SAN FRANCISCO – Jordan Poole’s long highway from frigid Milwaukee to the NBA was paved by the searing words of his father as the two headed home after a basketball tournament.
“As we got to the house,” Anthony Poole recalls, “I said, ‘Hey, you say you want to go to the league. That tournament was good. You did OK. But it was BS. You’re not putting in the effort to get where you want to get to. You’ll be lucky if you’re an overseas player.’ “I said it to motivate him. To get him pissed.”
Jordan was 12 or 13 years old. His dream was to reach the NBA. Lucky? Overseas? The statement stung like a slap in the face. He loved his dad but hated this particular conclusion. Would he sulk? Maybe slink into the arms of his mother, Monet, for a warm hug?
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No. Jordan had another idea. He decided those words should have meaning.
“What Jordan did was,” Anthony says, breaking into laughter, “go and write down what I said. He took a thumb tack and put it on his bedroom door. I could see it every time I walked past his room. He had it up there for about a year and a half.”
During those 18 or so months, Jordan’s desire to make it to the NBA shifted into overdrive. As his teenage years came, he methodically peeled off football and baseball to concentrate on basketball. He still loved the other sports, but now he had a league to seize. And, perhaps equally significant, there was a point to make.
“Obviously, at the time, he didn’t think I’d be good enough to go to the league,” Jordan says. “I had to prove him wrong.”
Golden State Warriors
The spotlight gets bigger and brighter
The proof is playing out on the court for the Warriors, where Poole is widely considered the team’s most diligent worker. In his third season, he has won over head coach Steve Kerr and become a crucial component of a championship contender. The role of Sixth Man belongs to him, for now, and he has the tools to be tremendous.
Beginning Sunday against the Spurs and for the next few weeks, Poole will be in the starting lineup, replacing two-time MVP Stephen Curry, who sustained a sprained ligament in his foot Wednesday and is not expected back until sometime in April.
Here comes the spotlight. With Curry out, it’s bigger and brighter than ever before. Some players, regardless of experience, retreat in such conditions. Poole lunges.
“He wants it big time,” Anthony Poole says. “That started his freshman year, when he hit a couple big shots to take the team (Rufus King High) to state.”
That shot in the sectional final came after King coach Jim Gosz summoned Poole from the bench with four seconds left and the Generals trailing by three. Poole drained the game-tying 3-ball. King won in overtime.
Poole also nailed buzzer-beaters at La Lumiere High in Indiana, where he played his senior season, before his late-game theatrics went national at the University of Michigan. He splashed a buzzer-beating triple in the 2018 NCAA Tournament to defeat the University of Houston and send the Wolverines to the Sweet 16.
“There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance,” Warriors assistant general manager Kirk Lacob says. “And he loves to straddle that line. Most of the time it’s a big plus. He doesn’t shy from the big moment. It doesn’t mean he’s going to hit it every time, but he’s not scared of it. When you’re not scared, you at least have a chance to be successful.”
With the Warriors moving into playoff mode this month, Poole has been at his best, scoring at least 20 points in eight consecutive games, four of which he started. The numbers – 24.8 points per game, 57.9 percent shooting, including 53.0 from distance – are unsustainable but offer a glimpse of his desire to perform when stakes are high.
Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco has worked with Poole ever since he arrived as a rookie in 2019, a few weeks after his 20th birthday. They work before practice, during practice, after practice. They mornings and nights.
And if DeMarco is not available, Poole will find someone else to join him in the gym.
“His impact on the game is major right now,” DeMarco says. “His goal has always been to contribute at a high level in the playoffs. Anything he’s worked on, anything we’ve done in the gym or in film (study) has been with this goal of being able to make an impact in the playoffs and help the team win championships.”
Confidence encourages independence
It’s no surprise that Poole has a stubborn streak, or that he’s intelligent and an independent thinker. His shorts are anachronistic, a shred longer than those associated with the 1970s but sitting a good four or five inches higher than those of his fellow Warriors.
Ask him about it, and he shrugs.
“It’s how I like my shorts – all my shorts,” he says.
He was about 5-foot-7, maybe 140 pounds upon entering King High School, yet he gravitated to football. To quarterback. Why not.
