Basketball: Unstoppable

The Brighton Bears top scorer is being tipped by his coach Nick Nurse to be named British League MVP if his team finish top of the table.

Warren will be delighted to scoop that award, just as he is enjoying the relatively quiet life in Brighton after travelling the world making a living.

But he admits he still wonders whether he would have made the big league had he waited a bit longer for his chance.

The 6ft 8ins power forward broke record after record in four years at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

He remains their all-time leading scorer with 1,858 points. He averaged 17.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and was the first player to lead VCU in scoring and rebounding for four consecutive seasons.

All of which, both Warren and Nurse admit, should have set him up for a crack at the millionaires' league. It didn't quite work out like that.

A sprained ankle cost him an opening at Pheonix Suns, then he was overlooked at the last minute by the Los Angeles Lakers when they instead opted to sign Cedric Ceballos.

Rejection after two weeks with the Toronto Raptors, plus two NBA strikes which ruled out the chance of impressing at summer camp, persuaded Warren it was time to forget the dream.

That decision has ultimately proved to be Bears' gain as they chase the title.

Many Bears fans might not realise the pedigree of their No. 21 as they see him turn on matchwinning form almost at will week after week.

He said: "LA was the closest I got to making it. I thought I was heading for the NBA right there but then Phoenix released Ceballos.

"Some guys will just keep waiting for their chance but I had family back home and I needed to make some money.

"Toronto was another setback. They couldn't make any room for me on their roster. The things that set me back were business reasons. In the NBA, it's a case of right place, right time.

"Sometimes I think maybe I should have stuck with it but I'm happy to this day.

"I was close, I was knocking on the door, but I took the decision to take the European route and I don't feel bad about it."

Not just European. Warren was drafted as high as No. 3 by Rockford Lightning in the CBA, the second tier of American basketball, and had spells in Brazil and Japan.

Even as a top player in the top team, BBL life is low key and low budget in comparison but Warren said: "At least you get your money.

Overseas teams say they'll give you this and that but in the end they don't do it."

A Rockford Lightning spokesman told The Argus: "Warren cannot shoot the ball well enough to be a three (small forward) at the NBA level and on the other hand he is not big enough to post fours (power forwards) in the NBA. He is a great CBA player."

Nurse disagrees with the first part of that verdict. He said: "I think he is definitely talented enough to have played in the NBA.

"Who knows? If he had stayed around for a couple of years rather than going to play in Europe he might have made it.

"He's so good and he gives up of himself for us."

At full power, Warren is an awesome sight. Yet fans rarely get to see it for prolonged spells.

Nurse admitted: "He could do a lot more things. He could certainly score a lot more.

"It's like he just gets his 25 points and then gets everyone else involved.

"I've spoken to him about it. I've told him 'You couldn't have been stopped tonight' and he'll say 'Yeah man, but I've got to get the other guys involved and pick my times'."

Last week's win at Sheffield offered a perfect example of what Warren can do. For a spell in the first quarter he was unstoppable, scoring 11 successive Bears points, then he went quiet.

Nurse said: "He could have had 40 last week and when I told him that he said 'I know it'.

"I don't have a problem with what he's doing. If we wanted him to get a lock on the league's MVP award we'd let him go and score 50 three nights in a row.

"He may win the MVP anyway. He should as long as we win the league. He's the best talent in the league for sure."