The TJ Warren Thread!

[phx#7]

T.J. Warren said he was at Devin Booker's house when Brooklyn played in Phoenix a couple weeks ago talking old times. #Suns

Read on Twitter

Must have been a depressing conversation.

[lilfishi22]

T.J. Warren said he was at Devin Booker's house when Brooklyn played in Phoenix a couple weeks ago talking old times. #Suns

Read on Twitter

Must have been a depressing conversation.

TJ's topics of discussion (in chronological order):
- 19 win season
- One healthy season in Indy
.
.
.
.
.
- Dealing with injuries over the past few seasons
- The game against the Suns a week ago

[jcsunsfan]

TJ is clearly a very happy man right now. I am sure he is gunning for that starting 3 spot.

[sunsbg]

TJ is clearly a very happy man right now. I am sure he is gunning for that starting 3 spot.

He used to be the king of midrange game, so fits the Midrange Mafia thing. But even back then a lot of people thought he's perfect for a 6th man. The fifth spot in the starting lineup should go to a guy who plays D.

[NapoleonII]

Starting spot is Okogies to lose, IMO.

He's shooting 3/5 and 3/6 from three the last two games...small sample, size, but his intangibles will always be there.

I also like how he can guard 1-3, and then KD and Ayton are so switchable that it doesn't matter what the defense does....we're forcing teams to take those mid-range shots and we already have the 3 best mid-rangers in the game.

[sunskerr]

T.J. Warren said he was at Devin Booker's house when Brooklyn played in Phoenix a couple weeks ago talking old times. #Suns

Read on Twitter

Must have been a depressing conversation.

"Hey remember when you passed to Bender" Im dead

[spanishninja]

Read on Twitter

Must have been a depressing conversation.

TJ's topics of discussion (in chronological order):
- 19 win season
- One healthy season in Indy
.
.
.
.
.
- Dealing with injuries over the past few seasons
- The game against the Suns a week ago

don;'t forget the elevator fight and the alleged "team building" event with the instagram ho!

[sunskerr]

TJ is clearly a very happy man right now. I am sure he is gunning for that starting 3 spot.

He used to be the king of midrange game, so fits the Midrange Mafia thing. But even back then a lot of people thought he's perfect for a 6th man. The fifth spot in the starting lineup should go to a guy who plays D.

If TJ spaces the floor and plays D he can start! It should go to anyone who can defend enough without damaging the spacing. I'd prefer to have TJ off the bench murdering benches. And I want him here long term if his injuries don't catch up to him in his 30s. We need that continuity.

[darmani]

Starting spot is Okogies to lose, IMO.

He's shooting 3/5 and 3/6 from three the last two games...small sample, size, but his intangibles will always be there.

I also like how he can guard 1-3, and then KD and Ayton are so switchable that it doesn't matter what the defense does....we're forcing teams to take those mid-range shots and we already have the 3 best mid-rangers in the game.

Craig has 45 starts this season, Okogie - 2.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Starting spot is Okogies to lose, IMO.

He's shooting 3/5 and 3/6 from three the last two games...small sample, size, but his intangibles will always be there.

I also like how he can guard 1-3, and then KD and Ayton are so switchable that it doesn't matter what the defense does....we're forcing teams to take those mid-range shots and we already have the 3 best mid-rangers in the game.

Craig has 45 starts this season, Okogie - 2.

Yeah it's kind of wild but now that Bridges is traded Craig is second in total minutes played for the suns this season just 60 minutes behind Ayton. Damion Lee is 3rd. It's been a weird year lol

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[jcsunsfan]

Starting spot is Okogies to lose, IMO.

He's shooting 3/5 and 3/6 from three the last two games...small sample, size, but his intangibles will always be there.

I also like how he can guard 1-3, and then KD and Ayton are so switchable that it doesn't matter what the defense does....we're forcing teams to take those mid-range shots and we already have the 3 best mid-rangers in the game.

Craig has 45 starts this season, Okogie - 2.

Yeah. It's Craig's to lose. Torrey's game should be fine in this starting 5. He is the most balanced of them all. However, TJ has an outside shot if he somehow digs up some defensive prowess from somewhere.

[lilfishi22]

Starting spot is Okogies to lose, IMO.

He's shooting 3/5 and 3/6 from three the last two games...small sample, size, but his intangibles will always be there.

I also like how he can guard 1-3, and then KD and Ayton are so switchable that it doesn't matter what the defense does....we're forcing teams to take those mid-range shots and we already have the 3 best mid-rangers in the game.

Craig has 45 starts this season, Okogie - 2.

+1

Okogie is certainly a better defender but Craig having the starting experience, the better shooting numbers and just having the overall versatility advantage over Okogie means he should start, at the from the beginning. I'm just not sure if Okogie's shooting holds up.

[lilfishi22]

Starting spot is Okogies to lose, IMO.

He's shooting 3/5 and 3/6 from three the last two games...small sample, size, but his intangibles will always be there.

I also like how he can guard 1-3, and then KD and Ayton are so switchable that it doesn't matter what the defense does....we're forcing teams to take those mid-range shots and we already have the 3 best mid-rangers in the game.

