The Untold Story Between Stephen Curry & Jordan Poole

One of them is a Splash brother, while the other one always seems to be hanging out at pool parties. One of them is a baby-faced assassin, while the other is a baby Steph Curry. But one thing is for certain, when they're hungry, they both know how to cook. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the story of how Jordan Kitsplash Pool became like Steph the Chef Curry. To get to know how these two stars first crossed paths, let's dial back the hands of time just a bit to see where it all began. Steph Curry was drafted back in 2009, and if we did a quick little math here, JP was only just about 10 years old at that time. I mean, he wasn't even in middle school when Steph tasted his first NBA action. And then, by the time Steph won back-to-back MVPs and multiple championships, Pool was still only just in high school, trying his best to get noticed by college scouts. Some people that are just turning into Warriors basketball might think that JP3's transformation into a doppler ganger of Steph happened overnight. But the fact of the matter is, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Because the fact of the matter is, Pool's been closely following Steph and copying his moves way back before he even put on a Warriors uniform. I mean, like pretty much every player in the world these days, Jordan Pool grew up mimicking Steph Curry's deep three-pointers, and it actually paid off in college when he sunk a Then when Pool was coming out of college, he caught his break. While everyone else saw Pool as a catch-and-shoot specialist, the Warriors front office saw something else. It wasn't always on display, but just here and there, in short flashes, the Warriors front office saw the makings of a complete combo guard, the type that could initiate the offense and score at all three levels. Well, as we all know, Pool got picked 28th in the 2019 draft, but at just 20 years old, JP3 didn't care that he was drafted near the bottom of the first round. Instead, he was excited that he was about to play with his idol. Then, without wasting any time, Pool quickly seized the opportunity to learn as much as he can under the tutelage of the greatest shooter in NBA history. In fact, even after practices, he would go home, turn on YouTube, and start dissecting everything Curry did, from using screens, to creating space from defenders, to moving both on and off the ball. Pool dissected it all. Then in addition, after reviewing and studying Steph's game on YouTube, he would then bombard Curry with detailed questions like how to do subtle misdirections and how he could improve his stutter steps. Sheesh guys, no wonder why he looks like a mirror image of Steph now. In an interview, he talked about how it was being mentored by a legend like Steph Curry. It's amazing. First of all, Steph is a big bro. I ask him questions all the time. It's like, imagine if a younger brother, a younger player going against the older player, you're going to want to ask as many questions as you can. They're going to want to teach you. It's year 3 for me, and I think this is year 13 for Steph. I'm 10 years of knowledge behind, and that's the guy that I want to ask questions. It's amazing, man. And we're both competitive, and we always want to get better. Whenever we go against each other, it's always competitive. And we try to push each other as much as possible. I try to push him to let him be as great as he can be. I try to learn as much as possible from him. Now, Curry, on the other hand, saw Poole's untapped potential from the onset, especially the damage and chaos that he can create on the offensive end. Being a mentor to the young JP, Curry gave a detailed assessment and breakdown of his game. It's just about picking his spots and understanding how teams are going to guard him. Teams have to respect his jumper and how lethally he is pulling up, that he can get guys to press upon him and he can blow by them. He's obviously got a quick first step and is pretty crafty with his finishes. Right hand, left hand, all different types of angles. It's tough to guard, especially if you have shooter space on either side of him. The beauty is that he has been able to balance all of it, the shooting, the driving, and then setting up guys with some crazy passes. Getting everybody involved, that's another evolution of his game. It's not just the scoring, it's picking and choosing your spots and making the defense pay. In the first three games of Poole's first ever action in the NBA playoffs, we've seen the fruits of Steph's mentorship to JP as he just completely dominated the game while looking like a mirror image of the two time MVP. Draymond Green recently said of Poole, he's been watching Steph a lot. Now he's doing his best impression. It is incredible. Then Kerr chimed in and said, it's pretty remarkable to see the similarities now with both the on and off ball stuff. After blasting the nuggets in the first few playoff games, Poole eventually flamed out a little bit. But despite this, Curry still highlighted the positives that he brought to the team and his faith in the kid never wavered despite his scoring slump. So for JP, like, it's the playoff experience of understanding he really helped us to get off to a great start in this series. And we needed every bit of his energy and his offense for those first two games, three games, really. The last two, I'm just proud of the way he's competed on the defensive end and found a way to be impactful. And then the lessons you learn in terms of fouling and game plan stuff, that's the evolution of the playoff experience. So like I said, we've been saying this all year, he's built for this. After starting all five games in the Denver series, JP3 was tested yet again, as he got regulated to the bench to pave the way for Steph in game one against Memphis. Instead of taking this in a negative light, JP took it as a challenge and he even performed better by dropping 31 points, nine assists and eight rebounds while embracing the role of the sixth man. JP was indeed the hero of that game. And during the post game interview, Curry once again gave a shout out to JP for bringing his A game when the team needed him the most. He's a hooper, the ultimate confidence in himself, just the ability to be ready for big moments. We've said it all along, once he understands what it takes to be consistent at this level, be ready night in and night out. You can't teach that preparation for the moment. You either have it or you don't. And he does. With that kind of supportive and encouraging mentor-protege relationship, it's no wonder why Steph and JP3 complement each other really well on the floor, despite playing the exact same style. Another reason why they have such good chemistry is that Steph and the rest of the guys like Klay and Draymond have already provided the blueprint on how to win. And the only thing that the young guns like JP have to do is follow that blueprint while staying committed to improving themselves at the highest level. This is exactly what JP is preaching, and there's no doubt that he'll continue the winning tradition set by the vets, even after they hang up their sneakers for good. Here's JP talking more about it. I'm seeing it every day. I'm seeing what Klay is doing. I'm seeing what Steph is doing. Like, how they work out, when they work out, how long they work out, who they work out with, and what they do in their workouts, right? It works, so it shouldn't even be that complicated. Why would you want to try to do anything else? Obviously, you want to have your own uniqueness to your game, right? You want to have your own type of style, but the You don't have to be the guy to say, oh, I did it this specific way, or I did it my way. You could test that theory out if you want, but it's right in front of me, so I'm just going to follow that. You still have player development coaches and coaching staff and a lot of vets who are still just telling you to keep going, boosting your confidence, telling you if you're doing something wrong. Obviously, there are little intangibles in there, but big picture, they're giving me a study guide, and I happen to have the creators who wrote it, so I get to ask any question I want. Wow, guys. Man, I mean, I'd really wish I had a blueprint on how to be like Steph Curry. I'd probably be the best player in my local rec center if that was the case. But anyway, enough of me. I'm actually going to pivot here a little bit and talk about Kobe being Brian for a second, because man, this dude was just not human. I mean, at least he did things that no regular humans would do. If you're wondering what I mean, then you'll have to first watch this video here. But trust me, guys, there's a reason why he's one of the best to ever play the game. Anyway, just click the video, and like always, I'll see you on the other side.