With the season finally coming closer to it’s merciful end and games only getting harder to watch– say what you will about draft picks, but letting up 131 to the nets is a shot in the gut– it’s time to start looking a head to the offseason and all the excitement that it brings. One of the more exciting developments set to hit Philly this Summer is the much anticipated arrival of Dario Saric.
Since the moment Elfried Payton was traded from the Sixers for Dario and a 2017 first, the question has been, “Coooool… Now how long are we gonna have to wait for a return on this trade?” Well after two years of waiting, it seems as though we only have to sit on our hands for just a little bit longer. Although nothing concrete has been established, outside of Dario’s daddy giving the Sixers his blessing, head coach Brett Brown is confident Dario will be in a Sixers uniform next year.
As time goes on, it’s looking more and more like a sure thing Dario Saric will be a Sixer this time next year. The team has even sent player development assistant Chris Babcock over to Europe for eight days to personally train with Dario. The only thing standing in Dario’s way from coming to the Sixers is his contract with Anadolu Efes, but seeing how easily Nikola Mitotic got out of the final two years of his contract before coming over to the Bulls, Im not too worried about it.
Now that we can stop worrying about when Dario arrives, we can start to ponder what he might look like when he gets here. I’ve seen a lot of arguing over what Dario Saric could be as a player, some see him as the second coming of Dirk Nowitzki (you know because he’s european), some see him as a bust waiting to happen, I see him as neither of those things .
In my eyes, Dario Saric is a Jack of all trades, but like Aziz Ansari, he’s a master of none. He’s the kind of guy who can stuff the stat sheet, but doesn’t really have any “WOW” stats. He’s the kind of guy who can give you something along the lines of 13 points, 8 rebounds, and five assists a night.
In his time since being drafted by the Sixers, the part of Dario’s game he’s improved the most has been his 3P%. He’s always had a little bit of mid range game and was capable of knocking down the occasional open three, but he was never really good at creating his own shots and his 3P% dropped considerably when he had a man around him. Over the past two years, Dario has not only increased his number of three’s taken, he’s improved his overall clip by an impressive amount. 2013-2014, Dario took 13 three’s all season and converted them at a .308 clip, the next season he took 62 three’s but saw his percentage drop to .306. This season, shit has been considerably lit as Dario has converted .389 of his 54 three’s taken; he’s already surpassed his three point total from the previous season with four games still remaining. Dario is at his best as a pick and pop shooter or by having it dished to him in the corner; has also worked on improving his spot up jumper.
While Dario has indeed been making it rain over in Turkey, Im not entirely sure his three point percentage will carry over the NBA. I see the three point shot being lesson a major part of his game and more along the lines of something he just has in his back pocket.
Even with his improved three, Dario still does the majority of his dirty work in the low post. He’s good with his back to the basket and uses shiftiness to get around his opponents. There isn’t much explosion to his game as he doesn’t play above the rim very often; get ready for a lot of layups people. He capable in the high post and can make some plays in the mid range, but Dario says eating in the post. As far as rebounding goes he’s solid, but not great. Sarin has short arms which really hurts his rebounding ability. His lack of sizes causes his game to suffer, but he gets by thanks to his high basketball IQ.
Dario Saric’s biggest value comes from his ability to play the point. He may not look it, but the man knows a thing or two about dishing out dimes. As a point forward, Saric has good vision and shows off better handles than you’d expect from a guy his size, he’s no Karl Anthony Towns, but he’s pretty good. Honestly though, the thought of KAT and Saric going at it in a skills competition does seem pretty entertaining.
Driving the paint and finding someone in the low post is Dario’s bread and butter. He is also good at finding open shooters on the wing. He has all around great court vision for a player of his size.
Dario has been playing pro ball in Europe since he was 16, you know, like when most people are in high school. He shows off his years of experience by the way he can command the offense, it makes up a lot for his athletic limitations.
He has worked on limiting his turnovers over the past few years, which was a little bit of a concern when he declared for the draft. Dario was coughing up the ball 3.1 times per game two seasons ago, he then improved that mark to 1.9, and then again to 1.6. Although that 0.3 change doesn’t seem like much, he has turned the ball over 20 fewer times than last season.
His assist number have dropped from 2.3 to 1.6 a game, but I think that may have to do with Saric spending more time in three point territory.
The glaring weakness of Dario Saric is his defensive ceiling, he doesn’t really have one. Although he’s capable of picking up the occasional block or steal, Saric is limited defensively. He lacks proper athleticism and size, and his short arms don’t help him much either. He can get pushed around at times when playing the low post, doesn’t have adequate size to set his feet and gain position. He also lacks quickness necessary to chase more athletic wings and can look uncomfortable trying to guard around the three point line.
The other major downside to Dario Saric is his lack of a definite position. He has played six games at center, ten at power forward, and another seven at small forward. His best number come when he’s playing power forward, he’s scoring 15.8 points per game and burying 56.82% of his shots. His worst numbers come when he’s playing small forward, scoring just 8.25 points on 42.55% shooting. Naturally, he’s at his worst lining up where the Sixers need him to play next season. Dario is very much a tweener, he has the size of a four, but weight of a 3. Some players can make the best out of their tweener size, like Draymond Green for example, while others can never really get their game together *cough* *cough* Anthony Bennet.
It’ll take some time to get better acclimated, but I think you’d get the most out of Saric at the three. In time, if he struggles with the speed of other players at the position, Im sure a move to stretch four could help him out. I think a few seasons in an NBA weight program could do a lot of good for Dario. I also think there is a lot of value in having a player capable of filling the stretch four role in the event that Joel Embiid is too broken for even foreign medicine to fix.
There’s still a lot of wait and see to Dario’s game, he still needs to add size, he has doesn’t have a definitive position yet, his game still needs a little bit of refining, and then there’s the whole contract he’s under with another team. I very much think Saric will be Stateside this Summer, now Im just curious about what his playing time might look like and what type of impact he’ll have on this team.
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