Suns small forward T.J. Warren effortlessly puts ball in basket

PHOENIX — Typically, plays aren’t drawn for him and plays aren’t run for him, yet Phoenix Suns small forward T.J. Warren still finds a way to score.

The ball just finds him or, better said, he finds the ball.

That uncanny ability was once again on display in Tuesday night’s preseason overtime loss to Houston when Warren scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Twelve of those points came during a 29-8 Suns run in which he twice converted three-point plays on fastbreak layups.

“I’m just good at finding my spots and just continue to cut and do the little things to score easily,” he said.  “I just want to continue to do that and stay aggressive when I’m out there.”

Upon entering the game with 7:49 to play and the Suns down 16, Warren misfired on an eight-foot jump shot.  He then made his next five shots in a row: three layups plus a 15-foot fadeaway jumper and 16-foot pull-up jumper, the latter two field goals a product of his offseason work to improve a mid-range game that, if consistent, likely means a regular spot in the rotation.

In seven minutes, Warren went five-for-five with three rebounds and one steal to help give the Suns a 116-111 lead with 49 seconds left in regulation.

“He’s really a bucket-getter, that’s what they say.  He does that and he’s really good and he always makes the right play, that’s why I like his game a lot,” said rookie Devin Booker, who added 10 of his own points during the comeback and 15 in the quarter.

Warren, 22, is entering his second year with the Suns after being selected 14^th overall out of North Carolina State in the 2014 NBA Draft.

The former ACC Player of the Year appeared in only 40 games as a rookie, averaging 6.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 15.4 minutes.

Twice Warren has been named to the All-NBA Summer League First Team, each time with a scoring average of above 17.5 points and at least 54 percent shooting.

The goal now is for Warren to translate that summer success into the regular season.

“Just being familiar with everything,” he said, referring to his biggest improvement from year one to year two.  “I had a year under my belt, so just coming in more comfortable and more confident with my game.”

Warren will likely once again come off the bench for head coach Jeff Hornacek, who right now prefers pairing the defensive-minded P.J. Tucker with the first unit.

“It does give us some options,” Hornacek said.  “Let’s say (a team has) a great scorer, maybe that’s a time for P.J. to be on the guy or maybe that spot’s a weaker defender, maybe that’s a good time for T.J.  We’ll just to see how it goes.”

Warren’s defense has improved, according to Hornacek.

At 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds, Warren can hold his own inside the paint.  It’s out on the perimeter where he still struggles some with his on-ball pressure and keeping players in front of him.

“You know, the one thing that Ryan (McDonough, general manager) and I saw during the draft workouts with T.J. was that he does have that ability defensively,” Hornacek said.  “He’s got great hands, he has showed he can guard guys one-one-on; he’s showing now that he can guard guys as part of the team and know where to be on the weak side and when to rotate.  He’s going to get better at that as time goes on, too.  So we are happy with the way he has progressed.”

Warren’s 21-point effort against Houston surpassed his regular season career-high of 18 points.

Through three preseason games, Warren is averaging 16 points and is the only Suns player to score in double figures in each contest.

“He can score in a variety of ways,” Hornacek said.  “It’s good to have a guy that can score when you don’t have to run a lot of stuff for.”

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