With similar skill sets to offer the NBA, the Sixers may find committing to Ben Simmons may delay Dario Saric‘s NBA debut in 2016
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
We have talked about the possibilities of Dario Saric and Ben Simmons on a basketball court wearing Philadelphia 76ers jerseys, and it was a nice scenario.
For the longest time, I have found myself in the Ben Simmons camp. Since the beginning of the 2015-2016 NBA season, THE prospect was Ben Simmons, the universally anointed prospect with that “something special”. You see, when you have a chance at somebody special, you take it. When considering the NBA draft, and a chance to marry the potential greatness of Joel Embiid with the potential greatness of Ben Simmons, it’s a very exciting future of what may be.
But as our feet touch the ground, as they so quickly do in Philadelphia, we realize that fairy-tales and what-ifs don’t get us any closer to a championship. In the blue collar realm where most of us dwell, we don’t kid ourselves with stars in our eyes or on our helmets to give us false reassurances. For sports media to find the fans of the Philadelphia 76ers to be receptive, it must pass the sniff test.
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And so, we are sniffing around the context of the 2016 NBA Draft, the draft that is ultimately owned by the Philadelphia 76ers by sitting at number one, and trying to decide if we like the results of a 76er’s Jersey on either Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram. Then we get to imagine a team with debuts of Joel Embiid and Dario Saric as the new prospect’s teammates. But there is one complication. Dario Saric’s rights are owned by the Philadelphia 76ers, but he is not under contract with the team.
And there it is. That’s what we were sniffing.
Make no bones about it, Dario Saric WANTS to be a Philadelphia 76er. He is simply obligated by contractual legality to play in Europe. When the contract to play for Philadelphia is set before him, he will sign, as long as we can confirm which position he will play and whether he has the chance to start.
But where do the Sixers fit Simmons and Saric on the same lineup?
Next: Similar Skills
Similar skills
Both Dario Saric and Ben Simmons are projected right now into a power forward role in the NBA. Both are 6’10” tall, and both have an uncanny ability to thread the needle with powerful precise passes to teammates. Both are versatile big men who have the ability to play center against small ball opposition, all the way down to at least the small forward position.
It’s that versatility which has added to the allure of each prospect. It can be perceived as complimentary or competitive, and it will be up to head coach Brett Brown to shape the roles of each to emphasize the complimentary tasks.
Saric’s strength is physicality. He can mix it up with guys are are bigger and stronger and hold his own. But as he can play a post game, add rebounds with strong work on the boards, and take the shots in the paint, he can give you perimeter shooting as well. Saric adds a huge upgrade to the transition game because he can block the shot or pull down a defensive rebound, pivot, and launch the ball half way down the court to a teammate with ease.
That’s how to get some fast breaks going.
Next: Similar Position
Similar Position
Simmons is more along the lines of a guy who gets through traffic by slicing around them. While equally adept at passing, he is less of an artillery howitzer, and more like a laser guided missile. His moves are not built from distance, so he draws traffic to him by cutting gracefully and quickly to the basket. As the defense closes on him, he will launch the ball to a teammate for a clean look at an easy three, or across the base line to the center coming in for the alley oop.
SImmons is faster. While Saric can navigate the big bodies bouncing under the basket, Simmons slices through the bodies. In the NBA, there is a certain amount of muscularity needed as a minimum. Simmons has that body mass, and still glides gracefully.
Simmons and Saric are both projected to be an NBA four. If the Sixers plan to take Simmons, the conversation with Saric had best be loaded with details of how the two will not be competing for the same minutes on the basketball court.
Next: The Sell
The Sell
That’s why the trip to Istanbul to speak with Dario Saric includes both Bryan Colangelo and Brett Brown. Each must play a role in the pitch. Each must bare the plan to the young man who continues to improve through his play with Turkish Basketball Super League affiliate Anadolu Efes. In fact, Saric recently compiled a 10-game stretch during which he averaged 15.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 26.0 minutes, while shooting 51.5 percent (50-97) from the field. That’s what he brings to the Philadelphia 76ers.
"“He so much wants to be a part of the 76ers organization when we speak,” Brown said. “I ended up sending him a photo of a young kid in the stands with a Saric jersey on, and the response is like what it is, ‘I can’t wait to get [to Philadelphia].’”"
Brown will do his part. In the midst of bad basketball, he single-handedly bolstered the perspective of an entire team, rallying their performance to wade back out onto the court and give their all. In a season where it was easy to lose the players’ spirits as easily as it was to lose basketball games, Brown did neither. It’s that infectious optimism that has likely kept Saric eager to join Philadelphia this entire time.
Bryan Colangelo is the variable now. He will need to hire a professional speaking coach if his pitch to Dario Saric is at the same level as the speaks he has given to Philadelphia media recently. The repetitive message of too many young players is a canned speech, one that doesn’t work in a blue collar market like Philadelphia.
There was no honeymoon phase here to give Colangelo time to say just about anything to oohs and ahhs of a crowd. He’s been touted as a basketball mind, so the fans’ appetite for basketball related insight has gone unsatisfied so far. He will suffer the same challenge if he wants to smile and cite cliches in Turkey as well.
"“I think what Brett and I are planning to do is taking a trip over to Istanbul here shortly. We’re going to sit down with him, we’re going to sit down with perhaps members of his family, his agent. We’re going to talk about all the alternatives, and why we think it’s a good time for him to come over right now. I think this is a great opportunity for him. We think this is good timing for him.” -Bryan Colangelo discussing a planned trip to meet with Dario Saric"
Colangelo should be well coached for this first time visit in order to prevent this from being the only time the group meets. The sales pitch of the younger Colangelo should come from his wheel house, from the relationships that an NBA team forges together as a family.
Colangelo must pretend he is pitching the team to an NBA veteran, and not to one of the rookies he is so eager to move away from. In many ways, Saric’s European experience will deliver a pretty mature individual to Phialdelphia.
Next: Summary
The Summary
First impressions are so very important.
The first impression of Bryan Colangelo is key to the future of his running the franchise. If he botches Dario Saric’s arrival to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016, it will be perceived as a major blunder.
The first impression of Dario Saric is key to his future with the franchise as well. After years of pining for the young man, a decision to remain in Turkey may be the right economic decision for him to make, but will collapse his significance to the Philadelphia 76ers. His window to arrive is now. If the team must move one without him, they will do so. He may not have an opportunity for a significant role with the team if Ben Simmons arrives and owns the four through the 2016-2017 season.
The first impression of Ben Simmons is key as well. If the Philadelphia 76ers select Ben Simmons, but lose the opportunity to pair his skill set on the basketball court with Dario Saric, that will deflate the optimism and fever of initiating a number one pick onto this team. He will be compared to that “Turkish Guy” throughout his career in Philadelphia, whether he knows it or not.
He will need to produce a three point shot which, in the box stats, are comparable if not outright better than Saric’s.
Yes, first impressions are so very important to this team right now.
My first impression is that the team will find a way to bring Saric to the Philadelphia 76ers this year, and will select Ben Simmons. How they marry their skill-sets on the basketball court simultaneously is the third chapter to this Simmons Saric Trilogy.