Draft Profile: T.J. Warren

With the NBA Draft Lottery behind us, we shift our focus directly to the June 26th NBA Draft. Over the next month we’ll look at some of the top prospects in the draft, along with players that the Magic either reportedly worked out, or interviewed at the NBA Draft Combine. North Carolina State combo forward T.J. Warren, is next.

The 29th player in the ESPN Top 100 in 2012, T.J. Warren has done nothing since to diminish his status as a pro prospect. The former member of the Wolfpack, put together two solid seasons before deciding it was time to take the next step. A second team Consensus All-American, Warren put up some of the biggest numbers of anyone in the 2014 draft class.

	Points	Rebounds	TS%	Usage %	Points Produced
2012-13	12.1	4.2	63.8	19.5	380
2013-14	24.9	7.1	57.4	35.5	775

There are a couple of glaring differences in Warren’s first and second seasons, mainly his usage rate and the increased scoring and points produced that came due to that. After his freshman season, the Wolfpack’s four leading scorers –C.J. Leslie, Richard Howell, Scott Wood and Lorenzo Brown — all left. Leslie and Brown decided to forgo their senior seasons and enter the NBA draft a year early, while Howell and Wood finished their collegiate careers by graduating. With these four gone, someone had to make up for the loss of the team’s four leading scorers, and that was clearly Warren. In a sense, he took the bull by the horns, and he thrived doing so.

Measurables

Height w/shoes	Weight	Wingspan	Standing Reach	Max Vert
6’ 8.25”	220	6’ 10.25”	8’ 8”	35.5

Strengths

Scoring ability

Warren, who finished third in points per game in the country this season, has a wide offensive game that is hard for many to match. Not only is Warren able to score with the ball in his hands, but he’s also able to use his fluid off ball movement to find holes in opposing defenses to get easy looks at the basket. He’s highly efficient despite having such a high usage rate, and is dangerous from anywhere inside the arc. Warren isn’t a great three-point shooter, but his ability to score from mid-range, and around the basket makes him extremely lethal on the offensive end.

Forcing turnovers

This is a very interesting area of Warren’s game. He doesn’t have great length, but he does have very strong instincts on the defensive end. Warren averaged 1.8 steals per game, and posted a 3.1 percent steal percentage this season. His active hands and solid anticipation skills help him to force his opponents into turnovers at a decent rate, which could be big for him in the early stages of his NBA career.

Weaknesses

Offensive intangibles

Despite being one of the best scorers in the draft, Warren has his fair share of struggles on the offensive end. He’s got inconsistent and poor mechanics while shooting the ball, which is part of what can be attributed to his extremely poor three-point field goal percentage. At times, Warren has a tendency to force shots and miss teammates who could have easier looks thanks to the attention he draws from opposing defenses. Warren also had issues with turnovers this season, turning the ball over 2.8 times per-40 minutes.

All-around defense

Other than being able to force turnovers, Warren has a lot of work to do on defense. He has his fair share of struggles on the perimeter defending opponents, which can be attributed to him having a poor stance, and not being very quick laterally. There are also questions regarding where Warren will play in the NBA. He had success playing the power forward spot in college, but doesn’t really have the strength to be able to handle bigger power forwards going forward. His poor lateral movement, lack of length and poor stance could also make it hard for him guarding some of the bigger, faster and stronger small forwards, especially early in his career as well.

Conclusion

Warren is a player who’s going to get you points, but there’s a lot of holes that need filling in his game currently. He’s only 20, so there will undoubtedly be growth in his game on both ends especially with the right coaching. He’s going to have to find his real role and niche in the league, but if he proves to be willing to work that shouldn’t be too hard for him.

He’s most likely going to be a mid-to-late first rounder, but could still be in play for the Magic at 12. The Magic worked Warren out following the Memorial Day holiday, so they’ve got clear interest in the high scoring combo forward. However, with Tobias Harris, another combo forward, already on the roster, it would seem as though Warren doesn’t have a true fit with the Magic at this time.

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