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Recapping Dario Saric’s Performance Against Greece in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament Semifinal in Turin

Adrian Fedkiw|

The Dario Saric phenomena is in full swing.

Saric was greeted by several fans at the Philadelphia airport upon his arrival Thursday and the Croatian officially became a Sixer on Friday. Let’s find out what the fuss is all about in another recap of his recent Olympic Qualifying Tournament where the 22-year-old was named MVP.

Saric had 16 points and eight rebounds as Croatia held off Greece 66-61 in the OQT semifinals in Turin.

The Greeks had a couple NBA players on their roster. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the most recognizable name, with Nick Calathes and Kostas Koufos the others. Koufos has played for several NBA teams and is currently on the Sacremento Kings, while Calathes had a two-year stint with the Memphis Grizzlies, but is currently playing his professional basketball in Greece.

Croatia built a 24-point cushion in the first half before Greece stormed back and took a lead at one point in the third quarter, but the Croatians were able to hold off the Greeks in the final frame.

Let’s take a look at what Saric did.

I referenced in the last recap of Saric’s slow feet limiting him defensively. That was a problem against Italy in the final when he had to guard a pair of stretch forwards in Danilo Gallinari and Andrea Bargnani. His post defense, however, is a bit better. His slow feet are still noticeable, but he holds his ground and always keeps his hands up. He did a solid job against Koufos in this instance.

Here’s an example of Saric keeping his hands up and forcing Ioannis Bourousis to shoot the hook shot over top of him.

And as for what I was describing about his perimeter defense, Antekounmpo went around Saric fairly easily on this left wing drive to the basket, but the Greek Freak was unable to finish the layup.

The Greeks attempted to press Croatia to no avail. The calm and composed Saric used his size to throw a pass over top of it, which led to a wide open left wing 3 by Krunoslav Simon.

Saric, using his ball handling skills, lulls his defender to sleep along the right wing and pulls up for the jumper.

Here’s Saric using his basketball IQ and movement skills away from the ball to find the open space on the floor and knock down the baseline jumper.

Another example of Saric’s prowess working away from ball, gets a good screen and hits the wide open jumper.

Here’s the ball handling of Saric again, bulling his way down the lane for the layup plus the foul. He kept the ball at his waist with both hands on it like a running back to avoid being stripped.

Saric with a nifty left elbow kickout pass to Simon, who can’t knock down the right wing triple.

Saric didn’t show much proficiency in his post game during Croatia’s win against Italy and his first post touch didn’t come until the latter stages of the third quarter in this one. He wound up hitting a ridiculous fadeaway from the left baseline, but it was a struggle creating separation.

Here’s a lovely backdoor cut by Saric down the lane, but he doesn’t have the athleticism to finish at the rim against the Greek Freak, who blocked the attempted layup.

This was the best I’ve seen from Saric in the post. He backed his man down from the right wing, then connected on a beautiful fadeaway in the paint plus the foul.

We just saw the best, here was the worst. He turned the ball over a ton on his backdowns against Italy and did the same here along the right wing.

Of the two games I’ve watched, some of Saric’s strengths and weaknesses are coming into focus. His ball handling, movement away from the ball, mid-range game and rebounding ability are all very solid. He’s struggled with his post game and perimeter defense.

You can see the fundamental skills and versatility, which will make for a great addition to the Sixers.

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