Winter is Here: Welcome Dario Saric

[Ericb5]

The thing with his passing is that he largely didn't show his passing and ball handling skills very much in the first half of the season last year.

He was really struggling for stretches and I think that his floor game was put on the shelf until he could figure out the basics. By the end of the year he was starting to show it more.

People seem to forget that he was a rookie last year, and if you watched every game you saw how he was basically a non factor in many of them in the first half of the season. He kept getting into ruts.

So trying to extrapolate his stats going forward when he was so inconsistent is problematic. He isn't a 25% shooter, but he had lots of games where he was last year.

I expect the ruts to be shallower and less frequent going forward and that means that his percentages will even out. He is very capable of being a shot maker both from deep and driving to the rim.

Plus he will be playing most of his minutes against backups so the defensive assignments where he was really outclassed by people like Harden and Melo aren't going to be as problematic.



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[Kirk Van Houten]

18 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks against Spain. Hit 4 clutch free throws to cut lead to 1 in final minute.

Pretty versatile looking game there.


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[Stribor]

And for the big stretches of the game he was actually playing small center against Gasol ...

[Unbreakable99]

And for the big stretches of the game he was actually playing small center against Gasol ...

Which Gasol?

[agiaco]

You can break every little thing down but I still would say he's versatile. He's only going to get better. Anyone who watches him can see he's a skilled and versatile player regardless of stats in his rookie year on a terrible team. Efficiency will improve when he's not the number one option for a stretch. Literally was our best guy playing for a while toward the end last season.

Your first sentence reads like: "You've provided a lot of evidence but I'm going to ignore it all and stick with my initial beliefs without providing any evidence to support them." You can't just discard an entire year's worth of information because the team was bad.

Did the definition of the word versatile change recently and I'm unaware? A quick google search shows that this is the definition:

"able to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities"

What are the many different functions that Saric adapts to? Certainly nothing on the defensive end.

His efficiency was awful when he wasn't the number one option for the first 3-4 months of the season. He probably gets better, but he's already 23 and has years of experience playing professional ball. If people want to use the argument that a 22 year old that played in Europe for years should be significantly more pro-ready than a kid out of college, it stands to reason that one would expect significantly less improvement than a 19 year old coming out of college.

He wasn't the best guy playing toward the end of the season. Covington was undoubtedly better. No one else was particularly great.

You need take to account that his first half of a season was him adjusting, that is normal, especially for euro guys. You can't judge a guy based on only 1 season and just by looking at the stats. Lot of scouts go with the eye test when it comes to first and second season.


You can argue that he was 22 in the rookie season but also you need to understand that he is euro guy who played in a different system with different type of basketball his whole career.

Also his stats after allstar game were a lot better (total and percentage wise), and his final totals were ok (percentages no so, i agree).

Thanks for sharing that since I was too busy ignoring to stick with my initial beliefs. One season does not tell a full story. Yes he's certainly not a great defender, but to say he's not versatile on offense is silly. Sounds like some stubbornness to not simply acknowledge that a big man has a unique, versatile skill set (not you of course Ziggy). Not to mention his high character being such a team player adds value to the mix. But to each their own. Looking forward to watching our one-dimensional sixth man this year!

[LloydFree]

Power Forwards who don't protect the basket, can't defend either forward spot, or hit 3 pointers, provide little value. Saric is a good passer and smart player, who gets something out of his limited talent, but Saric is just a guy. Its cool to like players on the team, but I don't understand assigning 'make-believe' value to the player.

[76thBearCub]

The thing with his passing is that he largely didn't show his passing and ball handling skills very much in the first half of the season last year.

He was really struggling for stretches and I think that his floor game was put on the shelf until he could figure out the basics. By the end of the year he was starting to show it more.

People seem to forget that he was a rookie last year, and if you watched every game you saw how he was basically a non factor in many of them in the first half of the season. He kept getting into ruts.

So trying to extrapolate his stats going forward when he was so inconsistent is problematic. He isn't a 25% shooter, but he had lots of games where he was last year.

I expect the ruts to be shallower and less frequent going forward and that means that his percentages will even out. He is very capable of being a shot maker both from deep and driving to the rim.

Plus he will be playing most of his minutes against backups so the defensive assignments where he was really outclassed by people like Harden and Melo aren't going to be as problematic.



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I think Dario has special traits that don't show up on advanced stat sheets. Math misses the human operating the machine some times.

Hinkie clearly saw something different in him, doesn't fit his drafting style at all.

[Sixerscan]

He was completely awful the first half of last year. He got better as the year went along. Believe most models would track that.

