By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia 76ers got some bad news on Friday, learning that Ben Simmons would miss time due to a fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot. If Simmons has surgery, the normal recovery time for that sort of injury is eight weeks with the best case scenario being six weeks.
With Simmons on the mend, this opens the door for a pair of players that have plenty to prove at the NBA level in Dario Saric and Richaun Holmes. Saric is heading into his first NBA season after spending the last two years in the Euroleague, playing for Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketball Super League. The 22-year-old forward participated in this year’s Olympics in Rio, averaging 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for his native Croatia before traveling to the states and joining the Sixers for training camp this past week at Stockton University. The Sixers acquired the rights to Saric in a 2013 draft night trade with the Magic that send Elfrid Payton to Orlando.
“I need more time to get everything,” Saric told Brian Seltzer of Sixers.com. “I think I did ok [in] my first training camp in life in NBA. I’m happy, happy how I did. I think I’ll be a little bit more step by step every day.”
“I think this is just the beginning. We have around 20 days before the season starts, some exhibition game before season, and I think everything is set-up before this first game.”
Meanwhile, Richaun Holmes is sometimes lost in the Sixers big man logjam, but with him being more of a natural four, he could get some more playing time with Simmons’ absence. Holmes averaged 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds in six Summer League games for the Sixers after averaging 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in his first NBA season. Not only can Holmes offer a better offensive upside to a guy like Nerlens Noel, he also has explosiveness to the basket along with similar defense and rim protection skills. During Bryan Colangelo’s press conference on media day, he mentioned Holmes as one of the team’s promising centers, so it’s clear that the Sixers see something in the second-year forward.
How this all shakes up with Simmons now out for a bit is yet to be determined, but it should be a good opportunity for both Saric and Holmes to show their talents for an an extended period of game time when the season kicks off at the end of October.
