Why Dario Saric will make a great sixth man
After starting 36 games and being a finalist for Rookie of the Year, it might be weird to think of Dario Saric as a Philadelphia 76ers‘ backup — but that might be where he’s best suited.
When the Philadelphia 76ers took Dario Saric with the 12th pick in the 2014 NBA draft, a lot of people hated the move. After drafting a player that was guaranteed to miss the upcoming season due to injury Joel Embiid with the third pick, the Sixers chose to again ignore improving the team for the upcoming season when they drafted a player that was likely to miss two season due to agreeing to a contract with an international team that didn’t have an opt-out until after he completed the second season. Jokes about how Saric would never join the Sixers and people dreaming about how much better the Sixers would’ve been if they just drafted Elfrid Payton or Doug McDermott persisted for two years, but Saric’s play last season silenced most of these haters.
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Averaging 12.8 points, 2.2 assists, and 6.3 rebounds per game, Saric was the second highest scoring rookie behind Joel Embiid, was ranked eighth in assists among rookies, and grabbed enough rebounds per game to be the third highest rookie in that category. While Saric didn’t win Rookie of the Year – despite averaging more points and rebounds per game and only coming two assists per game short than 2016-17 Rookie of the Year winner Malcolm Brogdon‘s 10.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game, proved that the Sixers made the right choice in selecting him. But the Sixers’ best projected starting line for the 2017-18 season is Markelle Fultz at point guard, J.J. Reddick at shooting guard, Robert Covington at small forward, Ben Simmons at power forward, and Joel Embiid at center, making the Saric first player to come off the bench.
Of course, there are many good players that come off the bench and the three best bench players according to the finalist for 2017’s Sixth Man of the Year award Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, and Eric Gordon are the type of players that Saric could realistically mirror from a production standpoint. Williams averaged 17.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. Iguodala averaged 7.6 points, 4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game. And the eventual Sixth Man of the Year award winner Gordon averaged 16.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.
While Saric’s best performances last season came during March when he started 17 games and averaged 18.4 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game, his second best month was February when he only started in four of the 12 games the Sixers played that month and averaged 17 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.
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With Saric playing the majority (45) of games coming off the bench and his stats not taking too big of a hit as a result, he should be the Sixers’ best player coming off the bench and isn’t to far away from from the NBA’s top sixth men.