[ziggy77]

Power Forwards who don't protect the basket, can't defend either forward spot, or hit 3 pointers, provide little value. Saric is a good passer and smart player, who gets something out of his limited talent, but Saric is just a guy. Its cool to like players on the team, but I don't understand assigning 'make-believe' value to the player.

Simmons?

[LloydFree]

Power Forwards who don't protect the basket, can't defend either forward spot, or hit 3 pointers, provide little value. Saric is a good passer and smart player, who gets something out of his limited talent, but Saric is just a guy. Its cool to like players on the team, but I don't understand assigning 'make-believe' value to the player.

Simmons?

It's yet to be determined if Simmons can't guard anybody. But considering Simmons is a better athlete than a large percentage of the league (and not running in mud like Saric) I'd say he's likely to be a credible defender.

[ziggy77]

Power Forwards who don't protect the basket, can't defend either forward spot, or hit 3 pointers, provide little value. Saric is a good passer and smart player, who gets something out of his limited talent, but Saric is just a guy. Its cool to like players on the team, but I don't understand assigning 'make-believe' value to the player.

Simmons?

It's yet to be determined if Simmons can't guard anybody. But considering Simmons is a better athlete than a large percentage of the league (and not running in mud like Saric) I'd say he's likely to be a credible defender.

Being an athlete does not guarantee good or great overall defence.

Im gonna go with your logic here. If we are gonna go with modern definitions of each position at offense. Saric is more suited to be a standard PF then Simmons is. You don't understand how bad it is to have your PF without 3pt shot in todays game. It's spacing killer, especially if you have post dominant player like Embiid.

You remember how much Embiid praised İlyasova and how Colangelo even said that they need another stretch 4 down the line.

Im not saying that Saric is better player but you started with the some lame definitions of what PF should be.

Both of them are unique players that bring advantages and unusual skills to their positions.

[Chris76]

Simmons?

It's yet to be determined if Simmons can't guard anybody. But considering Simmons is a better athlete than a large percentage of the league (and not running in mud like Saric) I'd say he's likely to be a credible defender.

Being an athlete does not guarantee good or great overall defence.

Im gonna go with your logic here. If we are gonna go with modern definitions of each position at offense. Saric is more suited to be a standard PF then Simmons is. You don't understand how bad it is to have your PF without 3pt shot in todays game. It's spacing killer, especially if you have post dominant player like Embiid.

You remember how much Embiid praised İlyasova and how Colangelo even said that they need another stretch 4 down the line.

Im not saying that Saric is better player but you started with the some lame definitions of what PF should be.

Both of them are unique players that bring advantages and unusual skills to their positions.

Jonathon Isaac would be a good stretch PF, however, I can't see Orlando trading him. A rim protecting and 3pt shooting mobile PF.

Simmons, Saric, and Holmes should be a good group of PFs, not perfect but sufficient.

[LloydFree]

Simmons?

It's yet to be determined if Simmons can't guard anybody. But considering Simmons is a better athlete than a large percentage of the league (and not running in mud like Saric) I'd say he's likely to be a credible defender.

Being an athlete does not guarantee good or great overall defence.

Im gonna go with your logic here. If we are gonna go with modern definitions of each position at offense. Saric is more suited to be a standard PF then Simmons is. You don't understand how bad it is to have your PF without 3pt shot in todays game. It's spacing killer, especially if you have post dominant player like Embiid.

You remember how much Embiid praised İlyasova and how Colangelo even said that they need another stretch 4 down the line.

Im not saying that Saric is better player but you started with the some lame definitions of what PF should be.

Both of them are unique players that bring advantages and unusual skills to their positions.

Saric is a good passer and a smart player, who gets something out of his limited talent. Good enough for an NBA bench player and in select matchups.

[Ericb5]

Power Forwards who don't protect the basket, can't defend either forward spot, or hit 3 pointers, provide little value. Saric is a good passer and smart player, who gets something out of his limited talent, but Saric is just a guy. Its cool to like players on the team, but I don't understand assigning 'make-believe' value to the player.

The argument is that he WILL hit 3's. He hit plenty of them last year, and I expect him to hit more, as he transitions more to that being his role.

I think it is fairly obvious that if he never shoots better than 31% from 3 that he won't be a valuable player for us.

[thenbaman]

WOW.

[ziggy77]

It's yet to be determined if Simmons can't guard anybody. But considering Simmons is a better athlete than a large percentage of the league (and not running in mud like Saric) I'd say he's likely to be a credible defender.

Being an athlete does not guarantee good or great overall defence.

Im gonna go with your logic here. If we are gonna go with modern definitions of each position at offense. Saric is more suited to be a standard PF then Simmons is. You don't understand how bad it is to have your PF without 3pt shot in todays game. It's spacing killer, especially if you have post dominant player like Embiid.

You remember how much Embiid praised İlyasova and how Colangelo even said that they need another stretch 4 down the line.

