 3s, step-back 3s, catch-and-shoot 3s, running, banked 3s, left handed drives to the rim, mixing in a couple of skip passes and no-look dishes for nine assists.
No other way to put it: the dude is hoopin’.
He’s scored 20 or more points in 11 consecutive games. That ain’t chopped liver. His month of March is a 24.5 point average, and 54% from the field, 49% from 3-point land and 89 % from the stripe. Somewhere, Steph Curry nods, smiles and strokes his goatee in approval.
Per Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Poole’s 3-point shooting in March takes on an added spotlight. Making 52 of 107 (technically 48.6%), he is ahead of NBA luminaries like Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Malik Beasley and Trae Young in terms of March marksmanship. Like his Wolverines who fought their way to the Sweet 16 from the First Four, Poole is dropping a bit of Madness on you this month.
What does it all mean?
That even though we don’t know if the plan will end in that parade down Market Street (or Terry Francois Blvd, or Jack London Square), the Warriors’ plan to try to win it all while developing young talent is kinda, sorta working. No, they’re not dazzling every night, as I was just saying to my good friend Wendell Carter, Jr down in Orlando. And no, they still haven’t caught Memphis for the 2 seed, and may have to win both the Western Conference Finals *and* Semifinals on the road.
But they’re 48-25, and by the time April 16 rolls around and the playoffs start, Poole and his Kiddie Corps homeslice Jonathan Kuminga will have those fresh young legs and enough minutes under NBA duress to complement the graybeards Steph, Draymond, Klay and Andre. You can criticize the Dubs for maybe not getting a big man at the trade deadline — and maybe that criticism will bear out in a future Jock Blog, who knows? — but drafting those two young bucks is looking like it will make Bob Myer’s LinkedIn profile resume.
As they said in “Almost Famous”: “It’s all happening.”
Right in front of you. Don’t miss it, sports fans.
