What does T.J. Warren bring to the table for the Indiana Pacers?

Three-point shooting

The Pacers have stated a desire to increase the volume of their attempts from deep, and Warren fit the mold they were looking for. Last year, their roster finished the season ranked fifth overall in three-point percentage, but they were next to last in attempts from long-range.

While he hasn’t held the reputation as a dead-eye from deep, Warren’s three-point shooting last season was pretty impressive. Entering the year as a career 28.3 percent shooter from three, he converted on 42.8% of his attempts in 2018-19. Had he played in enough games for inclusion in overall statistic standings, the forward would have ranked seventh in the league in three-point shooting.

To find the emergence of his hot-hand, Warren had to put three-point shooting into practice. Attempting just 279 threes over the first four seasons of his career, Phoenix’s starting forward took 180 shots from deep in barely over half a season last year.

In fact, nearly thirty percent of his total attempts came from beyond the arc – quite the increase from the previous season when he took just 8.5% of his shots from long-range. On a nightly basis, he increased his three-point attempts to an average of 4.2; a significant improvement over a previous career-high of 1.5 attempts per game.

Most of the forward’s three-point shots last season came off of passes, and he was able to efficiently score on 43.5% of his catch-and-shoot threes. He tends to prefer shooting from above the break, but he drained fifty percent of his attempts from the left corner. Warren hasn’t shown the ability to consistently knock down pull-up threes, although if he can emulate these same shooting percentages, he’s certain to aid the Pacers’ spacing and scoring volume, especially while Oladipo is sidelined.