Dario Saric is Strong Both Mentally and Physically
By Josh Wilson
Dario Saric, a forward for the Philadelphia 76ers, has proven he is mentally strong in his first season in the NBA away from home.
With almost every player in the NBA, there are storylines we can take a look at and appreciate. Some are more obvious, and others are underlying.
Joel Embiid‘s story this season was obvious, but a great one. He was drafted two years ago by the Philadelphia 76ers, but had to watch from the sidelines throughout his first two NBA eligible years as he nursed a foot injury. Coming back this year, with the world against him, he dominated.
Dario Saric’s story is somewhat similar. He was drafted in the same year as Joel Embiid, but did not play in the NBA right away. He played in Turkey for two seasons as a “stashed” European player that the Sixers looked to use somewhere down the line.
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The storyline around Saric has not been as clear to the general public as Embiid’s. And maybe that’s why some fans outside of the Sixers fan base aren’t giving Saric the nod as the current front-runner for Rookie of the Year. Because it’s pretty clear, looking at both his statistics and his story, that he is a player that is deserving of that award.
There is a moment in everyone’s life that really defines them, and really can be looked at as the shift from childhood to adulthood. For me, and many other people, that moment was going off to college. While I still come home during the summers and probably could not easily live without the help of my parents, I felt much more independent and on my own when I went off to school.
Still, I was scared. It was the first time in my life that I wouldn’t see my parents and little brothers almost every day. It was the first time I couldn’t ask my parents for advice without picking up a phone. It was scary, but in the end, getting through that period was what made me more mentally strong, and really helped me get into that stage of feeling like an adult.
With Saric’s situation, I don’t think it’s all that different. This was Saric’s first year taking residency in America. He came over as a foreigner to the country, and just from a human aspect, must have had a tough transition from being in Turkey and Croatia to coming into the NBA. Saric’s English really wasn’t that great when he came into the league.
So to come over here, alone, and be by himself, was huge. Additionally, family seems big for Saric.
Now, this is not the first time that Saric has been away from his home country of Croatia. He spent the last few years playing in Turkey. Still, the distance between Croatia and Turkey is much less than the distance between Croatia and America.
And how do we know family is big?
Well, Saric has recently hosted his mother in America, and since she has come over to America, he has played very well.
Saric’s mom left after Sunday’s game against the Boston Celtics, so we’ll see how much impact she had. In between her arrival and departure, however, Saric has averaged 19.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game in 33.2 minutes.
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“She makes me be full, like 100 percent in my body and my soul, to feel like I’m at home,” Saric said to Keith Pompey.
Additionally, Saric’s dad recently showed off pictures from Dario’s childhood to @CroSports_. The family bond seems very, very strong.
And let’s not ignore the fact that physically, he’s been very tough as well. Coming off of a season in Turkey, Saric took very little time off before heading to be with his Croatian National Team, where Saric led his team in the Olympics. Since then, Dario has come over to be with the Sixers, taken very little time off, and appeared in all 70 of the team’s games this season. He is the only player on the team to appear in that many games. T.J. McConnell trails him by one.
That shows incredible tank-like durability, and rivals that of established veterans in their prime. He’s been fairly consistent in his skill as well, with a general incline all season long.
Similar to Embiid, we could have expected something low from Embiid this season given the circumstances. It would have been his first taste at the NBA, he was coming off of another regular season overseas, an Olympic run, and a transition to a new team. Additionally, he was missing his family back home.
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Instead, the story is more triumphant. Saric leveraged momentum coming into the season to attack the NBA as best as he possibly could. This man should be the Rookie of the Year.