Im not saying that Saric is better player but you started with the some lame definitions of what PF should be.

Both of them are unique players that bring advantages and unusual skills to their positions.

Saric is a good passer and a smart player, who gets something out of his limited talent. Good enough for an NBA bench player and in select matchups.

So you are going with "im going to keep repeating same thing until it becomes true", can't beat that strategy, so i'm out....

[LloydFree]

The thing with his passing is that he largely didn't show his passing and ball handling skills very much in the first half of the season last year.

He was really struggling for stretches and I think that his floor game was put on the shelf until he could figure out the basics. By the end of the year he was starting to show it more.

People seem to forget that he was a rookie last year, and if you watched every game you saw how he was basically a non factor in many of them in the first half of the season. He kept getting into ruts.

So trying to extrapolate his stats going forward when he was so inconsistent is problematic. He isn't a 25% shooter, but he had lots of games where he was last year.

I expect the ruts to be shallower and less frequent going forward and that means that his percentages will even out. He is very capable of being a shot maker both from deep and driving to the rim.

Plus he will be playing most of his minutes against backups so the defensive assignments where he was really outclassed by people like Harden and Melo aren't going to be as problematic.



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I think Dario has special traits that don't show up on advanced stat sheets. Math misses the human operating the machine some times.

Hinkie clearly saw something different in him, doesn't fit his drafting style at all.

Saric did fit Hinkies' drafting style. Nearly every Hinkie draft pick had high Rebound, high assist and/or high blocks/steals per minute before entering the NBA. Saric had the high Rebounds and assists in his league. The only player Hinkie drafted who didn't really fall into those categories was Okafor. But Saric absolutely fit his statistical model.

[Chris76]

The thing with his passing is that he largely didn't show his passing and ball handling skills very much in the first half of the season last year.

He was really struggling for stretches and I think that his floor game was put on the shelf until he could figure out the basics. By the end of the year he was starting to show it more.

People seem to forget that he was a rookie last year, and if you watched every game you saw how he was basically a non factor in many of them in the first half of the season. He kept getting into ruts.

So trying to extrapolate his stats going forward when he was so inconsistent is problematic. He isn't a 25% shooter, but he had lots of games where he was last year.

I expect the ruts to be shallower and less frequent going forward and that means that his percentages will even out. He is very capable of being a shot maker both from deep and driving to the rim.

Plus he will be playing most of his minutes against backups so the defensive assignments where he was really outclassed by people like Harden and Melo aren't going to be as problematic.



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I think Dario has special traits that don't show up on advanced stat sheets. Math misses the human operating the machine some times.

Hinkie clearly saw something different in him, doesn't fit his drafting style at all.

Saric did fit Hinkies' drafting style. Nearly every Hinkie draft pick had high Rebound, high assist and/or high blocks/steals per minute before entering the NBA. Saric had the high Rebounds and assists in his league. The only player Hinkie drafted who didn't really fall into those categories was Okafor. But Saric absolutely fit his statistical model.

Hinkie drafted Embiid + Saric knowing they wouldn't play for a year or two. This increased the odds of getting a very good draft pick, which worked perfectly.

Hinkie liked prospects that were tall, long wingspan, or exceptional in a specific category. Saric was an exception, he really doesn't fit into that description, except for his elite hustle.

Noel, Holmes, Jerami Grant, Jakarr (6'9 defensive PG), and Embiid were more typical of Hinkie's prospects. The 1st Furkan was the best rebounder in Europe, unfortunately, he didn't translate to the NBA too well.

[rzzzzz]

Hinkie liked prospects that were tall, long wingspan, or exceptional in a specific category. Saric was an exception, he really doesn't fit into that description, except for his elite hustle.

Hinkie spent a lot of time flying over the pond to scout Saric, from when he was a 15 yo phenom (while Sam was still in Houston). Heck, he even flew Noel, Joel and MCW over that summer of '14 just to hook up with Dario while he was playing in a tournament. and he tried pretty hard to negotiate with his Turkish team to get him over a year early. I got no doubt that Sam was surprised when the Lakers picked Russell, and probably took Okafor less enthusiastically as near term insurance and long term trade fodder. but Saric was definitely someone he had plans for.

[76thBearCub]

Hinkie clearly saw something different in him, doesn't fit his drafting style at all.

Saric did fit Hinkies' drafting style. Nearly every Hinkie draft pick had high Rebound, high assist and/or high blocks/steals per minute before entering the NBA. Saric had the high Rebounds and assists in his league. The only player Hinkie drafted who didn't really fall into those categories was Okafor. But Saric absolutely fit his statistical model.

I see that what your saying. I wasn't specific enough. I was thinking in terms of physical profile.