“Defensively he’s shown amazing capability of being able to guard the ball” - Stephen Curry impressed with Golden State Warriors teammate Jordan Poole’s defensive contribution so far

After the Golden State Warriors’ second loss of the season against the Charlotte Hornets, talisman Stephen Curry was asked about teammate Jordan Poole’s contributions to the team this season. So far, the Warriors have been the best team in the NBA and have the best defensive rating. They got off to a 10-2 start with Stephen Curry currently going at 28.1 ppg along with 6.7 assists and 6.2 blocks.

Andrew Wiggins is the second most-prolific scorer for the Warriors, with Jordan Poole also having produced some big performances in his first ever NBA season as a starter. After the loss, Curry was questioned about Jordan Poole’s defensive contributions this season. The NBA’s best shooter and seven-time All-Star was all praise for the 22-year old Jordan Poole, and spoke at length about his defensive contributions this season.

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Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry was all praise for Jordan Poole after loss to Charlotte Hornets

In his two years in the NBA so far, Jordan Poole has started a combined 21 NBA matches. However, he has started all 13 of the Golden State Warriors’ games this season and has proved to be an important player on both ends of the court. Poole has averaged 17.2 points, 3.2 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game and has played a crucial role for the Warriors in their winning run this season.

Against the Charlotte Hornets, Poole had a terrible game all around against a physical defense that did not allow an easy path to the rim. Poole finished with 13 points, three assists and just four of his 12 overall shots, with two three-pointers out of eight. Regardless, Stephen Curry claimed Poole is an important player and lauded his defensive contributions towards the start of the campaign:

“He has all the physical gifts of being able to be versatile, play at different paces. Defensively he has shown an amazing capability of being able to guard the ball and keep in front and challenge shots and then turn that into you know, offense where you can just sprint the floor and attack the rim.”

Apart from Jordan Poole’s ability to defend multiple positions, Stephen Curry also spoke about his shooting and decision-making, claiming that he has the ability to influence games on both ends of the court:

“He is pretty good with the ball in his hands, like you have to make decisions. He has done a lot with his minutes the last three games and it’s nice to have a guy of his size that can guard a point-guard all the way to the 4, some 5s, and make them guard him at the other end. So, he uses the speed, uses the size and his athleticism defensively.”

Stephen Curry went on to claim that Jordan Poole has been defending him during training and is able to block quite a few of his shots. Curry said that Poole revels the challenge of performing in the NBA and is only going to improve in the coming time.

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