Those who have not yet heard of T.J. Warren, missed out on college basketball. The ACC Player of the Year averaged 24.9 points and 7 rebounds at N.C. State last season and was a scoring wizard. His game translates really well to the NBA, and more importantly, the Phoenix Suns.
Warren brings a natural scoring gift to the team with a plethora of skills in shooting, transition scoring, and offensive rebounding. In the NBA Summer League, Warren averaged 17.8 points on 13 attempts while shooting 54%. Warren shot 10% better than Doug McDermott who scored .2 more points per game than Warren. Warren was also named to the NBA Summer League 2nd team.
The way Warren seems to have a knack for getting a rebound, finishing at the rim, and getting in open lanes says a lot about how his transition to the NBA will go. Multiple times he finished at the rim with a dunk or even grabbed his own miss in the paint. At 6'8" 220 lbs Warren has the perfect body to play small forward in the league.
“It's kind of harder. I'm trying to figure it out," Warren said. "In college you could kind of finish through guys, at the next level it’s different. So you’ve got to be craftier, find ways to put it in the basket. I’m adjusting to it pretty well.”
Warren has adjusted better than "pretty well" and gives the Suns some great offensive firepower. The Phoenix Suns are loaded with talented, fast, and up-tempo players. T.J. Warren and Gerald Green will work wonders on the wings in their fastbreak attack. It is early, but the Phoenix Suns may have gotten the steal of the 2014 Draft.