Better Fit: Kendall Marshall or Tony Wroten?

Both Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten are returning to the Philadelphia 76ers from injuries, but who will be the better fit for the team?

With the thrill of Tony Wroten returning to the team long-gone after his first two performances, Kendall Marshall will be making his debut on Friday versus the Detroit Pistons according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Both Marshall and Wroten bring much needed attributes to the team (Wroten’s penetration/ball-handling & Marshall’s passing/shooting), but in my opinion what Marshall brings to the table is suited much better for this team now and for the future compared to what Wroten brings. If you ask every Philadelphia 76ers fan who their favorite player on the team was, you’d get a lot of votes for Wroten and for good reason.

Wroten probably has the best combination of ball-handling and athleticism we have seen from a 76er since Allen Iverson so of course people might be tricked by this. By looking at these type of videos below instead of actual games, you might get the impression that Wroten was destined for stardom:

No, I am not a prisoner of the moment from his last two games, yes I know he is coming back from ACL injury, and yes I know he is still only 22 years old. But as the seasons go by it is getting harder and harder for me to believe Wroten will be an effective point guard for the 76ers. Wroten has been blessed with court vision and the ability to whip passes that 90% of players in the NBA cannot. Yet, that is not what makes an NBA point guard.

A point guard should know how to play with pace, know his teammates’ sweet spots, and get them the ball in those spots. Wroten has not shown these abilities consistently in his tenure in Philly as evidenced by the countless times he has ran straight through players resulting in a charge and throwing passes into the 10th row. Not to mention he has been a complete liability from the three point line his entire career (23.3% career three-point shooter) and if there is anything the 76ers star big men need, it’s teammates that can make the defense pay for throwing a double team at them.

Marshall is almost the exact opposite of Wroten. Although they both make amazing passes, Marshall commits a lot less turnovers, can shoot the three ball, and gets players in the right spots. In Marshall’s last season with a large sample size which was the 2013-14 season, Marshall was second in the league in Assists Per 48 Minutes with 14.6 among qualified players according to ESPN.com. The only guy in front of him? None other than Chris Paul. It doesn’t stop there either. Marshall was also ranked fifth in the league in assist to turnover ratio at 3.18. This means that not only does he dish out assists in great volume, he also takes care of the ball while doing it by not giving the ball to the other team.

Marshall is arguably a top five passer in the league but his game doesn’t stop there. He has also developed into a good long range threat and floor spacer. In the last two seasons Marshall has shot above 39% from three-point land which is considerably higher than league average and last season had a career high True Shooting Percentage(TS%) of 56.2% according to basketball-reference.com. If there is anything Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid need who are post-oriented players, it’s a point guard that can help give them space to operate with the jumpsuit, and be able to get them the ball in the right spots early enough in the shot clock.

Next: Has Jamaal Charles Lost a Step?

These two things happen to be Marshall’s best attributes so I see no reason why he shouldn’t be an effective and cohesive player/point guard for the 76ers going forward. Wroten would best be served in a sixth man role like Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs where he can come right in the game and provide an offensive spark to the team while providing some but not most of the facilitating. That job goes to Marshall and T.J McConnell. As the saying goes, point guards are born and four seasons into his NBA career it doesn’t look like Wroten will ever become a legitimate point guard. I hope he proves me wrong and I’d be the first to admit it. But as it stands now Marshall looks like the much better fit as the starting point guard going forward while Wroten has the look of a sixth man combo guard.