The Uncanny Resurgence of Philadelphia 76ers Dario Saric
Dario Saric crawled into his first NBA season for two games. But November 2016 finds Dario Saric on the cusp of a massive resurgence.
He was eagerly anticipated to help the Philadelphia 76ers in long range shooting. As a matter of fact, the team sought his arrival over a long and grueling two year period. When he arrived and stepped foot onto the basketball court as a Philadelphia 76er?
Meh.
He shot 16.7 percent from the floor, and zero percent from long range. He followed that five point performance up with another five point performance. In the second contest, he shot 22.2 percent from the floor, and 33.3 percent from three-point range. For October 2016, he was 19 percent accurate from the floor, and 14 percent accurate from long range.
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And we noticed. So did the Philadelphia 76ers front office. In a rush to stop the struggles at the power forward role, the team traded for Oklahoma City Thunder’s Ersan Ilyasova. Intended to give head coach Brett Brown options in the front court, the move had the curious impact of jump starting Saric’s game.
Suffice to say that as bad as Dario Saric was for two games in October 2016, he has been that good in two games in November 2016. In the month, he’s averaging 17.5 points per game on 51.3 percent accuracy from the floor. He is also shooting a superhuman 71.4 percent accurate on three-point shots this month.
Another way to phrase this? Dario Saric is absolutely relevant in discussions for the NBA KIA-ROY if he can sustain his current two game streak of scoring.
After top draft pick Ben Simmons fell to a foot fracture, the team immediately turned to both Joel Embiid and Dario Saric to pick up the slack. Embiid has done so consistently. Perhaps his active interraction with the team for the past two years acted like an advantage? However you see it, the fact is that Dario Saric needed a couple games to work through the added strain.
Right now, Saric is red hot and scoring. That alone has elevated the team’s average score from 89.5 to 97 points per game. If he stays this productive, other players will find more opportunities to score.
It would be naive to claim that the rookie from Croatia could maintain this level of scoring accuracy all season long. But the hope is that the peaks and valleys will level off soon, placing Saric firmily in the 50 percent accuracy and 14 points per game category.
What the team needs going forward is solid outside shooting. What Dario Saric delivers is solid outside shooting. This is all according to that process we have been trusting for three years. To be completely honest, it feels great when a plan, or process, begins to come together.
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