5 reasons Dario Saric Is Valuable But Not Untouchable

Despite his brilliant rookie season, Dario Saric isn’t untouchable for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Listen, I love the Dario Saric. I think hes fantastic and fits the city of Philadelphia perfectly. I believe he can be a huge contributor to a playoff team. But folks, lets be realistic, he’s not untouchable. If he can be used as part of a package to acquire a superstar level player who fits the Philadelphia 76ers scheme, he should be moved.

Swarm and Sting

Bryan Colangelo has hinted at something when he remarked last month that stretch four is an area he would like to improve next season. This implies that he may view Saric as more of a sixth man versus a core building block in the starting rotation.

Bill Simmons, Founder of The Ringer and renown Bostonite recently speculated about a trade involving Dario Saric, the third overall pick and next year’s Lakers pick for the Markelle Fultz. This has drawn the ire and derision of many Philadelphia 76ers fans but let’s really think about this. Dario is a lovable player and next years Lakers pick might turn into Luka Doncic or Michael Porter Jr. But Markelle Fultz with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid represents a balanced three headed monster under roster control for the next 5-10 years.

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So let’s work through this together, what are the five biggest reasons that Dario is fantastic, but not untouchable:

Reason 1: Elite vision

Dario Saric is an elite passer and ball mover. He not only makes the right pass he makes the fun pass as well. From his 6-10 frame he can see the floor in a way that is simply rare. It is a very tempting prospect to have him on the floor with Ben Simmons to have a pair of elite passers both with tremendous size.

Highlights like this are what has made us all fall in love.

And this is not unusual, Saric was making passes like this for years in Europe. He is an advanced player from a basketball IQ standpoint. This is the key to why we love the Homie.

Reason 2: The Measureables

When thinking about Dario Saric you start with his height. At 6-10 and 230 or so pounds he has an NBA power forwards body.

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The issue comes in the form of his wingspan, which is also 6’10. For comparison sake Robert Covington is 6-9 but has a 7-2 wingspan. This means Covington likely has a higher standing reach than Saric despite being one inch shorter.

Here are the heights and wingspans of some other notable NBA power forwards:

Via DraftExpress

This isn’t to say that Dario cannot be an effective NBA player, as we’ve clearly seen he can play basketball at a high level. But suggestions that he is at the beginning stage of a rise to dominance in the NBA at the power forward position ignores his relative physical limitations. He will simply never have the reach to be a secondary defensive rim protector.

Offensively

Dario has a nice touch around the rim. He is unlikely to dunk the ball very often and he does get his shot blocked a bit, but if he can get a clean look within 12 feet he is fairly consistent. The issue with Dario right now is a lack of arc on his three point shot (read here for Sixers offseason assignments). He tends to shoot a flat line drive type long range jumper which leaves little or no margin of error and can make him streaky. He ranked 30th among NBA 3-point shooters as a rookie. This is encouraging and there is no reason to believe he cannot improve to an average NBA shooter from three.

Draymond Light

Statistically, Dario matches most closely to Draymond Green on offense. This is an interesting comparison because they are both excellent passers and initiators from the power forward position. Being compared to Draymond Green is quite a compliment. Draymond’s assist percentage is much higher, but lets face it, he was playing with much better shooters.

The issue is that Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid desperately need to be surrounded by shooters but they alone will not stretch the floor. In order for Dario to really compliment those two franchise cornerstones, he will have to become at least a league average shooter from 3.

On The Defensive Side

No one tries harder than Dario Saric on both ends of the floor. You can see by how he relates in defensive metrics that despite his physical limitations, he is not a terrible defender. He most closely equates to Blake Griffin on the defensive side of the ball.

Stats via RealGM

Draymond Green jumps out as an absolute monster defensively in this view. His length and quickness and ability to jump passing lanes and switch onto players bigger and smaller is just world class.

Pure Power Forward

Dario does not have the kind of defensive versatility to really defend anyone other than other power forwards. He lacks the quickness to defend the perimeter. Conversely he lacks the length to defend opposing Centers or protect the rim. Again in the right role he can clearly be an extremely valuable player but there is a huge gulf between good and great.

Dario can become a decent to good defender at the power forward spot. He will likely never be a great defender in Brett Brown’s switch heavy pace and space defensive system.

The return

So this is the key right? We’ve established that in his rookie campaign in the NBA, Dario Saric is already a valuable player. When compared directly to some of the top power forwards in the game, he is not outclassed statistically.

There are teams that would absolutely love to have someone of his vision, heart and hustle. There are teams who have reached their natural ceiling and may be considering starting a rebuild and covet a 23 year old Rookie of the Year finalist.

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I’m not suggesting that the Philadelphia 76ers should give Dario Saric away. He is not Jahlil Okafor, as I believe he brings much more value to the league. What I’m saying is that, if Danny Ainge called and offered the number one pick in the draft for a package that included Dario Saric, I don’t believe Bryan Colangelo should hang up the phone.

When wondering who would replace Dario at the Power Forward position there are a number of options.

Power Forward Options

• Robert Covington — Some say that Covington’s best position is as a small ball stretch 4. I think his defensive versatility and relatively lack of ball handling skills make this perhaps his best fit.
• Ben Simmons (Defensively) — Simmons would guard the opposing power forward thus putting him closer to the basket for defensive rebounds and also to stress the other team on the other end.
• Premium Free Agency — Serge Ibaka, Paul Milsap,
• Bargain Free Agency — Nikola Mirotic,  Ersan Ilyasova
• Richaun Holmes — Holmes has the length and three point potential to fit in a big lineup as a secondary rim protector. May struggle in space defensively.

Next: Dario's Defense Should Keep Him in 6th Man Role

I mean, none of this really matters since hes never coming over anyway…