Harnessing the Success of the Poole-Wiseman Pick and Roll
The Warriors have been known throughout their dynasty for their ability to keep their core of players stable. While Draymond Green’s recent actions have caused a sort of rift in the locker room, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the team’s success has always been at least in part to the chemistry the players have together. And as we look towards the newest brand of Warriors basketball, it’s important to keep tabs on groups or duos where that may emerge.
The most recent? Jordan Poole and James Wiseman. This duo has seen some recent success in the preseason with the leaps Poole made last year and Wiseman’s continued development of “simplifying” his game.
In a very small sample size last year, the Wiseman-Poole pick-and-roll action generated over 1.2 points per possession, and while it’s been only through a few preseason games, they’ve somehow managed to be more efficient: Per InStat, they’re up to 1.47 points per possession across three games. Despite a lack of serious volume yet, it’s definitely something to note as their skillsets fit together very well. Poole’s electric first step allows him to get downhill and draw both his man and the low man covering Wiseman in the paint. With that kind of gravity, it forces the defense to collapse at the rim, freeing up Big Jim for dump-offs and lobs because of his size and leaping ability.
Wiseman’s tenacity in diving to the hoop and looking for the stronger finish has been one of his noticeable improvements, and because Wiseman is showing he can be that play finisher, it forces defenses into the unfortunate situation of playing more drop-adjacent coverages against Poole, who happens to be a pretty good pull-up shooter. In last year’s postseason, he shot 43% on pull-up 2s, mid-range jumpers generally taken to create advantage off drop coverages on at-the-break picks.
The growing chemistry between these two is bookmarked for the future. With the preseason being a good time for coaches to see what may and may not work, having Poole and Wiseman together in the second unit could end up to be very beneficial not just for the future of the Warriors, but in the immediate. It adds a wrinkle to their offense that you don’t really see often with the Warriors, mostly running off-ball motion sets to create open looks for their talented shooters. The addition of more pick-and-roll is a weapon the Warriors use effectively, but not all too often aside from high-screens for Steph Curry which lead to traps and subsequent 4-on-3 offense mostly quarterbacked by Draymond Green.
It seems we’re not the only ones who have a lot of faith in the duo this season. Steve Kerr chimed in on the concept as well, lauding Wiseman’s development and his improvements in categories such as spacial awareness and overall experience.
“He’s such a lob threat around the rim, a pick and roll combination with Jordan should be a good one” Kerr said about Wiseman after their game against the Lakers.
Against second units, JP and Wiseman are a pair that could potentially wreak a lot of havoc. Improvements in Poole’s game (becoming more patient and selecting more quality shots) have been just as noticeable as Wiseman’s simplifications. In spaced-out offenses like Golden State’s, forcing help defense will allow Poole as the operator to find the open shooters as they go. While they aren’t quite vets, both of these young players are maximizing their skills by working together. They’re poised to dominate the bench mobs across the league this season with a new dimension of Kerr’s scheme, and possibly dominate every else well in the future: These are two guys who could (and should) end up being franchise cornerstones, and they still have plenty of room to grow even though they’re showing signs of high aptitude and hoops IQ already.
The James Wiseman and Jordan Poole duo has mountains of potential, and while they’ve already shown they can be consistent with their success in tandem, it looks like they’re just getting started.
(Photo credit: Joe Murphy / Getty Images)