Indiana Pacers: 3 things you might not know about hot shooting T.J. Warren

T.J. Warren’s shooting has been a career journey

T.J. Warren’s shooting is clearly the biggest thing that has worked for him and the Pacers this season.

Warren has the potential to turn into a Khris Middleton-lite if he continues to progress with his shooting. He’s within 5 percent (or better) of the league average from all of the 14 zones in the half-court (better than 10 percent above league average in 5 of those zones).

You might be wondering, ‘why am I just hearing about how solid a shooter Warren is?’

A lot of it has to do with his incremental, year-to-year increases. There was no sharp shot upward for Warren and how he worked on his offensive game throughout the years.

His shooting role has morphed over the years, too, and it’s found a balance in Indy.

For the first four years of his career, fewer than 20 percent of Warren’s shots were beyond the arc. Then, last year, Warren attempted 29.5 percent of his shots beyond the arc, sinking 42.8 percent of them.

This year, with the Pacers, he’s pulled 3-point attempts back to a balanced 21.2 percent. Here’s how his shot profile breaks down:

• 3P: 21.2 percent (37.5 percent accuracy)
• 16 feet-3P: 11.4 percent (44.4 percent)
• 10-16 feet: 22.2 percent (50.3 percent)
• 3-10 feet: 17.8 percent (43.2 percent)
• 0-3 feet: 27.4 percent (76.9 percent)

His shot profile is extremely balanced in terms of range, but it’s also fairly consistent across the board in terms of efficiency.

That balanced structure has allowed Warren to hunt the right shots, and the Pacers leaning into the mid-range (they shoot the second-most amount of shots from 15-19 feet) has allowed Warren to find the shots that put points on the board.

There’s a reason his true shooting this year (59.9 percent) is a career-high. It has to do with what shots he’s taking and the Pacers trusting him to get to the right spots, even if those are deep mid-range opportunities.