Dario Saric’s EuroBaksket performance proves he can lead Sixers’ bench

At this year’s EuroBasket tournament, Philadelphia 76ers forward Dario Saric was a major reason why Croatia was one of the best teams in Europe.

Dario Saric and Croatia’s EuroBasket  did not end the way they had hoped, but it was still an impressive performance for the Sixers’ forward.

Croatia headed into the elimination bracket with a 4-1 record and potential to make it to the finals, but a poor effort against Russia in the Round of 16 resulted in their elimination from the tournament.

Through their first five games, the Croatians had two blowout wins, two close victories and one heartbreaking loss to Spain, arguably the best team in Europe.

Saric played at least 32 minutes in each game to this point except in the team’s blowout victory over the Czech Republic, when he logged just 22 minutes. He was impressive overall, averaging 15.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists, including three double-doubles.

Other than his stats, what was most impressive about Saric’s play in Europe is his passing ability. We all saw how good of a passer Saric can be last season, but his court vision is still improving and it’s evident in play like this:

Saric was the leader of the Croatian offense (when they didn’t let Bojan Bogdanovic go one-on-one, nobody knows) and he excelled in that role.

While Saric is expected to be the Sixers’ sixth man this season, he showed in Europe why he is going to be the guy leading the Sixers’ bench unit this season and beyond.

There are plenty of quality NBA players who participated in EuroBasket this year, including New York Knicks and Latvian star Kristaps Prozingis, but a lot of the players are stars in Europe or trying to break into the NBA.

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Saric’s own Croatian squad had just himself, Bogdanovic and Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender as the only players on current NBA rosters.

The 23-year-old forward has been learning how to command an offense and get his team points while working with players that don’t exactly have NBA skill sets.

This experience Saric is gained this summer before he heads to training camp will only give Brett Brown and the Philadelphia 76ers‘ staff more confidence in him to run the second unit.

The one skill that really impresses me about Saric is his ability to push the ball up the floor on the fast break after hauling in a rebound. Here is a prime example of what I mean:

These types of plays are not common among rookie players, but something we saw a lot of with Saric last year.

Another reason Saric will lead the second unit is that he already has plenty of experience playing with the guys that will be coming off the bench with him this season.

As you saw in the video above, Saric made an outstanding one-handed pass to Richaun Holmes, leading to a power slam.

Other players that will come off the bench, Nik Stauskas, T.J. McConnell, Justin Anderson and others, have all logged plenty of minutes on the court with Saric last season.

Brett Brown has made it fairly clear that Saric will be the team’s first man up off the bench this season, and he is ready to thrive in that role.

Saric will be able to play like he did in the last few weeks of the season where he became the focal point of the team, except in reduced minutes and against opposing second units.

Last season, we saw Saric be a force offensively not only scoring at a good rate, but also distributing to his teammates.

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Saric’s performance in Europe only proves that he will still be able to do that for the Sixers and give the team something it hasn’t had in many years –– a second unit that can more than hold its own.