Jordan Poole has a big part of the Warriors’ future in his hands, even though he didn’t ask for it. He was transferred when Draymond Green took offense to something Poole did or said, accosted Poole during Wednesday’s practice and punched him.
Poole did not volunteer for this. By all accounts, the fourth-year Warriors guard was participating in normal training camp practice playing with Draymond, shoved Draymond when he was charged, and then was leveled for the punch. It’s all there in the video, acquired by TMZ and released Friday morning.
But Poole did not back down from that incident. And knowing him, he probably doesn’t back down at this inescapable moment in the extended days of the Warriors’ dynasty, either. Poole has credibility after playing such a key role in last season’s Championship run. He has also taken a lot of verbal heat from veterans and flourished. He has occasionally retorted, but he has used his rhetorical backbone constructively. Every time he walks into the media room, he jokes that he’ll only speak for 90 seconds and pretends to hate her at the podium; but he always stays longer, is more and more thoughtful with his answers, and sometimes even seems to like it.