Craig has 45 starts this season, Okogie - 2.

Yeah. It's Craig's to lose. Torrey's game should be fine in this starting 5. He is the most balanced of them all. However, TJ has an outside shot if he somehow digs up some defensive prowess from somewhere.

I think I would prefer TJ coming off the bench and just doing his Tony Buckets thing. It's always good to have a scorer off the bench. I also don't think his shooting or defense is quite good enough to start. That may change with more games in a Suns uniform but he's not shooting much better than Okogie right now and Okogie is probably 3 times the defender.

[NapoleonII]

I realize how many starts Craig had, but how much of that that was because CamJo and Saric were injured or unplayable and we just needed size and shooting?

We don't need size or shooting with KD at the 4, Ayton at the 5, Book and CP3.

KD / Okogie / Ayton is a much more versatile, lengthier, grittier front court.

It's a good problem to have.

KD has solved our PF issues, but he's not a GREAT rebounder or a defender of guards.

Okogie, if his shooting is for real, will hustle, muck it up, get offensive boards, and seems like a much better glue guy for our starters.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I realize how many starts Craig had, but how much of that that was because CamJo and Saric were injured or unplayable and we just needed size and shooting?

We don't need size or shooting with KD at the 4, Ayton at the 5, Book and CP3.

KD / Okogie / Ayton is a much more versatile, lengthier, grittier front court.

It's a good problem to have.

KD has solved our PF issues, but he's not a GREAT rebounder or a defender of guards.

Okogie, if his shooting is for real, will hustle, muck it up, get offensive boards, and seems like a much better glue guy for our starters.

I expect they just start Craig but I'm with you on Okogie and I'd love for them to at least try him with the starters. Because IF (and it's a big if) he can hold up on O then he solves the point of attack defense issue.

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[lilfishi22]

I realize how many starts Craig had, but how much of that that was because CamJo and Saric were injured or unplayable and we just needed size and shooting?

We don't need size or shooting with KD at the 4, Ayton at the 5, Book and CP3.

KD / Okogie / Ayton is a much more versatile, lengthier, grittier front court.

It's a good problem to have.

KD has solved our PF issues, but he's not a GREAT rebounder or a defender of guards.

Okogie, if his shooting is for real, will hustle, muck it up, get offensive boards, and seems like a much better glue guy for our starters.

Agree with you, would like to try Okogie at some point because I think he's our best POA defender, which we'll need when you've got semi-fragile stars. But I think Craig just makes more sense right now because he's a good defender, he's rebounding at the same rate as Okogie, he's been playing with CP3/Book in the starting line up and most importantly, he's our 3rd best 3PT shooter. The shooting is key to eliminate any offensive weaknesses we may have in that starting line up.

Okogie's shaky shooting and sub par 2P% makes me worry he'll be a weak link in that starting line up

[Bogyo]

I realize how many starts Craig had, but how much of that that was because CamJo and Saric were injured or unplayable and we just needed size and shooting?

We don't need size or shooting with KD at the 4, Ayton at the 5, Book and CP3.

KD / Okogie / Ayton is a much more versatile, lengthier, grittier front court.

It's a good problem to have.

KD has solved our PF issues, but he's not a GREAT rebounder or a defender of guards.

Okogie, if his shooting is for real, will hustle, muck it up, get offensive boards, and seems like a much better glue guy for our starters.

Agree with you, would like to try Okogie at some point because I think he's our best POA defender, which we'll need when you've got semi-fragile stars. But I think Craig just makes more sense right now because he's a good defender, he's rebounding at the same rate as Okogie, he's been playing with CP3/Book in the starting line up and most importantly, he's our 3rd best 3PT shooter. The shooting is key to eliminate any offensive weaknesses we may have in that starting line up.

Okogie's shaky shooting and sub par 2P% makes me worry he'll be a weak link in that starting line up

Not sure how he is with corner 3's - but if we had a good offensive system thats pretty much the only thing he'd have to do (along wit a couple baseline cuts, and wherever else he has a sweet spot on the floor to take jumpers from). This is on coach.

[bwgood77]

Not only did Craig start all year for Cam, but isn't the only reason Okogie starting right now because Cam and Bridges are both gone? Isn't Craig STILL starting? I know you can argue Okogie is in Mikal's spot and Craig is in Cam's which will now be KDs but I imagine Monty won't suddenly change too much up. I like what I've seen from Okogie though, so he would be a fine 5th starter. It doesn't really matter to me as I imagine both will get minutes and between those 2, TJ, Lee, etc, we will go with whoever is playing well.

[Crives]

Okogie seems like a much better ball handler/passer/decision maker in comparison to Craig.

[Qwigglez]

I never really posted my thoughts on getting TJ Warren included with KD. I think it was a sneaky good pull by James Jones, though I imagine there wasn't much resistance on the Nets side of things. I am hoping because we likely will play him perhaps 10-20 minutes a game that he can hopefully stay healthy the remainder of the year. I am not optimistic though that the Suns will keep him past this year as I feel he might be able to get more than a veterans minimum contract elsewhere in the league. Not saying he will command $5 million, but I could see a team offering the Bi-annual exception which I believe is twice the vet's minimum or something of that sort.