T.J. Warren came off the bench in the Phoenix Suns’ first preseason game of 2018, and it was a glorious sight.
For the last two years of his career with the Phoenix Suns, T.J. Warren has been a regular starter, a player who seemed destined to remain in that position for a very long time.
Although his 3-point shooting has sunk into a grave I’m not sure he can ever dig entirely out of, his overall offensive game has improved each season of his career and with regular minutes appears to be on the cusp of becoming a regular 20 points a game scorer.
Then last season Phoenix selected small forward Josh Jackson fourth overall, and the game minutes clicked away towards his inevitable demotion to the bench.
But is it a demotion?
Not.
At.
All.
In fact, with his first appearance off the bench against the Sacramento Kings (Josh Jackson started at shooting guard with Trevor Ariza at SF and Ryan Anderson at PF), it just looked natural. It felt perfect.
Off the bench, T.J. Warren was the best player on the court, certainly the best scorer, and for a few brief minutes the Phoenix Suns had depth, a scoring punch that every good team needs, something that the Suns have not had in years.
He finished with 16 points on his patented efficient shooting (6-7 from the field) and 4 rebounds. He didn’t attempt a 3-pointer with his vaunted new form (he actually might not need to shoot many 3’s if coming off the bench so he can take his time in working that new form in), but drained 4-5 from the charity stripe.
Phoenix Suns
While we won’t know exactly what the Suns’ rotation will be until Devin Booker makes his inevitable return to the starting lineup (and/or the Suns make a potential trade for a point guard which could include Warren), at the moment, unless either Ariza or Anderson really look awful in any of the next four preseason games, Warren will continue to come off the bench and get used to this role, becoming the focal point of the offense during those stints and making the Suns a much more competitive team than they have been in a very long time.
Many fans have worried that Warren wouldn’t accept such a role. They have questioned if a player who has been a regular starter and who just signed a veteran contract extension, that he would complain enough, or put his foot down, and either force a move back into the starting lineup, or off the team in general.
Nothing of the sort has been reported, and hopefully nothing of the sort has been going on.
Suns fans should have every reason to believe that Warren is as competitive as we are, and that he is willing to do anything he needs to do to win games for his team. He understands that he is getting paid either way, and that more likely than not, if the Suns do trade him he is probably going to be a regular starter with his new franchise.
Why should he complain then?
Of all the things that Suns fans should be watching for during the rest of the preseason and throughout the early stages of the regular season, will be how Warren plays off the bench. If given the minutes, he could still average 15 points a game minimum, and on nights when the team actually pulls away and the starters rest in the fourth, he’ll easily break 20 points a game, padding his stats, as any self-respecting athlete would do in such a situation.
In short, watching how he plays, seeing who he plays with, and seeing how the rotation is played through will all be topics of interest each game.
And who knows, even though Ryan Anderson started opening night, not only might he end up on the bench at some point – which would be ideal, in my opinion – but if Warren’s scoring holds and his 3-point shot is significantly improved over last season’s abysmal 22.2%, then Warren might be one of the two (or three) forwards on the bench during crunch time with Anderson on the bench, playing the role that James Harden played with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and that helped make Manu Ginobili an eventual Hall of Famer, with the San Antonio Spurs.
The Phoenix Suns haven’t had a Sixth Man of the Year Award winning since Leandro Barbosa in 2006-07.
2018-19 could very well be the year that T.J. Warren earns the award.