Dario Saric deserves discussion as champion caliber component

2014 two-year redshirted players

The Philadelphia 76ers had the presence of mind in that 2014 NBA Draft to work the entire board. Which was awfully hard to do, considering the team had just selected Joel Embiid with the third pick of the 2014 NBA Draft. Embiid and Saric were two top-ten players on the Philadelphia 76ers draft board. But knowing how eager the Magic sat in hopes to get Payton, the team converted Payton into Saric and multiple picks. Quite a coup.

But that draft was not the only common thread between Embiid and Saric.  Both players did not make their NBA debut for two years. Their debut in 2016 coincided with the team drafting Ben Simmons. If not for Simmons foot injury, that would have been a memorable season.

Saric solos season

As it turned out, Simmons sat out the entire season. Embiid injured his knee and shut down after 31 games. Dario Saric continued to play,  He ended the season with 12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists on 41.1 percent shooting from the floor.

Saric played 81 games but only started 36.  The team realized how shallow their roster was at power forward, traded for Ersan Ilyasova to absorb starts and let Saric acclimate to NBA basketball. The experiment worked so well that the team traded Ilyasova to the Atlanta Hawks at the 2017 Trade Deadline and handed the keys over to Saric to end out the season as the starter. He responded by averaging 17.0 points in February, and 18.4 points in March.