Recent Jordan Poole Trade Discussions May Interest Jazz
Poole #Poole
Once unanimously viewed as the next great guard in San Francisco, even sometimes dubbed the third ‘Splash Brother,’ Jordan Poole has since been criticized heavily due to his recent playoff struggles. Some big media names seem to have begun as far to throw his name in some proposed trades as well.
On Fox Sports’ analyst, Colin Cowherd’s The Herd, he proposed a blockbuster deal involving the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics. The deal in question? Jaylen Brown and Malcolm Brogdon for Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole.
A lot of words could describe this deal, but we’ll go with ‘interesting.’
The Celtics-Warriors deal is what it is. However, what really stuck out to me about Colin’s overall segment on this was his opinions on the situation of Jordan Poole. Instead of bashing and criticizing his recent playoff performances like most, he actually kind of came to his defense, calling for him to have a change of scenery.
“Jordan Poole is very talented, I just wonder about the fit. The New England Patriots, because of their efficient, rigid, and disciplined structured style were just not a great fit for OchoCinco, and they were only a good fit for Randy Moss for about 2.5-3 years before he wore people out. It doesn’t mean OchoCinco and Randy Moss aren’t great. The Warriors system demands a lot. It’s demanding, it’s structured, it’s smart, it’s intuitive… Jordan Poole with Curry playing averages 16 points a game. Without Curry he averages 26. Jordan Poole needs to be ‘the man’, not the guy subbing in for ‘the man’. He would start and be a 25 points per game player for 90% of this league…He doesn’t work here [in Golden State]. It is a highly-structured system and he’s an unstructured at times player. Loose unstructured players struggled with the Patriots and they can struggle with the Warriors.”
– Colin Cowherd on Jordan Poole’s fit in Golden State, via The Herd
The case for a Jaylen Brown trade will always be intriguing, but it would be foolish to not consider the trade value of Poole as well. When you look at it big picture, the case for a team to trade for the 23-year old guard actually isn’t too bad. He’ll end up costing less both in terms of assets required to get him and against the salary cap, and the upside a team could get in a trade for him could be significant.
Now who would be among a few teams that could find some value in this? There’s one team that stands out, and that’s the Utah Jazz.
Now yes, there are some obvious red flags with Poole. This postseason he’s struggled to match his regular season production considering his points average has split in half. He’s also struggled with his efficiency, his defensive upside is lackluster, he was at the center of the early season scuffle involving the Draymond Green punch, etc.
But…
The Jazz do happen to have the required collection of potential assets, cap space, and neccesary fit in order to pull this kind of move off. If Poole can developed correctly and is able to maintain more consistency, Jordan Poole could be a potential first or second scoring option for Utah. We know the Jazz are capable of developing high-level scoring guards, just look at the team’s 2017 first round pick!
Sure, his defense could prove to be a concern down the road, but pair him with a defensive minded point or wing and they can manage to cover up his shortcomings. A potential offensive duo of Jordan Poole and Lauri Markkanen could be a problem for opposing teams for years to come.
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