Brandon Apter (@bapter23), Managing Editor
As the Sixers continue to lose game after game, fans begin to look forward to see what may be in store for this team next season. Jahlil Okafor will have one year under his belt, two years for Nerlens Noel, while Joel Embiid could potentially be in the mix with another high draft pick, hopefully Ben Simmons, along with Croatian forward, Dario Saric.
Saric has just completed the Euroleague regular season with Anadolu Efes. In the finale, Saric scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four assists. The 21-year-old spoke to Slamnroll.com about the Efes win over Olympiacos in the finale, a team they had lost to last year. Efes now moves along to the Top 16 competition in the Euroleague, which begins on December 29th and goes until April 8th.
It makes me happy. It's the second year I am playing in this court, since we played against them here in the previous season with Efes. We had a tough time then and we lost, and since we had also lost in Istanbul, it was important to get a win here. Of course, Olympiacos played without Vassilis Spanoulis, who is one of the best players in Europe for me, Matt Lojeski who is for sure one of the best shooters in Europe and Dimitris Agravanis who gives a lot of energy and helps them in defense. They missed key players. But either way, we knew before the game that we had to play good because we might end in an easier Top 16 Group if we win. We had heard about that and knew what was going on in the two Top 16 Groups. So we gave it all for this win. And when you beat Olympiacos in Piraeus, it makes it easier to play against anybody in Europe right now.
Back on the third of December, Saric's father confirmed through a tweet that his son plans to join the Sixers next season. Shortly afterwards, Liberty Ballers posted an interview with Dario, who said that he plans to join Philadelphia and that their record does not show the strengths the team has. During Saric's chat with Slamnroll.com, his future with the Sixers did come up and he mentioned that he speaks with both Sam Hinkie and Brett Brown regularly.
“I’m always in touch with the people of Philadelphia, I always talk with GM Sam Hinkie and coach Brett Brown,” Saric said. “We talk about a lot of things that have to do with me and the 76ers. Before I was drafted, I promised to Efes that I will come here for two years and of course I promised to Philadelphia that after [this] period of time, I will go to them. It is a certain procedure that I feel I have to pass through."
For all intents and purposes, it seems like Dario Saric has his heart set on joining Philadelphia next season. If he does, he will add even more depth to a Sixers team that will more than likely have a whole different look come the 2016-17 season.
In 21.1 minutes per game for Anadolu Efes, spanning 10 games, Saric averaged 12 points, six rebounds and 1.9 assists. He shot 54.3% from the floor. Saric's stats, per 36 minutes, equal out to 20.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
