As a summer full of doppelgänger machine articles shows, I’m not averse to comparing current NBA players to those who came before. But please, let’s have these historical comps at least make sense.
If you pay much attention to NBA discourse, you’ve probably heard comparisons of new Wizards guard Jordan Poole to James Harden or Gilbert Arenas. I get the comp — there’s a superficial similarity because all three are guards who changed teams young. Both Poole and Arenas got their starts with the Golden State Warriors before coming to Washington.
But since it’s out there, and I’m getting asked about it, let’s actually make the comparison.