Washington Wizards guard Jordan Poole is no stranger to heavy criticism on social media. But as stated in an interview with her Martenzie Johnson for Andscape, Poole ignores all the noise and offers this perspective.
“We're really in a time where we're attracted to negativity,” Poole said.
As Johnson pointed out, Poole has especially drawn the ire of critics this year after coming off a disappointing season with a last-place Washington Wizards team.
“But it wasn't just Poole's poor play and the team's underwhelming performance. Poole almost immediately became the punchline of jokes on social media from both regular users and corporate accounts. You can make fun of someone for doing something, but then social media users, especially those on X, formerly known as Twitter, seem to find social currency in mentioning the pool's name.”
Poole also has tremendous confidence on the court, which probably draws more attention to him than others. Poole told Johnson that he believes the offense is a response to his confidence and his style of play.
“Confidence has always been prominent and a staple, because not everyone is confident and not everyone is confident,” he said. People who lack self-confidence are probably disliked.
Regarding his playing style, Poole is not afraid to take shots from anywhere on the court. He's also not afraid to take big risks. Sometimes he does well, sometimes he doesn't.
Poole is just a few years removed from being a key cog on the Golden State Warriors' championship team in 2021-22.
At the time, as good as he was in the Dubs, the criticism wasn't as great. At the end of the day, Poole doesn't seem to mind the noise, although it's perhaps more pronounced now that he plays in Washington. Instead, as he pointed out to Washington, he's more focused on controlling what he can control and being unapologetically himself.