“He was a damn good quarterback,” Anthony Poole says. “Also played safety. But as a quarterback, he saw the field, felt the pressure coming and could throw.”
Poole happily touts multiple cat ownership. And if you dare look askance, perhaps concluding he is a “cat guy,” he is quick to halt your assumption. He is a different breed of cat. Until he gets on the basketball court, where he becomes a panther.
The free-thinker vibe might have concerned some NBA franchises preparing for the 2019 draft. Poole is relatively thin, a terrific shooter but only a slightly above-average athlete. That might be why he is available to the Warriors, who selected him 28th overall.
Eyebrows were raised. There was chatter about this pick being “a reach.” And it was fair, given that Poole was declaring after his sophomore year.
“I asked our guys, ‘What can he do?’” team president Bob Myers recalls. “They said ‘Dribble, pass and shoot.’ We saw he was capable of doing all three things. A lot of guys in the NBA can do one or two, but not that many do all three really well.
“Some people thought it was too early for him in the draft. But you’ve got to go with what you believe. And that’s what we thought.”
The skepticism only added a few pounds to the chip on Poole’s shoulder. That note no longer was on the door, but the words remained in his mind.
“You hear the noise, but that’s all it was,” Jordan says. “It comes with the environment. It’s a popularity contest. In our era, with the social media phase, a lot of people have opinions that are not asked. It’s just noise. You could hear what you want, say what you want, read what you want. But it’s up to you to decide whether it affects you or your lifestyle.
“Did I hear it? Sure. But I couldn’t do anything about it. What was I supposed to do? They didn’t know any better.”
The source of his commitment
“They” might not have known that Jordan was the skinny kid who didn’t flinch at going outside and putting up shots in sub-freezing weather. The Poole home, at the end of a cul-de-sac, had a basketball court for local kids to gather to play. They went through at least three rims, by Anthony’s count, with his son putting in the most time.
“They” might not have known that Jordan was so devoted to the game that he would grab a shovel to clear enough snow to create room on the court. He needed room to put up a few more shots.
Jordan traces his work ethic to his parents. Anthony is a manager with UPS but also coaches AAU ball. Mom is a social worker. They were examples for the three children. Jordan is the middle child, with Alexandria his older sister, and Jaiden the younger sister.
“It’s just a trait I’ve had my entire life,” Jordan says. “My parents worked really hard. The people around me, my grandparents, they worked hard.
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“But it’s also a local culture. It’s where we’re from. Milwaukee. Loon (teammate and fellow Milwaukee native Kevon Looney) does the same thing. It might be 12 degrees outside on a Wednesday morning, but you still have to get up and go to work. It’s snowing outside. You’re feeling the cold. Life don’t stop for none of that. You got to get up and go about your day. That was my entire life.”
The payoff comes into view
Poole's pursuit of excellence is paying off. Poole has progressed from an unimpressive rookie season to a promising second season to flashing star potential.
There have been times this season when Poole has been the driving force of the offense with or without the likes of Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Curry – such as the 110-88 loss to the Celtics on Wednesday night.
“We were getting squeezed by Boston,” Kerr says. “We can’t find a way to score. Steph goes down, Klay’s not making shots, Wiggs is not there. And Jordan just breaks out with 29 points, puts us on his back and gets us back to get us back in the game against one of the best defenses in the league.
“It’s an example not only of what he’s capable of doing, but his belief and his confidence.”
Kerr recently conceded that has been tough on Jordan. It’s something players and staff members have noticed for a couple years. Kerr believes Poole can polish his overall as a combo guard to such a shine he’d reach All-Star status.
The revelation gets a chuckle out of Anthony Poole.
“That’s nothing new for Jordan,” he says. “People want to talk about how he’s being coached. Jordan’s been coached like that his entire life. I would be hard on Jordan at times. If I didn’t think he had the skill set, I wouldn’t have been hard on him. But I could see that he had something.
“It worked. You can see he’s worked at it. I’m proud to see that his dream has come true.”
Tough love is not always understood. Young Jordan didn’t understand it. He does now, after the words uttered by his father more than a decade ago lit a fuse that landed him where he wanted to be.