Lesson III: Saric Continues Developing
Dario Saric has been the Philadelphia 76ers version of duct tape. When the team needs spot minutes at center, Saric is center. Recently, the team needs minutes at small forward, Saric is small forward. When the team began the season needing a starter at power forward, Saric was power forward. He shows grit.
Dario Saric, on representing Philly and playing with toughness: "To play without heart, it's not welcome in basketball."
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 8, 2017
Ductario Tape Saric.
Saric is an NBA rookie with the mindset of a veteran. That makes it awfully easy for head coach Brett Brown to point to a position in his lineup and tell Dario to play there. Conversely, it makes it awfully difficult for the rookie to develop consistency, a game rhythm where moves became natural instincts.
In short, it forces him to concentrate on the game far too intensively than he should be asked to do. In similar fashion, the experimentation of who and how to play out center around Joel Embiid has cut into Embiid’s production as well. And no insult intended, Saric is not Embiid – yet.
But Saric continues to show signs of great play. Today, he converted 29 minutes of playing time into 18 points and five rebounds, while shooting 50 percent from 3pt range. He has also been developing some mean inbounding skills.