Wroten Wants To Be A Leader For 76ers
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- The 76ers will play their penultimate preseason game tonight up in Brooklyn as they run with the Nets.
Philadelphia is 2-4 in exhibition action after beating Orlando last time out on Saturday, 95-84.
"It's going pretty good," guard Tony Wroten tells KYW Newsradio about the preseason. "We just continue to build one game at a time. Taking small steps and we're excited for the season."
This will be Wroten's second season in Philadelphia. He was acquired in August of 2013 in a trade with Memphis and showed some real flashes last season, averaging 13 points and 3 assists a game. He says he saw right away there was an opportunity here for him.
"Yeah definitely," Wroten says. "Being a young team, obviously didn't win as much as you want too. But when you and a franchise started from the bottom with not a lot of wins and then eventually, in the future, it shifts over to a lot of wins and more fans and atmosphere, it's a great feeling. And when I first came here I said I wanted to be a part of that."
Listen to Tony Wroten with KYW's Matt Leon:
The 21-year-old Wroten talks about his focus these days.
"It's to be a leader," Wroten says. "It's funny, because me being so young, this team I sort of have to be a very, very vocal leader. Age don't really matter, going into my third year, so I just have to be more of a leader and lead the team on and off the court."
The 76ers are coming off a 19-win season and they are almost universally expected to struggle just as much, if not more, this season. But Wroten says the team doesn't pay any attention to those predictions.
"If you're in the locker room, your coach says we are trying to win now," Wroten says. "Obviously, you hear people say you're not going to win a lot of games. Our locker room, our bond with the teammates and the coaching staff is great. We're looking to surprise a lot of teams this year."
Sixers open the regular season on Wednesday, October 29th in Indiana.
Tonight's preseason game with Brooklyn tips off at 7:30pm.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
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