Jordan Poole’s decision to officially withdraw from the University of Michigan and go all in on the NBA Draft was a simple one. This was a decision based on the confines of what was and the belief in what could be.
In a phone call Tuesday, Poole’s father, Anthony Poole, told The Athletic that his son’s decision stemmed from simple pragmatism. “If you come back (to school) and don’t improve,” Anthony Poole said, “you really screw yourself.” And coming back to Michigan and improving, in the Pooles’ eyes, would be exceedingly difficult as a matter of happenstance at U-M.
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As Jordan Poole noted in a conversation before Michigan’s team banquet last week, and as his father repeated by phone Tuesday, both believe Jordan’s opportunities to showcase his game were mostly limited by the particulars of Michigan’s roster and his role in the offense.
Jordan Poole said last week that he wished he could have exhibited his ball-handling and overall offensive repertoire by playing more out of ball-screen sets. Instead, his primary usage came on set shots and in isolation situations. His father echoed the sentiment Tuesday, saying, “It’s nothing bad, but the way the offense is, to keep (Zavier Simpson) on the floor, you have to keep him as a ball-dominant point guard. That’s how you use (Simpson) in the best way. … That’s just the way it is. It’s not the fault of (Simpson) or anybody else, but it limits what Jordan can do.”
With that belief on the surface, there existed the reality of what’s ahead. For Michigan to be its best version next season, the Pooles believe, it will most likely come from a situation where Simpson is again charged with managing the primary ball-handling situations, leaving Poole in a role similar to the one he occupied this past season.
“It was just going to be the same concept,” Anthony Poole said. “How does Jordan develop or get better?”
More specifically, how would an expanded offensive toolkit be displayed? Right or wrong, this was the Pooles’ primary concern. Sure, Jordan Poole could possibly return as a junior and be used more often in ball screens and NBA-style sets, but that was, in their eyes, a risk — ultimately not one worth taking, not given the perception of players’ depleted value as upperclassmen.
“If (Jordan) comes back and has the same season (as he did in 2018-19), NBA guys are going say, well, how did he get better?” Anthony Poole said.
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This thought process was in the works weeks ago. Anthony Poole said his son made his NBA decision “a while ago” and mostly knew this would be his future course during the second half of the season. Poole left the door open to return to school when declaring for the draft as a matter of “keeping it respectful toward the program,” according to his father.
Jordan Poole, who is close to finalizing a deal with a high-profile agency, ended the speculation Tuesday. The university issued a formal release announcing his decision to remain in the draft. In the statement, Poole said: “There has been much discussion, but after weighing all my options and having many positive discussions, my family and I, along with the help of Coach (John) Beilein and the rest of the coaching staff, believe now is the right time for me to begin my professional basketball career. It has been a dream of mine to play in the NBA. I feel I am ready to go after that dream.”
The release came one day after Poole’s profile on a website called Cameo gained widespread attention. The site charges a fee for celebrities and public figures to send personalized messages. This, if Poole were planning to remain at Michigan, would fly in the face of NCAA rules relating to student-athletes profiting on their name, image and likeness (NIL). On Tuesday, before Poole’s official announcement was made public, a Michigan official told The Athletic that the department has “advised our students that anyone who receive(s) money for NIL could be jeopardizing their eligibility. We would need to work with the NCAA on reinstatement.”
That’s all moot now.
Anthony Poole said his son has received feedback from “multiple (NBA) teams” that say he could be selected in the first round or early second round of the June 20 draft. Much of his stock will rest heavily on individual team workouts held after the NBA combine. There, Poole hopes, his shooting ability, ball-handling and offensive diversity will be displayed more than they were on his college film.
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After playing the role of a hired gun as a freshman, Poole started all 37 games as a sophomore, averaging 33.1 minutes. He made 2.0 3-pointers per game on 36.9 percent shooting and averaged 12.8 points per game. In Big Ten play, his 3-point shooting dipped to 32.7 percent. Anthony Poole noted Tuesday that Poole was also stuck facing double teams and, when it came to some of Michigan’s offensive struggles, was “a lot of times made the scapegoat” by onlookers. Given that Michigan is set to lose Charles Matthews and, potentially, leading scorer Ignas Brazdeikis next season, the choice to go pro leaned on the reality of what 2019-20 might hold and how, set to turn 20 years old this summer, Jordan could see his pro stock be pulled one way or another.
“If he came back, how would it be different?” Anthony Poole said. “It’s rare that players get drafted high as a junior or senior. It would have to be an exceptional year to get drafted high.”
Jordan Poole’s time at Michigan will forever be remembered for a night in Wichita when he went from freshman with a mouth full of braces to a billboard-ready sensation. That night — when the then-18-year-old beat Houston with a 30-foot dream-maker in the second round of the NCAA Tournament — not only propelled Michigan, ultimately, to the Final Four but also served as the launching pad for Poole’s pro prospects. That shot changed all trajectories. So did the work on the practice floor, with Poole becoming less of a gambler with the ball, improving his defense and fine-tuning his jab step and jumper.
The choice in making his decision public now comes as a nod to those NBA coaches and front-office reps who are set to watch and evaluate Poole over the next two months.
“When you go into (the draft) as just testing it, a foot halfway in, a foot halfway out, they’re not going to give you the benefit of the doubt,” Anthony Poole said. “If you’re all in, you’re all in.”
Now, Jordan Poole is all in.
(Photo: Rey Del Rio / Getty Images)
