Potential Realized With Philadelphia 76ers 2016 Lineup

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Jun 26, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Dario Saric (Croatia) shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number twelve overall pick to the Orlando Magic in the 2014 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Dario Saric

Small Forward Dario Saric

Dario Saric is nearly as anticipated in his NBA arrival as Joel Embiid’s health. Standing 6’10” and weighing about 240 pounds, Saric plays big – using physicality that belies his age. He’s made it his Croatian forward trademark to play out of the post. There, he has the strength, footwork, and touch to back his man down towards the basket and play through contact. When he sets up in the high post, he is a triple threat, possessing the ability to knock down shots from mid-range if his defender backs off, the quickness and handle to blow by them and finish at the rim if they play him too closely, and the vision to find cutting teammates with pinpoint passes.

But as Saric has developed a perimeter shot, and more and more of his production has come from beyond the arc. Over the first 42 games of the season, 81.3% of his offense came inside the arc and at the free-throw line. During that span, he averaged 15.0 points per 36 minutes and posted a respectable 49.4% effective field goal percentage. His true shooting percentage for this period was 54.4%, and he made 29.5% of the 88 three-pointers he attempted. Late in the season, Saric had averaged 17.4 points per 36 minutes and has posted an effective field goal percentage of 53.6% and a true shooting percentage of 56.8%. Those bumps in production have come as a direct result of greater efficiency from long range – 27.6% of his points have come off of three-pointers over his last 15 games versus just 18.7% during his first 42.

The 2016 numbers are difficult to project for Saric. Expecting his minutes to come in at 25 per game, he should be shooting about 50%, score 14 points per game, 7.0 rebounds per game, 3 assists per game, 1 steal and 1.4 turnovers per game.

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