A mentoring role
One of the overlooked qualities of Ilyasova at first when he was traded for is that he can be a mentor to Sixers rookie forward Dario Saric.
Saric, who is not new to pro basketball, played for a few years overseas. Most recently, prior to coming over and playing for the Sixers, Saric played for the Anadolu Efes in Turkey, where he garnered a lot of hype leading up to his Sixers debut.
The Saric experiment was an interesting one that hasn’t been tried a whole lot in the NBA. The Sixers drafted Saric and stashed him for a few seasons overseas to let him develop without taking up Sixers cap space or a roster spot.
Must Read: Saric Just Needs Time and Opportunity to Shine
Ilyasova, too, is an international player who is familiar with the culture Saric played in for a few seasons, being Turkish himself (Ilyasova actually played eight games with the Efes during the 2011 NBA lockout).
They both draw a likeness to each other in more than just an international sense, too, though. Ilyasova is a forward that can hit long shots just like Saric has shown he has the ability to. They both stretch the floor decently.
Saric showed that he had tendencies that could make him a stretch four in the NBA while he was in Turkey, but since coming to the NBA, has not really unlocked that potential yet. While there’s still tons of time for Saric to meet that ceiling that he has, Ilyasova could speed along the process by being a mentor to the young Croatian.
Saric has struggled with relationships with some of the American players (he and T.J. McConnell do not seem to like each other a whole lot) and having a player on the team who has gone through some of the same hardships of transitioning to a new country and a new league could really help boost Saric’s morale a ton, and in turn impact his game in a huge way.