Over the next couple of weeks we will evaluate the Sixers' roster following the 18-64 season. Up next is Tony Wroten.
Position: Guard
Status: $2.17 million 2015-16; restricted free agent 2016
Signature game of 2014-15
Tony Wroten was at his best early in the season while Michael Carter-Williams was still mending from shoulder surgery. In the home opener, Wroten had 21 points, 10 assists, three rebounds, one steal and one block. He shot six of 11 from the field and eight of 11 from the line. Both of those figures were excellent for Wroten. He turned the ball over four times, but considering his usage rate in the game and his fondness for making hilarious but inadvisable passes, that actually qualified as an acceptable number.
Wroten in 2014-15
Wroten began the year pretty hot. Over the first month of the season, he averaged north of 30 minutes, 17 points, six assists, three rebounds and almost two steals. He was a large chunk of the Sixers’ offense on most nights. When MCW came back, Wroten’s usage rate and minutes declined, and his shooting troubles were exposed again.
In 30 games, Wroten averaged 29.8 minutes, 16.9 points, 5.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 3.8 turnovers. He shot 40.3 percent from the floor (on 14.5 attempts per game), 66.7 percent from the line (on six attempts per game), and just 26.1 percent from distance (on 4.7 attempts per game). His three-point shooting was actually up from 21.3 percent the year before.
Wroten’s 14.9 PER was about league average, but his 49.4 true shooting percentage was troublesome. Wroten took 434 field-goal attempts. Of those, 261 came from within five feet of the basket or closer. On shots beyond five feet, Wroten made just 23.1 percent, according to NBA.com.
Wroten was once again one of the best players in the NBA at getting to the rim. Two years ago he was sixth in the NBA in points generated off drives, per NBA.com. Before Wroten was shut down for the season to have surgery on a torn ACL, he was among the league leaders in that category. The problem for Wroten — and by extension the Sixers’ offense — was that opposing teams were well aware of his primary skill. When Wroten didn’t get to the rim — when defenses sagged off, dared him to shoot and clogged the lane — he became an offensive liability. And because he drove to the rim so much, he also went to the line quite a bit. That was a problem considering his free throw shooting.
NBA
Prospectus
Prior to getting hurt, the Los Angeles Clippers reportedly inquired about Wroten. When asked about the rumor, Wroten rightly noted that everyone who plays for the Sixers will be linked to trade rumors and, as a result, he was essentially “auditioning for everybody” in the league.
Provided Wroten is fully healthy, he has value. He just turned 22. He’s on a cheap contract. He’s 6-6, incredibly athletic, and he can get to the rim at will. If he regularly applied himself on defense, he could use his length to be an absolute terror. At present, he is inconsistent at that end of the floor. Then there are the shooting woes and the maddening propensity to turn the ball over by unfurling passes that would get a high school player benched indefinitely.
In many ways, Wroten’s body type and skill set were a duplication of what the Sixers had in MCW. Both are tall point guards who struggle to shoot, turn it over too much, and are at their best when they’re driving. That talent overlap might have made it easier for the Sixers to unload Carter-Williams at the deadline for the Lakers' top-five protected lottery pick. You don’t need two point guards who can’t hit an outside shot. The question is whether the Sixers even need one.
As Wroten mentioned, anyone on the Sixers can be had for the right price. Because point guard is such a deep position in the NBA, the going rate for Wroten probably wouldn’t be much. They might be better served keeping him around as a backup and playing him somewhere in the 20- to 25-minute range.
On Tony Wroten …
“His gift, and it is such a gift, of getting to the rim, has to be done responsibly.”
“Nobody will ever all the way understand me. And that's [cool] because I'm perfectly fine with that. I can't be something that I'm not.”
- Wroten