Tony Wroten is having early season success playing for Anwil in the historic city of Włocławek in Poland. The existence of the city is dated back in the “dark” middle ages, but for Wroten this place can become his “Renaissance”.
Wroten was a five-star recruit in high-school playing for Garfield High School in Washington. While being in college, he stayed in his hometown and played for Washington University alongside Terrence Ross. The two of them led the scoring efforts of the Huskies that season.
Today, they are following different paths. Ross is a former dunk champion and one of the best sixth man of the league playing in Orlando.
On the other hand, Wroten’s career in the NBA was derailed by serious injuries. The Memphis Grizzlies chose him as the the 25th pick of the 2012 Draft and traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers after one season.
He tore his ACL early in the 2014/15 season, while playing for Philadelphia and having a career high in points(16.9), assists (5.2) and minutes (29.8).
The, then, 22-year-old guard worked his way back up in 2016, but played only 8 games, before the Sixers waived him. The last time he played in the NBA, he scored 4 points against the Denver Nuggets.
Wroten tried to find his “footing” and get his career back on track. He played in G-League(2016-2017), in Venezuela(4 games).
After that, he played again in the Rio Grade Valley Vipers for the 2017-2018 G-League season and then, made the decision to go overseas. He was a member of the Esthonian side Kalev-Cramo in the 2018-2019 season having 33 games throughout the year in Esthonian-Latvian League and the VTB League.
He averaged about 10.5 points and 6.4 assists per contest all year and in VTB League, his averages came up to 15 points and 5 assists per game,while his team made the Playoffs for first time in the history of the club.
“Europe in general is different than the States. The basketball is different, the culture, it was a learning experience. I was able to learn things about myself and get better both mentally and physically on and off the court. I really think that helped me to get to where I am now,” Wroten said to hoopsrumors.com last summer.
The 26-years-old player moved to Anwill and in the first few games of the season, he seems ready to compete at a high level.
He is the third best scorer of the first round of the Basketball Champions League with 19.8 point per game, while in last week’s game against Bandirma made the two clutch free throws that led Anwil to the win away from home (86-87) and he had a game-high scoring 25 points.
That was the second win in the row for his club in the Basketball Champions League, with Anwil having a legit chance to qualify in the next round.
In six games span, Wroten is shooting a 61% on FG% (59% in season so far) and a 35% from the three point arc (about 43% in 13 games so far), while grabbing 3 rebounds and coming up with 3.5 assist per game.
Tony Wroten is a fierce competitor that grew as a player inside some difficult basketball environments.
Namely, the “Trust the Process” Sixers, the stressing situation of a serious injury and the, many times, harsh environment of the European game the last couple of seasons morphed him into a better player.
