By all accounts, Tony Wroten was a tour de force in high school.
One of Seattle’s best athletes, Wroten not only was he one of the top basketball players, but he also was a left-handed third baseman for the Garfield High baseball team. More notably, Wroten very likely could have chosen any college in the country to play football as a safety.
Playing sports is the Wroten family business. Wroten’s dad, Tony Sr., played tight end for the University of Washington and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His mom was a track star at Washington and Arizona State and still has a few 100-meter times that rank in the top 10 at the schools.
Additionally, Wroten’s aunt, Joyce Walker, played basketball for LSU before becoming the third woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.
And then there’s Wroten’s cousin Nate Robinson, who played football and basketball at Washington and now is a point guard for the Denver Nuggets.
To his credit, Wroten may have been the only left-handed third baseman in the bunch …
“I worked at basketball, but it was definitely a seasonal thing. I did it all, but I didn’t get serious about it until the end of high school. But football season turned into basketball season and basketball season rolled into the spring and it was baseball season.”
NBA
If all had gone according to plan, Wroten might be getting ready for the NFL draft these days.
Things got off track when Wroten tore his right ACL while playing football in his junior year. That injury effectively ended his football career and his stock as a basketball player took a jolt as well.
But things had a funny way of working out for Wroten. Instead of playing football, Wroten stayed in Seattle and went to the University of Washington where he played basketball for one season. The next year he rode the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies before being traded to the Sixers for a second-round pick last August.
After a good training camp and a strong start to the season, Wroten had his option picked up for the 2014-15 season and has another team option remaining for the 2015-16 season.
No, it’s not the NFL, but Wroten appears to have found a home with the Sixers.
“It was tough this year with the losing. But like the slogan said, ‘Together we build,'" Wroten said before Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls. “We know what our goal is, what we’re trying to do. We knew that coming in. Philadelphia had one of the best fan bases in the NBA. Once things turn around, I feel it’ll be a great organization.”
Wroten has drawn notice for his frenetic style, which fits in well with head coach Brett Brown’s up-tempo offense. However, Brown’s offense is used out necessity rather than choice. With so many young players coming and going this season, Brown’s plan has been to keep it simple.
As a result, Wroten has been interchangeable at the point and two-guard and has jumped seamlessly into the starting lineup to play alongside rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams.
More to the point, Wroten’s skills fit better with playing point guard than two-guard. Asked if Wroten has a future at the two-spot, Brown cut to the chase.
“Probably not because he's a 20-percent three-point shooter,” Brown said. “Can he be a big point guard? Yes, you can, but you better make people better. It doesn’t have to be the greatest pass you’ve ever seen in your life. Sometimes a simple pass is fine. At times he doesn’t make other people better. He attacks well for himself and he just goes into a crowd. I think he’s improving in that understanding.”
Headed into Wednesday’s game, Wroten averaged 33.6 minutes, 18.2 points and 5.3 assists in 15 starts and 11.9 points and 21.7 minutes in 46 games off the bench.
Ideally, Wroten prefers to be in the starting lineup, but he also sees himself as a point guard. But as Brown pointed out, Wroten’s shooting isn’t leaving opponents quaking. Though he hit four three-pointers against the Bulls on Wednesday, Wroten went into the game shooting 4 for 43 from three-point range over his last 27 games.
Worse, Wroten went 1 for 6 from the foul line in the loss to the Bulls. In other words, Wroten shoots like a guy destined to play point guard.
If he wants to play the point it will be off the bench since Carter-Williams is penciled in as the Sixers' starting point guard for the next decade.
That’s alright for Wroten, too.
“Coming in I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team,” Wroten said. “Being a big guard I have no problems backing up Mike, but going forward I’ll be a point guard.”
In the meantime, Wroten will spend the offseason working out in Seattle. He’ll turn 21 just before the end of the season and no longer has to think about football or being a lefty third baseman. Wroten is a basketball player now.
“I ain’t perfect,” Wroten said. “But I try to work on everything.”