Catching up with Willie Warren
Published: 2/23/2011 10:27 AM
Last Modified: 2/23/2011 10:27 AM
Blake Griffin wasn’t the only Oklahoma Sooner on the Clippers’ bench last night in Oklahoma City. Willie Warren, fresh off his recall from the NBA Development League, joined him. The former OU guard didn’t exactly have the same impact on the game that Griffin did, but at least he got some run. Warren missed his only shot while finishing the last three minutes of the Thunder’s 111-88 blowout.
I spent five minutes with Warren before tipoff. He’s still a pleasant young guy, still as confident in himself as he was in college.
He’s also frustrated by his place on the end of the bench, something that takes some getting used to for all rookies.
“Talent-wise, this is exactly what I thought it would be. Other standpoints, like playing time and things like that, haven’t been what I thought they would be,” Warren said. “Me being a first-year player, I just have to be patient and wait for my time.
“It’s very hard. It’s tough when your whole life has been being that guy that plays 35-plus minutes. Now I’m playing none.”
Warren got plenty of time during his three-week stint with the D-League’s Bakersfield Jam. He averaged 21 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds while shooting 46 percent from 3-point range.
You wouldn’t blame him for missing OU, despite the wrong turns of his final season there.
“I’ve had my moments,” he admitted. “I look at college basketball now and I see guys with 30-plus (points) and I’m like, ‘It could have been different.’ But I’m here now. I cheer those guys on and hope for the best for them. But I have to focus on what’s best for me now.”
Warren said he and Sooners coach Jeff Capel “keep in contact as much as we can. He’s in his season now and I’m in mine. We can’t talk every day.”
He also follows OU’s progress.
“I watched the Missouri game, the Texas game, keep up with their record,” Warren said. “I was telling guys that we had three McDonald’s All-Americans, and we probably had the same record they do now. That’s actually a pretty good season.”
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
