Anyone who has watched a Husky game this year will have noticed Tony Wroten. The commentators make sure of that. Even without the unending praise doled out to him by the commentators, it is hard to miss the big, energetic, super-hyped freshman, as he often plays point guard and touches the ball on almost every possession. The opinions resulting from his play have been all over the map. Some fans love him and some fans hate him. Personally, I am still very divided on my opinion of Tony Wroten. As such I am going to use this blog post to muse about Tony Wroten and his impact on the Huskies (and maybe, by the time I am done writing them, I will have firmed up an opinion.)
Throughout Lorenzo Romar's tenure as UW Men’s Basketball Head Coach his teams have been fast-paced and high scoring. With this style of play comes a certain amount of risk, but it also comes with a potential for a lot of reward (and it is fun to watch). Sure, players are going to have turnovers and they might force bad shots, but they are also going to get highlight reel dunks, wide open fast breaks and draw lots of fouls. Tony Wroten embodies this offensive philosophy to a fault.
Being the most athletic and probably the most naturally talented player on the Husky squad often leads Tony Wroten to try and take matters into his own hands. When the Huskies are struggling to score, Tony often decides charge head first into groups of two or three defenders under the basket in an attempt to make a layup. Sometimes this works beautifully as he makes an acrobatic play and scores two for the Huskies. Sometimes it fails as he throws up a desperation shot that clanks away harmlessly. Most often it results in a trip to the free throw line. The problem with this is Wroten can’t shoot free throws! He is only shooting 52.7% on the season. It doesn’t do much good earning 20 trips to the charity line if you only convert on 10 of them.
When he does look to pass Wroten often finds the most difficult player to reach on the court and tries to make a highlight reel pass. This results in him often throwing the ball to teammates not in a position to catch it. Those errant passes can turn into turnovers, which can often turn into easy buckets for the opposition. Pushing the tempo and running the other team out the door is great and all, but only if you are scoring points because of it. Even with the high level of difficulty, the Dawgs don’t benefit if their point guards passing results in fast breaks for the other team more than it results in the occasional wow play.
When he isn’t trying to put the team on his back, he often looks lost and out of touch with the rest of the offense. His points don’t come in the flow of the game like CJ Wilcox or Terrance Ross’s points do. He just looks out of sync to me. He throws up three pointers when a pass would do or drives into the key right when a teammate is making a cut. Much of this could be because he is just s freshman and only played 11 games with his Washington teammates. Hopefully he figures out how to play in the Lorenzo Romar system soon and finds some on court chemistry with his fellow Huskies.
Watching Tony play you can tell there is hope for the future. He has the potential to be a great player. The occasional slashing drive or precision pass brings out optimism in even the most cynical fan. However, right now it just isn’t all put together. There are too many rough edges. This all leaves a fan to wonder if Tony Wroten will be able to put that potential together before he inevitably jumps to the NBA. Will the dawgs even benefit from his immense natural talent or will we just get to watch the growing pains? I certain hope he stick around long enough to let us enjoy the fruits of this seasons labor.
