Skip to content
Sixers
Link copied to clipboard

Dario Saric is rewarding Sixers' faith

CHICAGO - This is the reason the 76ers traded point guard Elfrid Payton to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Dario Saric, a future protected first-round pick, and a future second-rounder shortly after selecting Payton with the 10th pick of the 2014 NBA draft.

CHICAGO - This is the reason the 76ers traded point guard Elfrid Payton to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Dario Saric, a future protected first-round pick, and a future second-rounder shortly after selecting Payton with the 10th pick of the 2014 NBA draft.

This is the reason they went with the Croatian power forward rather than a much-needed shooting guard or small forward with a knack for knocking down three-pointers.

This is the reason the Sixers acquired Saric on that night knowing that he would spend the following two seasons with Andolu Efes of the Turkish league.

It's all because of this version of Dario Saric. The Saric we've seen in February and March could be a hint of what's to come in the long term as opposed to just a hot streak.

After adjusting to the NBA game, Saric is living up to all the hype that came with his draft-day acquisition.

"He is able to figure out the NBA quicker than I had thought," coach Brett Brown said. "We all guessed his skill set was going to be pretty good in his first year."

The Sixers thought Saric was a good shooter. Brown said he's a little bit better than they thought.

They thought he was a pretty good passer. Brown believes he's a lot better than expected.

They thought he would be "ground-bound" and slow. He's just fine.

They wondered how he was going to deal with the NBA rules, an 82-game schedule, and the league's elite athletes.

"The 22-year-old has emerged as the front-runner to win the rookie of the year award, with teammate Joel Embiid out for the rest of the season.

He had scored in double figures in 22 straight games. It is the longest streak by a rookie this season.

Saric joined Clarence Weatherspoon (41 games in 1992-93) and Allen Iverson (32 and 26 games in 1996-97) as the only Sixers rookies with double-figure scoring streaks of at least 19 games.

He led all qualified rookies in points per game (12.8) and free-throw percentage (78.5) heading into Saturday night's games. He was second in rebounds per game (6.3), field-goal percentage (41.8), and minutes per game (26.1). A player must participate in 70 percent of his team's games in order to qualify. Saric is the only Sixer to play in all 71 games.

Those stats don't really show how dominant he has been dating back to Feb. 6. He has averaged 19.6 points over that time. He finished with a career-high 32 points in Friday's win over the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.

Saric's previous career-high of 29 points came in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center on March 12. That was two games after he had 28 points in a loss to the Suns in Phoenix. And 11 of his 13 20-or-more-point scoring performances came in the last 22 games.

A lot of that had to do with his becoming the focal point of the Sixers with Embiid sidelined.

"I don't want to say that I expected it to be harder than it is," Saric said. "It's like hard, hard work. But I know I had a big adjustment, a long-term adjustment for everything."

While he's a rookie in the NBA, Saric is no newcomer to professional basketball. He has been playing professionally since 2009. His father, Predrag, also had a solid professional career back in his native country.

His father instilled in him a work ethic that has served him well during his first NBA season. Saric has also had to deal with the hype and pressure that come with being one of Croatia's top young players while he was growing. So it can be argued he was conditioned to do the things he's doing now.

Just don't talk to him about being the front-runner for rookie of the year.

"I don't think about it," Saric said. "I think if I start thinking about that, I'd start to put pressure on myself. And I'd say I need to jump [higher]. I need to get better stats to take rookie of year.

"So I just put that to the side. I focus every game on trying to play good."

Saric realized that he could compete in the NBA earlier in the season during several of the games when his shot wasn't falling.

His father instructed him to make an impact on the game with hustle plays on off-shooting nights. Saric did that in those matchups.

"Everybody is a little bit more athletic than me here," he said. "But I saw that I can do it. I can maybe have more [tricks] in my pocket."

So Saric started to use more pump fakes.

"I said when I start to shoot well, I can play easy," he said. "I can do good things here in the NBA."

kpompey@phillynews.com

@PompeyOnSixers

www.philly.com/sixersblog