National Basketball Association

T.J. Warren Making Early Push for Most Improved Player of the Year

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Only five games into the regular season and T.J. Warren has already made a very impressive showing.

Granted, with additional minutes through his well-earned starting role, Warren has shown statistical growth in nearly every category across the board and sits alone as the team’s leading scorer averaging 22.4 points per game.

Playing in only 45 games his sophomore season due to injury, T.J. Warren had already shown flashes of his innate ability to score from anywhere on the court. But five games into the 2016-17 season, and Warren is setting himself above even the most positive preseason predictions.

And while the preseason discussion regarding the Suns’ starting small forward position had been settled early in camp with the back injury to P.J. Tucker, the question of whether or not Warren would hold the spot when Tucker regained his health no longer remains in doubt.

As evidence, let’s crunch few of the more important numbers:

Points Per Game Rebounds Per Game Steals Per Game
2015-16 – 11.6 2015-16 – 3.1 2015-16 – .8
2016-17 – 22.4 2016-17 – 6.2 2016-17 – 1.8
+100.3% +100% +120%

Field Goals Made Field Goals Attempted FG Percentage
2015-16 – 4.7 2015-16 – 9.4 2015-16 – .501
2016-17 – 9.0 2016-17 – 17.8 2016-17 – .506
+91% +52.8% +.005%

Free Throws Made Free Throws Attempted FT Percentage
2015-16 – 1.0 2015-16 – 1.4 2015-16 – .703
2016-17 – 3.8 2016-17 – 4.4 2016-17 – .864
+380% +314% +.161%

By starting in all five games this season, Warren has already doubled his total number of starts in his career. His starting role too has provided him with 13.2 more minutes per game than last season. But with former starter and energy aficionado P.J. Tucker capable of jumping back into the starting role should Warren falter, it is T.J.’s production that has solidified him in a starting spot.

Warren’s 2015-16 season was derailed due to injuries in the second half, but his scoring had shown a significant uptick over his rookie season. However, scoring in double digits 26 times last season, Warren scored 20 points or more only three times, with his season – and career – high of 29 set on New Year’s Eve 2014 against Oklahoma City.

In five games already this year, Warren has scored 26 and 27 points, as well as a career high 30 against Oklahoma City on October 28, in a valiant effort to overcome the superhuman known as Russell Westbrook.

“I think T.J. Warren has been our best player,” General Manager Ryan McDonough said in a radio interview with Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 on Wednesday. Noting that that reality was evident as far back as training camp, McDonough continued that he sees Warren as a “complete, all-around player.”

His ability to score in any situation is most evident when taking into consideration his scoring efficiency while draped on by a defender. In fact, to this point in the early season, Warren is statistically a more efficient scorer with a defender within two feet of him than he is with a player between 2-6 feet away.

Taking 29.5% of his shots with a player within 2 feet, Warren has drained 53.8% of his field goals within ten feet of the hoop, and 66.7% from ten feet out, two outstanding percentages when taken into consideration that his 80% shooting percentage when wide open – when there are no defenders within 6 feet of him – is not that much higher.

Comparing those statistics to Devin Booker, Eric Bledsoe, and Brandon Knight, the team’s three most prolific scoring guards and three players that were expected by most to be the team’s top-three leading scorers (in no particular order), and you’ll notice that they score at percentages far lower than Warren when defended heavily (Booker – 36.4%; Bledsoe – 50.0%; Knight – 21.4%), respectively.

With five games into the season, T.J. Warren as played himself into the Most Improved Player of the Year discussion, most likely directly to the top. The Suns have had multiple MIP winners in their history: Kevin Johnson (1988-89); Boris Diaw (2005-06); Goran Dragic (2013-14). It might be time for T.J. Warren to start making space on his mantle, because this award will be coming back to Phoenix if he keeps this up.