Jordan Poole played in the shadow of Stephen Curry for the first four years of his career. He has a similar skillset, and at times, relatively speaking, he has shown that he can be nearly as electric of a shooter and scorer as the two-time MVP and future Hall of Famer.
But having a vaguely similar basketball aesthetic and being able to actually replicate what Curry does on the floor are two very different things.
Poole, now with the Washington Wizards after a fallout with the Warriors (or at least with Draymond Green) found this out on Saturday, when he tried to pull off the famous Curry look-away on a 3-point shot, turning around to the bench as the ball was still in the air.
There was just one problem.
He forgot to the make the shot.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
pic.twitter.com/ql9p3KUdwJ
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) October 28, 2023
If you want to see how this is really done, here are two full minutes of Curry look-aways that actually go through the net.
Stephen Curry look away shots
¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/Mm0VXKmlcr
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 11, 2022
Poole’s Wizards knocked of the Memphis Grizzlies, 113-106, on Saturday to even their early record at 1-1, but Poole is yet to really lock in his shot. Through two games, he’s shooting 22% (4 of 18) from downtown and 35% overall. The look-away in Memphis was one of his eight bricked triples on Saturday.
Poole is a supremely skilled player, and given that he has his own team now — and the opportunity to fully unleash his creativity that comes with it — he is going do some Curry-like things from time to time this year and throughout his career. But Saturday night was not one of those times. He took at shot at the king, and he missed. Badly.