Tony Wroten Jr. Buzz

There is a lot of buzz surrounding incoming freshman point guard, Tony Wroten Jr. He recently attended the Deron Williams Skills Academy with other star players like Ashton Gibbs, Marquis Teaque, Dominic Artis, and many others. The reports coming out of that Skills Academy is that Tony Wroten has some elite qualities in his basketball game.

The footage from Wroten at the Jordan Brand Classic was enough to make many Husky fans salivate at just his raw natural ability, not just in his passing game but also his ability to score. He looked like he was in control and if he wasn’t at any moment he could take control, he played some out on the wing but mainly saw success at his natural position, point guard.

The most recent buzz surrounding Wroten at the Deron Williams Camp started when Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com said:

"Washington guard Tony Wroten, Jr. might have been the most impressive player during scrimmages Saturday. He hit outside shots. He beat defenders off the dribble. He ran the fast break with impressive ease, and on several occasions — including one lightning-quick, no-look pass perfectly placed in the arms of a rim-running forward — he got the NBA scouts in the audience murmuring about his court vision and decision-making."

When you drop NBA scouts “murmuring” into the conversation of an incoming freshman that makes you perk up. Is this one of those cases where Wroten really could be a one-and-done? If NBA scouts are already looking at him, that makes you curious as to how much potential and skills Wroten already possesses.

Eamonn Brennan in his follow up post the next day had a quote from Ashton Gibbs about Tony Wroten and Marquis Teague, “Those guys got a lot of confidence.”

This has been looked at as a good and a bad thing for Wroten but Gibbs meant it in an encouraging and good way. And the buzz didn’t stop there in fact that just got the ball rolling.

John Rothstein from CBSsports.com said:

"“Heard incoming Washington PG Tony Wroten looked “smooth” and “in control at the Nike Camp in Chicago. Underrated heading into PAC-12.”"

Alan Stein, a famous strength and conditioning coach said on twitter:

"T Ross and T Wroten are gonna run things"

However, not all the buzz is good buzz. There are a few people out there that think Wroten is talented but is a show-boat and a head-case.

Dave “Softy” Mahler from KJR radio is one of the many that has publicly said that Wroten may be a headache for UW next season because of his personality. He tweeted yesterday that he talked with Jeff Goodman from CBS and that Goodman said that Wroten is a show-boat and that Romar will have his hands full.

These comments and the negative buzz surrounding Wroten is foolish at best.

1. Wroten has been working on his image, that he even went to the extreme of deleting his twitter.
2. He was, until a couple weeks ago, a high school student. He has a little time to mature in the area of cockiness.
3. Lorenzo Romar has proven to excel with cocky kids. (i.e. Nate Robinson, Isaiah Thomas)
4. Isaiah Thomas was said to be one of the cockiest athletes coming out of Curtis. Yet, for three years, Husky fans either tolerated it or it got better because many hardly complained especially when the Huskies were winning.

Granted, there is a fine-line between being confident and cocky and it takes years for some people to figure that out. And yet sometimes confidence can still be looked at as cocky.

Many fans don’t mind cocky personalities as long as the skills back it up and the player continues to be a team player-focused on the success of the team and not on individual success. Wroten doesn’t seem to have a ball-hog problem considering his goal in most games is to get as many assists as possible. In fact, he was hoping to break the assist record at the Jordan Brand Classic.

No matter what your opinions are of Wroten’s personality, he is a very skilled basketball player and he will find a way onto the starting roster either before the season starts or part way into the season.