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Golden State Warriors: Which rookie will make the biggest initial impact?

By Justin Fried

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 15: Saddiq Bey #15 and Eric Paschall #4 of the Villanova Wildcats celebrate in the second half against the Xavier Musketeers during the semifinal round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 15: Saddiq Bey #15 and Eric Paschall #4 of the Villanova Wildcats celebrate in the second half against the Xavier Musketeers during the semifinal round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Golden State Warriors
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 28: Jordan Poole #2 of the Michigan Wolverines drives against Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 28, 2019 in Anaheim, California. Golden State Warriors (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

2. Jordan Poole

Despite being the Warriors first-round selection in this year’s draft, Jordan Poole shouldn’t be expected to have the greatest initial impact. That said, he should still be able to carve out a role with the team.

Poole was considered a bit of a reach with the 28th overall selection but it’s clear to see what the Warriors liked in him. The Michigan product is a plus outside shooter, is an aggressive defender, and has a clutch pedigree — all things that make him intriguing as a first-round talent.

But there will certainly be a good amount of growing pains early on.

Poole is a very streaky shooter as we saw during his performances in the California Classic and Las Vegas summer league. The 20-year-old prodigy shot just 4-of-20 in Sacramento but improved that to a much better 24-of-60 in Las Vegas.

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On top of that, his overall team defense still needs a ton of work.

Too often Poole finds himself caught on screens and while he uses his length to get in the way of passing lanes, he still regularly finds himself out of position on switches. Those are all things that could be fixed with experience, but it’s certainly going to take some time.

Those deficiencies could limit his early playing time. As could the presence of veteran Alec Burks who will try and take away some of his minutes at the shooting guard position.

It also wouldn’t be surprising to see the Warriors run some offense with D’Angelo Russell at the point perhaps opening up a spot for Jacob Evans to return to his previous position and play some shooting guard.

Poole will still have his opportunities, but he doesn’t have the clear-cut path to the rotation as his fellow draft pick does.

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