At first glance there seems to be some overlap with Dario Saric and Ben Simmons, but the 2016 playoffs should have taught us that’s not exactly a bad thing.
It seems that the city of Philadelphia cannot even celebrate the potential arrival of a 2014 lottery pick without some resistance and skepticism. While most, if not all, Sixers fans are elated with the news from Croatia that Dario Saric is finally coming over, talk has already begun on where he fits on this team. But before getting to that, it’s important to state one thing in terms of where all these pieces fit: who cares.
This is not how rebuilds work. You don’t draft a different player at a different position in consequent years and, boom, there’s your team. You take a combination of fit and best player available. Then once you have a decent sized group of young talent (a.k.a. right now!) you leave it up to the coaching staff to develop and figure it out.
Brett Brown doesn’t even know how these guys fit because they all haven’t even played or practiced together yet. Yes, Saric’s “traditional position” seems to be the same as number one overall pick Ben Simmons, as a hybrid power forward or a point-forward. But it should matter more that after three seasons the Sixers have enough exciting young talent to be able to have these discussions abut who fits where and with who. But as we’ll see in this article, Saric’s diverse skill set is far more important than the standard position he’s “expected” to play. And furthermore, that skill set is what will unlock lineup versatility for Brown.
While passing skills, even at an elite level, may worry some about redundancy with Simmons, you can never have too many passers and creators on the floor as long as there’s shooting.
Since Saric was a 40 percent shooter from three last year at Efes, that won’t be a problem. Just look at the deadliest lineup in basketball for the past two years. The biggest reason, aside from defensive flexibility, why the death lineup was successful at Golden State is because they had three of the smartest passers in the league on the floor together in Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and most importantly, Andre Iguodala.
We can debate if Saric and Simmons can share the floor and who defends what position, but when you have two players who pass better than half the league’s point guards, the talent will make it work. Golden State should be the model to emulate here with those two. The defense will take some time, but it’s still early days. And if the Sixers balance those lineups with three defensive studs, including say Nerlens Noel as an anchor, there’s no reason not to experiment or for that to succeed. Selling Saric as just a stretch four is completely downplaying his skills and potential.
AGAIN, unbelievable how underutilized Dario Saric was at Efes. He's such a gifted passer.
— CroSports (@CroSports_) June 30, 2016
Be smart Philadelphia. Feed him the ball. #Sixers
He wasn’t even utilized properly at Efes! Sure, at first it may make more sense to play Dario in a 6th man role and have him only overlap with Simmons slightly from the start, but these are two savvy, gifted visionaries. They’re not selfish, as their major strengths are both passing. The Sixers are also in no rush to make the playoffs in 2017. Therefore, this should be a year of experimentation, growth and patience. We’ve spent three years of the process complaining that the young players on this team didn’t have any able and gifted passers to make them better. Now there are two! Unleash the playmaking extravaganza and let the likes of Joel Embiid, Jerami Grant, and the whole gang reap the benefits.
Now, just as we’ve made sure to discount the lazy stretch four label of Saric, he’s even more well rounded than just a brilliant passer. As mentioned above, Saric has improved mightily as a shooter, ending the regular season at a 40 percent clip from downtown and at 93 percent from the foul line. With spacing being so key to the modern NBA, Saric’s valuable improvements cannot be overstated.
Another improvement of Saric’s is that he can play a bit in the post. This extra dimension to his game makes him an even more versatile offensive player and plays to the same tune that this versatility is what makes him so valuable.
This versatility will allow Brett Brown to experiment with not just Saric’s offensive skill set, but with the different sets of his team as well. Due to his ball handling and vision, Saric also fits in well with a team that will want to get up and down in transition.
In Saric, the Sixers are getting a versatile player who can thrive with the ball both in and out of his hands. They’re getting an elite visionary, a tough competitor, and someone who played meaningful minutes against men, not 19-year old freshmen, for the past two seasons. All of those intangibles matter.
Next: 2017 Draft Prospects for Sixers to Watch For
Yes, he’s a shooter, a passer, and a worker. But most importantly Saric is a very smart, well rounded basketball player, and it’ll be near impossible to keep him off the floor next season because of that. Versatility is the present and future of the NBA, and Saric is just that.