Saric has his first off night in 76ers exhibition loss
CLEVELAND - Dario Saric signed with the 76ers three months ago. At the time, the belief was that they had locked up a role-playing reserve power forward.
CLEVELAND - Dario Saric signed with the 76ers three months ago. At the time, the belief was that they had locked up a role-playing reserve power forward.
Fast-forward to the present, and the Croatian has been one of the most productive Sixers in the preseason.
He experienced his first growing pains Saturday night in a 108-105 preseason loss to the Cavaliers in which Richaun Holmes led the team with 19 points. The 6-foot-10, 248-pound Saric finished with four points on 1-of-7 shooting while finishing with three rebounds, two assists, and one turnover in 18 minutes, 12 seconds.
"It's hard to learn everything on one move," Saric said of being matched up against Kevin Love and LeBron James. "To see how the all-star people play and one of the best in the history of the NBA, for me it's big to play against them. But it was such an experience to see how [James] plays easy and how they became a championship team."
Meanwhile, Joel Embiid had his best performance, finishing with 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting. The rookie center also had four rebounds, one block, and two turnovers in 13:23.
It didn't take long for the 7-2, 276-pounder to get involved. He scored the game's first points on a powerful one-handed dunk 38 seconds in. Embiid scored six of the Sixers' first eight points. He also made his first three-pointer of the preseason.
Embiid also had a hustle play late in the second quarter. He missed a seven-foot turnaround jumper, but he outhustled two Cavaliers for the rebound and scored on a layup.
"I felt more comfortable tonight," said Embiid, who made a more conscious effort to play in the post. "I'm still thinking that I should have been the number one pick. They didn't pick me. So that had something to do with it.
"Plus, I wasn't stressed. I was free to play my game."
The Cavaliers (2-0) selected Andrew Wiggins first overall in the 2014 NBA draft. Embiid slid to third to the Sixers because of his foot injury. He had two surgeries on his right foot that forced him to miss the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Sixers reserve point guard Sergio Rodriguez finished with 15 points, eight assists, and no turnovers. Richaun Holmes led the team with 19 points, while former Sixer Jordan McRae had a game-high 20 points for the Cavs.
Saric's sluggish performance came after he combined to make 4 of 6 three-pointers and shot 9 for 13 (69.3 percent) in the first two preseason games.
Not bad, considering the Sixers (1-2) questioned whether Saric had the range to shoot behind the NBA three-point line, which is 23.75 feet from the basket at the top of the key, as opposed to 22.15 feet in Europe.
The 22-year-old played professionally in Europe since 2009. He always had solid shooting mechanics. Saric, however, was more of a long two-point shooter.
"Right from the get-go [of training camp], I feel like that was the easiest for me to say his shot and the range of his shot has been better, even in practice," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "Forget the games. The games translated into what we saw in practices. Skill-wise, I think that he's been a surprise."
The Sixers acquired Saric during the 2014 draft. But he was obligated to spend the last two seasons with Anadolu Efes of the Turkish league.
At the time, Saric was concerned about being mentally and physically prepared for the NBA. He wasn't prepared to leave his family in Croatia. At 230 pounds, Saric also believed he lacked the strength needed to excel in the NBA. So he has added 18 pounds of muscle.
"But now I'm ready to play here against the best players in the world," Saric said. "Like the game, you know, I improved a lot of my shot. I improved the strength, my body."
There's no denying that Saric is taking advantage of the starting position created once Ben Simmons suffered a fracture in his right foot on Sept. 30. Simmons is expected to be sidelined about three months.
Saric has been able to get open looks while Embiid has drawn double-teams. That has enabled him to knock down three-pointers and score easy baskets at the rim. And he hasn't been intimidated by the skills of NBA players.
He said that's a result of playing against the world's best players in the Rio Olympics, the 2014 FIBA World Cup, EuroBasket 2015, and in Euroleague games.
Saric, however, is still an NBA rookie who is going to make mistakes.
"I'll probably be nervous at some point of the season," he said. "But right now I feel like I got some experience behind me. It makes it easy to play."
Jahlil Okafor (right knee soreness), Jerryd Bayless (left wrist soreness), Nik Stauskas (left hamstring strain), Nerlens Noel (left groin strain), Brandon Paul (right oblique muscle contusion) and Cat Barber (right wrist, hand soreness) joined Simmons as Sixers who missed the game because of injury.
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