Tony Wroten Released by 76ers: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

The Philadelphia 76ers are releasing point guard Tony Wroten to clear a roster spot for Ish Smith, who was acquired in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, according to Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears. 

The move comes eight games into Wroten's return from a partially torn ACL, which he suffered midway through the 2014-15 season. Prior to his release, Wroten averaged 8.4 points, 2.5 assists and 3.6 turnovers.

Philadelphia Magazine's Derek Bodner passed along one stat that told the whole story: 

Wroten later tweeted out a message confirming his release: 

With Wroten out of the picture, the Sixers will operate with a point guard trio consisting of Smith, rookie T.J. McConnell and Kendall Marshall.    

Although Wroten brought some energy to the Sixers offense over the past two-and-a-half seasons, he was never an effective scorer or passer. 

Despite averaging 16.9 points in 30 games before getting injured last year, he averaged a staggering 3.8 turnovers while shooting just 40.3 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from three. 

The 22-year-old has also been a clear liability as a finisher and a shooter. This season, Wroten's shooting 31.4 percent on drives and 33.8 percent from the field, according to the NBA's player-tracking data. 

Compounding that problem is the fact Wroten has been averse to taking pull-up jumpers from mid-range while struggling from beyond the arc, as his NBA.com shot chart indicates: 

Credit: NBA.com/Stats

That trend has held true throughout the course of his career. 

According to Basketball-Reference.com, 54.8 percent of Wroten's career shots have come within three feet of the rim, with another 26.1 percent coming from three. That means just under 20 percent of his remaining attempts have come from mid-range, where he's historically struggled. 

0-3 Feet	3-10 Feet	10-16 Feet	16 Feet-3-Point Line	3-Pointers
55.0%	26.3%	28.6%	27.8%	23.1%

As those numbers indicate, Wroten is a fairly one-dimensional commodity.

However, he's still plenty effective at getting to the rim and drawing contact. According to Basketball-Reference.com, Wroten's free-throw rate—which measures a player's number of free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt—sits at a career-best .569 through eight games this season. 

And while that number may not be sustainable, his career free-throw rate of .411 is respectable. That said, Wroten will need to find some form of a consistent stroke from the line, since he's a career 64.7 percent shooter from the charity stripe. 

At the very least, Wroten has some redeemable qualities that could be useful to teams in need of aggressive microwave scorers off the bench, as the Wall Street Journal's Chris Herring noted: 

Wroten's unlikely to find a role the size of the one he occupied in Philadelphia, but his ability to draw fouls and knife into the lane with consistency should make him an attractive addition for teams who can afford to take a flier on the speedster. 

As for the Sixers, Thursday's move was another in what figures to be a long line of organizational shifts following a front-office shakeup.  

By releasing Wroten, trading for Smith and hiring Mike D'Antoni as an associate head coach in the span of a week, new chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo has made statements that indicate the team is seeking to remedy its offensive woes. 

While it will likely take some serious time for things to develop the way Colangelo wants, the team isn't shying away from making aggressive moves.