In the first installment of our Next Man Up, an NBA Draft series, we taking a deeper dive into Michigan freshman Jordan Poole
Next Man Up is going to be a weekly series about current college basketball players that are poised to be on NBA Draft radars in the future. On my big board I try to include only guys who have a small chance of entering the NBA Draft this summer.
However, there are plenty of talented prospects who will shine in the spotlight in a year or two in college. This is your chance to get to know these guys before they become mainstream names.
The first Next Man Up being profiled is Jordan Poole, who is a talented freshman combo guard for the Michigan Wolverines. If anybody follows me on twitter (Editor’s Note: and if you don’t, do it now), they saw this coming. Every Michigan game I watch is a plea of tweets begging for Jordan Poole to draw some NBA attention. Poole first caught my eye when I saw him live, attending the Michigan and Ohio State game to watch Keita Bates-Diop.
Instead, I found myself blow away by this lengthy guard in throwback short shorts in layup lines. This kid was getting up off the floor with such explosiveness, and performing dunks that normal college players don’t do. That lengthy guard, coming off a career high 19 point game was Jordan Poole.
Jordan Poole, PG/SG, Freshman, Michigan
Season stats: 11.3 minutes per game, 6 PPG, 44%FG, 37% from 3, 78% FT, 0.5 assists, 1 rebound, 0.5 steals, and 0.6 TO’s
NBA skills: Length and athletic ability
At 6-foot-4 Poole will hopefully transition into more of a lead guard role, instead of the wing he currently plays. If Poole transitions to become a lead guard his height and length will be great for the NBA. Even though there isn’t an official wingspan out on Poole, he does have long arms and legs.
He’s a very explosive leaper, Poole’s leaping ability can be seen in this block made in a game against UC Riverside in late January.
Poole showcases his speed here. check out Poole’s speed look at this blow by and dunk against Detroit in December.
Knockdown catch and shooter
Jordan Poole is capable of a lot more, but at this point in his college career he has been mostly a spot up shooter on offense. According to Syngery Sports, Poole is shooting 38.9 percent on catch-and-shoot jump shots, ranking in the 72nd percent tile.
Poole knocked down one catch-and-shoot 3 after another in Michigan’s game against Indiana. Poole finished with five 3’s in this game, including one 3-pointer showing off his NBA range.
The freshman’s ceiling is certainly a lot higher than just a catch and shooter, but for a first-year college player you can’t really expect all that much.
Flashes of finishing
Jordan Poole has shown that he is more than just a spot shooter. In limited minutes, he flashes the ability to get to the rim and finish. Skip ahead to about a 1:20 mark into the video. Poole decides he’s not going to take the ball screen then blows by his defender with a pretty hesitation and finishes with the reverse layup.
Skip down to 58 seconds on this video, Poole makes a great euro step and finishes with the right hand against Ohio State.
According to Synergy Sports Jordan Poole is currently shooting 92.3 percent on 25 attempts this season on around the basket shots that aren’t post ups. So basically, Poole is shooting about 90 percent on layups driving to the hoop.
Skills That Need Work:
Adding muscle
As most can see from these videos, Jordan Poole is far away from having an NBA body. Watching those videos it’s easy to tell Poole does not have a wide frame. Standing at 6-foot-4 and only weighing 190 pounds, it would be nice to see Poole come in next season around 200-205 pounds. Adding about 10-15 extra pounds of muscle should help him fight through contact better. However, it could make him less explosive since he doesn’t have a great frame.
Playmaking ability
Poole is averaging less than one assist a game, and even though he only plays about eleven minutes he doesn’t do really anything in terms of creating for others. However, Jordan Poole could have this skill he just can’t show it. With Poole getting limited playing time along with limited time with the ball in his hands he doesn’t get a chance to show his playmaking. It is worth noting that he does average more turnovers than assists a game though.
Showing more shot creation
Jordan Poole is only shooting about 26 percent on jump shots off the dribble on 27 attempts, according to Synergy Sports. Much like Poole’s playmaking ability this could just be a product of Poole’s low usage rate. However, even in limited possessions he hasn’t shown enough. Often Poole takes a one dribble pull up from 3 that he makes, but next year Poole needs to get a little more creative, and work on creating space for his own shot.
Overall Outlook
Overall, I’ve been a believer in Jordan Poole’s game since the start of the season and my mind won’t change. Poole will be in my Top 60 Big Board to start the year next season. With Duncan Robinson and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman graduating this year, and Mo Wagner most likely headed to the NBA, Jordan Poole should take on a much larger role next season for the Michigan Wolverines.
Poole’s larger role should answers the questions about him offensively and defensively. Only playing 11 minutes a game, it’s hard to gauge Poole’s ability on that end. With his height, athletic ability, and length, Jordan Poole should be fine defensively.
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Lastly, trust that Jordan Poole will get better in the offseason. Above is a video of Poole training with Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet.