Can Dario Saric Make it all 82 Games?
By Josh Wilson
Philadelphia 76ers rookie forward Dario Saric has played every game this year so far. Can he make it all 82 games this year?
Dario Saric, by the opinion of all Philadelphia 76ers fans, is the Rookie of the Year for this season. While fans want to see Joel Embiid get it just because of how incredible he was after missing two seasons, the sheer volume of games played by Saric puts him above Embiid.
Embiid’s season was cut short and he didn’t play in all of the games he was available for. He only played a little more than 30 games, which by most standards, is not enough to prove that you’re the Rookie of the Year, despite how incredible he was in those limited games.
Saric, up to this point, has played in 78 of the team’s 78 games. He has started in 33, but has been with the team and ready to go in every single game possible. Trailing right behind him, to no surprise, is T.J. McConnell, the tank of a body who missed just one game all of last season, and is at 77 so far this year.
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82 games is something not many players can accomplish nowadays in the NBA. With the strategy of resting good players (despite being healthy) when the playoff hopes are basically locked up becoming more of a common practice, it’s not often that coaches see a reason to play any one player in all 82 games.
One would think that with a team like the Sixers, a team with no playoff hopes and a roster focused on development, they would rest their main pieces as well and give youth a time to shine. Not the case.
Saric’s availability, his body’s health, and Brett Brown’s relentless approach to win games despite what the narrative says, all combine for one thing — a really good player who might actually get to 82 games. Saric has four left to go, and might just have enough left in the tank to get it done.
Leading up to Tuesday night’s game, Saric had his name listed on one of his first ever NBA injury reports. Saric was listed as having Plantar Fasciitis, but still played. He was limited to 24 minutes. According to Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly, Saric will hold that minutes restriction for the rest of the season.
The Sixers wrap up their season next Wednesday, with games on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday before that. While Saric is in the home stretch, there’s a chance this injury could become a reason he is sat out of a game. With very little incentive for playing him — and the potential for him to suffer a long-lasting injury in meaningless games on the forefront of everyone’s minds — there’s a chance the team could just decide to play it safe and keep him out.
This is the same team that has been known for playing it extremely cautious with every player that so much as bumps into someone else, but also the team that notably played Joel Embiid with a knee injury (on national television, for context) that seemed to have turned into a torn meniscus. So anything is possible in these final games.
An 82-game season is something Sixers fans haven’t seen in a while. The last player to do it was Spencer Hawes in 2013-14. Before that it was Evan Turner the year before.
During the rebuilding years, the Sixers rarely even had players on contract for a whole season. The ones that they did have around for full seasons rarely lasted 82 games without an injury. The fact that Dario could do it, that he’s even in that ballpark, is remarkable.
Let’s not take away from McConnell, who almost did it last year. One game in January messed him up.
That said, Saric has been grinding back to last season. He played 24 games with the Anadolu Efes — his professional team in Istanbul — between October and April of last season, and his team went deep in the Final rounds of the playoffs. From there, Saric went straight to Croatia to work with the national team, who was going to the Olympics in Rio. He then went there, and was a team leader.
Almost as soon as that was done, he hopped on a plane and moved to Philadelphia, officially becoming a Sixers player. He worked in the preseason and moved straight into the regular season.
The man doesn’t stop, and he has been going at it for nearly two years at this point with little to no break in the basketball action.
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The talk of the town with the Sixers is about how no one can seem to stay healthy. Saric is going against that groove, clearly, and has been able to make himself a solid player that can be relied on night in and night out. Here’s hoping he can make it to 82, but even if he can’t, Sixers fans should be encouraged with what they’ve seen from Saric as far as durability is concerned.