Brooklyn Nets Rumors: Nets Don’t Want Tony Wroten

Now that the Brooklyn Nets are officially going backward and down a bottomless pit after an ugly loss to the Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets fans can scour the internet looking for Brooklyn Nets rumors to keep themselves occupied. The rumor that is the leader in the clubhouse will be if Joe Johnson can be traded at the deadline, and if not will he be bought out of his contract.

But there are more speculations in the Brooklyn Nets rumors bucket to talk about and it started Thursday when the Philadelphia 76ers waived point guard Tony Wroten. After being passed over by Brooklyn and nine other teams this weekend, the Nets have made it clear that they do not want Wroten on their roster.

Check out what Fred Kerber of the New York Post said about the situation…

” A league source said Nets have no interest in guard Tony Wroten, who was waived by Sixers on Thursday and cleared waivers on Saturday. Wroten had 29 turnovers versus 20 assists for the Sixers in eight games.”

It’s very interesting that the Nets passed on Wroten. At this point, what do the Nets really have to lose at this point? They really need to do SOMETHING to get a spark on offense. This really wouldn’t have set the Nets back on the balance sheet. They had the cap space courtesy of the trade exception that they still possess. Plus he was not under contract after this season. With Wroten making around one million dollars, this was a low risk move for the Nets that wouldn’t have messed with the salary cap in the offseason. They could have easily grabbed him off the waiver wire because of their bad record.

Granted, the guy can’t throw the ball in the ocean standing neck deep in the water, shooting a putrid 23.1% from three-point land. With those stats, he would fit right in with this bunch. But Wroten can score and get to the basket with speed. That is something that would more interesting to watch than watching Jarrett Jack pound the ball into the ground for 15 seconds of the shot clock and shoot a contested long-range two.

With Brooklyn being at the bottom of the league in scoring, which includes total implosions in the fourth quarter when the Nets need a basket the most, why not give this guy a chance? Last year, Tony Wroten averaged a shade under 17 points per game and six assists for Philly before tearing his ACL. Most of these points were scored being aggressive and challenging opponents in the paint. Wroten averaged 10.3 drives to the basket before his season-ending injury.

How does that help? Maybe if other teams paid attention to that, they wouldn’t be pitching tents around  Brook Lopez daring the perimeter players to do something offensively. If Wroten can get to the basket on a consistent basis, it would open up space for Lopez and Thaddeus Young under the basket. Plus it would be another change of pace for the Nets, which has been successful at times with back up point guard Shane Larkin.

Another plus is Tony Wroten played under Lionel Hollins in Memphis. Why is that important? The Nets at this point need anyone that can discern what in the world Hollins is thinking at times with his rotations, offensive schemes, and basic understanding of how this team is being run.

I understand that Wroten struggled this year with the Sixers. I mean more turnovers than assists is never a good thing. But there a couple things the Nets should have looked at…

1.) This is the 76ers here.

The Sixers are the only reason the Nets aren’t getting laughed out of the league right now. At least Billy King did something in the offseason that made sense. Fans have some idea of what the future holds for the franchise. Sam Hinkie, who had been replaced (don’t fooled by the Special Consultant title) by Jerry Colangelo, basically destroyed the franchise with bad draft choices, trades, and free agent pickups. Tony Wroten was crushed under a minutes restriction on a dysfunctional franchise. The rust was evident and Philadelphia was not going to help this guy get any better. The Sixers only have two wins under their belt for the entire season. Wroten was the first casualty when Philly started their transition out of the Sam Hinkie era.

2.) Wroten could do no worse than Joe Johnson.

Look, I realize that I just finished defending Johnson on this website over the weekend, but the fact still remains that Johnson is shooting horribly this season. Plus, with over 40,000 minutes on his legs, it would have made some sense to use Wroten backing up Johnson the same way Larkin is backing up Jarrett Jack. With those two in the backcourt, maybe the Nets’ small-ball lineup can bring Lionel Hollins out of the dark ages offensively and speed up the tempo.

3.) Wroten is better than Donald Sloan, Markel Brown, and Sergey Karasev.

All of these guys are goners at the end of the year, plus less talented… enough said!

Tony Wroten is passed over by the Nets. But with a backcourt that struggles to score, hopefully this move (or lack thereof) is not another mistake in Billy King and the Brooklyn Nets Christmas stocking.