The Sixers today exercised their third year options on Tony Wroten and Arnett Moultrie for next season. The team was forced to either pick up or decline the options by midnight tonight.
Wroten, acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies during the summer for virtually nothing, played 23 minutes last night in the victory over Miami and provided the majority of scoring off the Sixers bench. He's also my everything. The Tony Wroten Show will be a must-see even when the Sixers resume observing the status quo, and picking up his option was a no-brainer.
Moultrie did not play last night and will not for a while due to having ankle surgery late in the summer. While I'm not the biggest fan of his game, in limited time he showed an interesting, and maybe quite good, offensive bag of tricks. I've heard a comparison to a young, pre-knee injury Marreese Speights. Though his jumper may not be as good as the head of the #FreeBoosie revolution possesses, Moultrie brings offense from the forward/center position, which none of our other bench bigs can really claim to do.
Some of my staff brethren were surprised at the Moultrie option. It wasn't a surprise to me: at just a bit over $1.1 million, the contract is so small that there's little risk in guaranteeing it, especially since the team doesn't really need to preserve cap space. And the team and ownership group have been willing to eat dead money even before Hinkie the Great took over.
The NBA draft salary scale practically dictates the terms of contracts for incoming rookies, and as selections late in the first round Wroten and Moultrie had affordable, team-friendly options provided they showed any talent. They must have showed enough.