Warren Creeping into the Top 10? (with video)

Chad Forde (who usually has NOTHING good to day about NC State) thinks he might have a shot to move up the boards. Below is the blurb from ESPN Insider’s article. Click here to read the full article...

Re-thinking Warren

I was also really impressed with North Carolina State’s T.J. Warren. I’ve been a skeptic in the past. While he’s clearly one of the three most gifted scorers in the draft (Jabari Parker and Doug McDermott are the other two), Warren’s unorthodox game and lack of a legit 3-point shot have raised question marks for me.

Warren’s measurement and athletic testing numbers in Chicago made me give him another look. He measured bigger and more athletic than I expected him to. His drill work was just so-so Thursday. He’s not a great shooter from beyond the arc, and he’s not the quickest or most explosive in drills.

But when the ball rolled out for 3-on-3 action? Holy … Warren is so aggressive as a scorer and can get his shot off in multiple ways. You can’t sit on him defensively. He just has too many moves, floaters, hesitations and ways to get that ball in the bucket. That explains why he shot nearly 76 percent at the rim this year and 44 percent in his 2-point jumpers. The guy can score.

His competitiveness in those game situations just shines through. He’s hungry and he wants to dunk on everyone. I think the over obsession with athletic metrics and skills can hinder the obvious — if you want a bucket-getter, Warren is as good as anyone in the draft. If he ever gets a better 3-point shot, he could easily be a 20-points-per-game scorer in the NBA. Given that scoring comes at a premium, I think we also have him too low — maybe considerably too low on our draft board. Teams as high as Phoenix at No. 14, Atlanta at No. 15, the Bulls at No. 16 and the Celtics at No. 17 will be giving him long looks.