Warriors guard Jordan Poole made 38 percent of his 3-point attempts over his first five NBA games, but things went south in a hurry.
The No. 28 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft shot 20 percent from deep over his next 28 appearances, and the game seemed to be moving really fast for him.
But something clicked over the final two months of his rookie campaign, as Poole averaged 11.7 points and 3.1 assists, while shooting over 33 percent from 3-point territory (on 5.0 attempts).
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SIGN UP HERE Golden State's front office believes in the 21-year-old, and couldn't be happier with his work ethic.
"I think Jordan Poole deserves a special shoutout. He has put in, I would say, more work than anybody," vice president of basketball operations Kirk Lacob told Forbes' Patrick Murray recently. "He made the decision to stick around here almost the entire time during quarantine.
"And he was one guy who we all noticed, and it wasn't for show, but kept coming back at night during the minicamp. I mean, he came back for extra work as often as he was allowed to. He has put in a tremendous amount of work."
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Is the training staff doing anything different with him?
"He put on a lot of weight last year -- a lot of it was good," Lacob explained. "(But) we determined he might have put on too much muscle last year, too much bulk for his frame. So he's actually trimmed down a little bit now. It looks a little springy here but he still looks so much bigger and physical, so much stronger.
"But he really has worked his butt off. If you could give an award for the guy who worked the hardest during minicamp, and we had a lot of guys that really worked hard, you probably give it to him."
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Depending on what happens with the roster this offseason, Poole could enter next season as the Warriors' backup point guard.
And if he completely earns the trust of coach Steve Kerr, the former Michigan Wolverine will find himself sharing the court with Steph Curry at times.
"He had a very rough start to his career, but a much better last month or so," Lacob added. "We're excited to see where that takes him, and he's absolutely putting in the work."