The Sixer Sense
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Dario Saric Will be Centerpiece of Playoff Run in Future

By Josh Wilson

Mar 4, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Dario Saric (9) during the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Wells Fargo Center. The Detroit Pistons won 136-106. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Dario Saric (9) during the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Wells Fargo Center. The Detroit Pistons won 136-106. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Philadelphia 76ers rookie Dario Saric showed this season that he has what it takes to lead a run in the NBA playoffs at some point in the future.

In the first few months of the season, it looked like it might be a few seasons before Philadelphia 76ers rookie Dario Saric reached a point where Sixers fans would be satisfied with him as a player. His start to the NBA was slow and somewhat troubled as he adjusted to the differences in the NBA that exist.

As the season went on, however, Saric acclimated quicker than we anticipated originally, and by the end of the year he had made himself a name that was known as one of the front-runners for Rookie of the Year. As the team pieces themselves together this offseason and looks to come back next season with a full roster of healthy players, playoffs are going to be on the team’s mind, and are going to be a goal for the first time in a long time for Philadelphia.

Dario Saric, once the Sixers make it to the playoffs, will be one of the key components that contributes to any success the team has. There’s a few reasons he would be one of the main cogs.

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Durability

Saric is one of the most durable players on the Sixers roster. While the team has suffered from being pretty fragile over the last several seasons, Saric has been one of the few consistently available piece night in and night out. T.J. McConnell, who ended up being one of Saric’s better friends throughout the season, is one of the only other players on the team that can be available for 75-plus games a season.

Of course, we haven’t seen Saric actually hold up through a regular season and then a postseason as well, but all signs point towards him doing that just fine. He came into this season off of both a regular season in Istanbul and also a campaign in Rio with the Croatian National team.

Clearly, he’s not one to get hurt easily, and is strong and therefore available night in and night out. There’s almost no chance that Saric will have to be scratched from any playoff games unless something serious is wrong.

Consistency

While looking at Saric’s season I the first few months compared to the last few months will tell you two completely different stories, that does not mean that Saric is an inconsistent player. Saric was building up all season, but for the most part, what we saw from one night was rarely different than what we saw the previous night.

It wasn’t as if we would go into every game unsure of what Saric was going to bring to the table. We knew that consistently he was adding new things, and rarely was he going back to his old ways of playing.

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Overall, Saric is a consistent player, and would be a consistent threat for opposing defenses in the playoffs.

Utility

Finally, one of the most attractive pieces with Saric is the utility factor. This holds true during the regular season as well of course, but when it comes to a best-of-seven series, having players that can do a variety of things is important.

Often, coaches are changing their strategy from game to game in the postseason more than they are in the regular season. Since the series are against the same team game after game, coaches are thinking on a more focused and specific level than a basic generic level.

So head coach Brett Brown may want his players to do something completely different one night than the game before. Having players that are able to do that without any buffer time is a huge plus, and Saric fits right into that mold. You can have him focus his offense in the paint, or on the perimeter. He can be pretty aggressive on the defensive end, and even get a fair amount of rebounds if he focuses there.

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Saric is the epitome of what you want in a player that can do it all. Brown will be able to use that, and was able to use it throughout the regular season, but that quality will only become magnified in the postseason.