Will Bryan Colangelo Push Dario Saric Out?

As Bryan Colangelo etches out his Philadelphia 76ers, will Dario Saric be forced out as a piece of the rebuild?

Bryan Colangelo is setting a tone in the first few weeks as President of the Philadelphia 76ers. Colangelo has appeared on numerous podcasts, and interviewed with several journalists in the short period that he’s been in his new position. Colangelo has talked to the media in less than a month just as much as Hinkie did in the nearly three years he spent as president and general manager of the team.

That’s not a knock on Hinkie. Colangelo knew what Hinkie did wrong during his time, and would be unwise to not start off by correcting those issues in himself. Retrospect allows Colangelo to do everything Hinkie did and more.

We haven’t seen Colangelo make any real moves with the team yet. He’s been unable to, since the NBA season has not quite wrapped up for playoff teams, and the draft is still some time away. We can look at what he has to say about this team to the media, though, and try to figure out what his plan is. He’s giving us some hints about his philosophy with this team moving forward. Some of these hints are vague, but others seem to be more explicit. When he talks about one of the Sixers’ biggest international players, I think he’s somewhere in the middle.

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One of the biggest pieces that Sam Hinkie brought onto this team over the years was Croatian basketball player Dario Saric. Since being drafted, Saric has played basketball in Turkey, but the Sixers have retained his NBA rights throughout that time. Over the course of this year, the plan has seemed to be for Saric to come over this upcoming season (2016-2017). Many hints, such as leaked contracts and more, have lead us to believe he is on his way over.

Fans have been really excited for the stretch-4 prospect to come over to America. It’s no secret, though, that Saric is a Hinkie piece. With Hinkie out, the future of Saric with the team has been made quite uncertain, and things that Colangelo has said about Saric don’t lead us to believe that he’s set on allowing the prospect to join this team.

Within the article, Bryan revealed that he had not yet spoken or corresponded with the Sixers’ Croatian prospect in any manner, which is a bit troubling to hear. Why has he not even reached out to a player that is supposedly joining the team next season? Colangelo was adamant in the rest of the article that keeping in touch with everyone involved with the team was a priority of his. Is this a warning that he doesn’t want Saric around?

Saric kept in touch with Hinkie to an extent, and it probably was a surprise for him to hear that Sam had resigned. To know that there is someone new taking his position, and not have them reach out to you has to be unsettling. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to stop him from coming over. Recent reports say that Saric will be coming to the Sixers next season, and that Saric has informed his teammates in Turkey that he will not be returning.

Additionally, Saric’s Turkey coach is no longer with the team.

As Colangelo noted, the only solid existing tie with Saric is now head coach Brett Brown, who shares brief text messages (brief because of a language barrier, Saric is not fluent in English) with the Turkey star. So it looks to me like Saric coming to this team is contingent on Brett Brown being the coach of the future. I am not confident in saying that will happen. As we move forward, Bryan may decide that Brown isn’t right, and alongside that, may see no reason to have Dario on board.

Under Hinkie, Brown being the coach for years to come was no question. He was just given a contract extension this year. But under Colangelo, I’m not so sure. Colangelo may want a fresh coaching staff — this is common practice when a new person takes over as president — to start his tenure. Bryan also said in the Q & A session with Tom Moore that he liked the coaching staff and likes Brett Brown, but that could be all for show. His father, Jerry, said he liked Hinkie but it has been well documented that he pratically pushed him out himself.

I think that Brown is still the right choice for Colangelo — there’s really no one else in the job market who is an appealing prospect for the task — but Colangelo may think different. If he does, then that leaves little reason for Saric to come to this team, unless Bryan actually does see the value in him that a lot of other people do. But given that he hasn’t even tried to reach out to Saric makes me think he doesn’t recognize his value.

So, if that’s the case, what’s next? The Sixers could trade him or his rights, but I don’t see them getting much in return for him. Possibly a late first-round draft pick. Saric has proven a lot internationally, but the gap between international basketball and the level of NBA basketball is tough to gauge. I’m not so sure many teams would trust his international resume.

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Moving forward, I think the future of many pieces of the Sixers over the last three years are not definite. Saric is absolutely one of those questionable pieces as Bryan moves this team forward.