Tony Wroten May Show Philadelphia 76ers They Were Wrong

Tony Wroten, a former Philadelphia 76ers player now a part of the New York Knicks, may prove the Sixers wrong after releasing him last season.

Tony Wroten had a very unfortunate holiday season this year this year. After just recently recovering from a torn ACL, Wroten was released by the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Eve so that the team could make room for Ish Smith, who was acquired in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Wroten was supposed to be in competition for the starting point guard position, but was beaten out by the likes of T.J. McConnell who had an incredible start to his season, as well as his counterpart Kendall Marshall who was recovering from his own injury alongside Wroten.

Marshall was kept on the team, but got little playing time.

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Wroten was not given much time to prove himself when he was with the Sixers. He was released from the team promptly after just 8 games of being able to prove himself, despite many of those games being on limited minutes. Wroten actually did a decent job in his first few games, despite the numbers not really showing much positive for him.

Now, however, Wroten may improve as a player in a different organization, and he may end up showing the Philadelphia 76ers that they were wrong to not trust him.

Wroten signed with the New York Knicks in March after rumors of continued talks with the team. He did not appear in a single game with them throughout this season due to needing to build up muscle in his leg, but there is reason to believe that he could make the team next season, and play for them then.

According to Wroten, he is confident in his abilities, and truly believes he will win the starting job with the Knicks next year.

The Knicks are already doing a much better job of giving resources to Wroten and making sure that he will be set up well to compete for the job next season. Despite him being ruled out for the season, the Knicks promptly set him up with team trainers and started working with him in the gym.

That type of attention, care, and detail with a player’s rehabilitation on their injury is exactly what they need, and the Sixers didn’t offer that to Wroten. It wasn’t even made clear to the public that Wroten had deficiencies in one of his legs, because the Sixers were forcing him to play through it. The Knicks, instead, are being meticulous with his recovery.

Now, Wroten is working hard in the gym with great former NBA player Allan Houston, who is now an assistant general manager for the Knicks. Reportedly, they’re working on his jumper, which was one of his only drawbacks as a player. Wroten shot below 40 percent from the field with the Sixers last year, and is shooting 41.3 percent throughout his career.

His 3-pointer was his biggest shooting trouble with Philly, only hitting 17.6 percent of his shots last season, with a success rate of 23.1 percent on his career.

Wroten, if he can make some improvements, could be a great player. Him being in a great system that is willing to work with him and not rush him back to playing is going to benefit him greatly, and he just might show the Sixers they were wrong for cutting him.

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I’ve always thought Wroten could have been a solid piece of the rebuild, but the Sixers were short-sighted and signed Ish Smith to get a few extra wins on the season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wroten flourish elsewhere, and New York could be the perfect place for him.