WASHINGTON — If you take a quick glance at Jordan Poole these days, he probably won’t seem much different than he did one year ago. He continues to wear the jersey number 13. He retains the same neatly trimmed mustache. Ask him a question heavy on X’s and O’s, and he still loves to delve into specifics.
But if you take a deeper look, you’ll discover someone much changed.
A bit before noon Monday, close to the start of the Washington Wizards’ annual media day, Poole entered a room filled with reporters and videographers and, amid all the bright lights, sounded completely at ease.
He sat down on the dais and asked, “What’s up, everybody?”
When a journalist asked Poole about “the impetus” for hosting teammates in California in August for workouts, Poole arched his eyebrows, responded “The who?!?” and smiled, prompting laughs from most people in the room.
Calm, funny. loose — those are the words that describe the 25-year-old guard nowadays, with Draymond Green’s notorious punch further in the past and with Poole’s second season in Washington about to begin.
“From last year to over the summer and to now, I think Jordan is a much different person,” Wizards teammate Kyle Kuzma said. “I think he’s more relaxed. I think he’s more at home. I think, for him, coming to a new situation (for) the first time in his career was probably really, really hard and a little bit different.”
“You can just tell his blood pressure’s a lot lower,” Corey Kispert said later. “I couldn’t imagine the kind of stuff he was dealing with his first year here.”
Poole was facing a lot of tumult. A few months after he helped the Golden State Warriors win the NBA championship in 2022, Green punched him during a training-camp practice, igniting a firestorm of scrutiny and fracturing the Warriors’ once-solid vibes. After the 2022-23 season ended, the Warriors traded Poole to the Wizards.
And after Poole arrived in Washington, he found himself playing off the ball more often than he had played in Golden State. The adjustment was a tough one. His shooting and efficiency stats plummeted. He hoisted ill-advised shots. His defense, never his strong suit to begin with, faltered. Meanwhile, the Wizards lost games in bunches.
In February, after the All-Star break, then-interim coach Brian Keefe held Poole accountable for his subpar play. Keefe moved Poole out of the starting lineup and brought Poole off the bench.
That change, along with Keefe deciding to put the ball in Poole’s hands more often, snapped Poole out of his funk. Over his final 26 games of the season, Poole averaged 20.9 points and 5.8 assists per game, and he started hitting shots at rates on par with his percentages during his final three seasons with Golden State.
Barring an unforeseen injury, Poole almost certainly will be Washington’s starting point guard when the season begins. On Monday, Keefe, about to begin his first full season as the Wizards’ coach, left no doubt that Poole will play a central role in the months ahead. Asked if he intends to employ Poole as a primary ballhandler, Keefe answered, “Absolutely.”
“We want Jordan to be aggressive for himself, aggressive for others,” Keefe said later. “He’s had a great offseason getting his game even tighter.”
Jordan Poole is comfortable with the role coach Brian Keefe has set for him. (Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)
It’s no wonder, then, why Poole feels so comfortable this time around. He’ll play the role that makes him feel most comfortable.
“I love where he’s at from a mentality standpoint,” Kuzma said. “He’s Jordan Poole. I don’t think last year he necessarily was. He was a little bit quiet, a little bit standoffish. We have the same agency, and I know for a fact from conversations that that was not him, and I think that I see more of what Jordan Poole is now.”
When a reporter relayed Kuzma’s comments, Poole smiled and chuckled a bit.
“I mean, he never left,” Poole said. “He’s still here. … The coaches, the organization are just kind of allowing me just to be myself, lead these guys how I was taught to lead.”
The Wizards will need Poole and veterans such as Kuzma, guard Malcolm Brogdon and center Jonas Valanciunas to set the tone. Washington’s roster remains one of the youngest in the league. Developing rookies Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and Alex Sarr and second-year wing Bilal Coulibaly has to be one of the team’s primary objectives.
There were times last season when Poole, because of his shot selection and shoddy defense, didn’t set the best example on the court. But players and coaches always lauded him for the amount of time he spent in the gym.
Now, Poole said, is the time to bring everything together after a tough start in Washington.
“I’m just a competitive person,” he said. “It was new for me to go just through the losing process, honestly. Obviously, we’re in a rebuilding phase, but it was a transition year. There was a lot of movement, a lot of new things, a lot of new pieces on both sides. But now coming into Year 2, we have a little bit more clarity in what we want to do, a little bit more direction in what we want to do. So that not only helps me but it helps other guys know what they can focus on, where they can put their energy to. And that’s all you really need: a little bit of direction. Now we can all kind of have one common goal that we can fight for and we can continue to put our energy into.
He added: “As for me, don’t worry about me. I’m good. I’m fine. I think you guys will see that this year.”
(Top photo of Jordan Poole and Haywood Highsmith: Reggie Hildred / USA Today)
