Philadelphia 76ers Dario Saric Hitting High Wall of Fatigue
The Philadelphia 76ers and Dario Saric reflect on the rookie’s long journey as they truck along their rugged end of season hike.
Pop singer Taylor Swift has a song entitled Twenty Two. One stanza is:
"“We’re happy free confused and lonely at the same time. It’s miserable and magical, oh yeah.”"
Taylor Swift said it first, but Philadelphia 76ers rookie power forward Dario Saric could probably second this statement.
Dario Saric has endured more of a workload at 22 years old than perhaps 50 percent of the players in the NBA. Spanning back to his EuroLeague and Olympic play, he’s worked to the tipping point of exhaustion. Although it has been a remarkable sight to witness.
Coming off his final year of EuroLeague ball, Saric decided to dedicate the remainder of summer sixteen towards an Olympic run as a prelude to his NBA debut.
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Representing Croatia, “the Homie” developed a significant leadership role as the tournament progressed. Also with the talent aid of budding NBA wingmen Mario Hezonja and Bojan Bogdanovic, the Croatian team emerged as a legitimate candidate to walk away with a medal.
Croatia eventually reached their fourth quarterfinal match in team history, though failing to ascend further qualifications. The young trouper repeatedly came up clutch in key moments. He chalked up his Euro career with Olympic averages of 33 mpg, and 12 points a match.
Finally Coming Over
The next step was to bear red, white and blue. And no, that’s not the colors of Team USA.
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Blue Man Hoop
His contract signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in mid July, he met dozens of fans and media members at the airport. Everyone cheered the arrival of the soon-to-be beloved rookie. (CSN Philly went as far as posting a live Facebook stream of his airport arrival).
Since the start of training camp, Dario’s work ethic made an immediate impression upon the coaching staff. Finally, months of hoping became reality. Dario lived up to his reputation as a tough, skilled, and impeccably smart basketball player.
But most importantly, the kid was a keen workhorse with untapped potential.
The Sixers’ incentive towards Dario’s usage changed with the tragic injury of Ben Simmons in late September. Dario would fulfill the empty forward slot come opening night. He’d become the second half of the sensational rookie frontcourt duo (co Joel Embiid), and take on a role he hadn’t known he signed up for.
Near Season’s End
Fast forward five months, and the motor revving is becoming rather strenuous. Saric is slowing his wide strides to a much slower jog, as the latter end of the 82 game season is taking its toll.
Through the arrival and departure of the veteran mentor Ersan Ilyasova, the Homie stepped up and produced tremendously.
Since the All-Star break, Dario has averaged nearly 20 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists per game. He’s certainly shown enough on the court for a front-runner to the NBA Rookie of the Year (even in former frontrunter Joel Embiid’s approval).
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Sir Charles In Charge
Although, every bit of this remarkable rookie stint was of the unusual. Players don’t just come in after a full 30 game season overseas, train all summer for Olympic games, then move into the United States and average these numbers. It’s unheard of. He played to exhaustion, mentally and physically.
Confessed Exhaustion
After Wednesday’s loss against Atlanta, the Homie voiced some frustration that’s come along with the 82 game truck.
“I was tired, really,” Saric said. “So many games. Like everybody knows, the Olympic games, national team, my professional team, Efes, how many games in a season. Now I feel like really, really, really bad. I was so excited in my head, in my heart, to shoot every ball but sometimes your body does things a little bit different.” (Per CSN Philly)
On one hand, it’s clear that the rookie needs some significant relaxation time to focus on recovery. The ups and downs of losing, the ever-shifting bench and starter roles, and all of the discouraging teammate injuries has led to quite some mental challenges to conquer at 22 years old.
On the other hand, it seems like the only thing holding him back is the physical beatdown of what he’s endured. We’ve seen Dario strengthen his mental endurance, and we’ve seen enough physical endurance to be convinced that he has what it takes to breach a unique level of stardom.
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Even now, we should savor the moment. As a matter of fact, Saric won’t be fighting this brick wall of exhaustion much longer. Hopefully, by the time the yearly awards are announced, we’ll have concrete evidence that all the perseverance was worth the extra effort.