lilfishi22 wrote:bwgood77 wrote:lilfishi22 wrote:Different era though. The 3 ball has become a critical part of a modern NBA offense and him just being efficient from the 2 holds him back from being a success on a very good team. In 92-93, the Suns were the league leaders in 3PA with 13.4 attempts a game. The league average was 9. 9 3PT attempts a game was the league average. THe Knicks are dead last in the league in 3PA this season and even they average 21.3 attempts a game while the league average is 28.6.
It's a completely different era. I don't think you can look at Ceballos' success and say TJ would be just as successful. Not to mention in Ceballo's lone All-star season, he was shooting .397% from the 3 on 2.5 attempts. Similar player profile but different NBA era.
Obviously the game has changed and you usually need to spread the floor and I hope he can add that at some point, but all I was saying was that I still think he could put up nice numbers on a good team. If we have 3 or 4 or more better players who can hit the 3, play D, etc, I think Warren could still be a very nice scoring weapon off the bench. I don't think he suddenly becomes unplayable or something on a better team. Of course all our best players need to improve a great deal defensively as well.
hollywood's point is that he's putting up numbers on a bad team now because we're not very good offensively and he's doing just fine. He'll probably put on good numbers on a good team but as the team/offense gets better, his level of production and contribution will drop because he'll have a hard time fitting into an elite offense with a 8% assist rate and shooting .177 3PT%. An elite offense today demands spacing and passing. TJ doesn't really do much to contribute to either. On an elite team, I think he's a borderline starter but most likely a 6th man. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I can't lie to myself and think TJ would be a #2 option on a very good (upper echelon playoff) playoff team unless he shows considerable improvement in one of those two areas.
I wouldn't rule that out but I'm not optimistic
I'm certainly not saying he could be the #2 option on a very good team. I don't even think #3 option (though I think having a pecking order of options is a little silly, and of course it depends on
howgood of team we are talking...I mean Booker wouldn't even be a top 3 option on the Warriors..probably work best as a 6th man himself).
I do think with Warren's current skill set that he is the perfect type of guy that fits a 6th man role, which is what Cedric Ceballos played mostly in 92-93 on the championship team. He shot 0% from 3. I know the NBA is different, but again, our offense was predicated quite a bit on spreading the floor in that time (as you mentioned, we led the league) but he was a guy that came in and just scored.
Ultimately we need more passing and ball movement as a team, but Warren is more of a finisher right now and very often gets the ball and puts up a shot immediately while in motion.
Now Triano did mention that his motion and drives has actually opened up our shooters a bit because he can collapse it. So now that he is having that kind of impact is when it would be good for him to find the open man if he draws a double. And of course against Denver a few games ago, he did have his season high of 5 assists.