Saric already better than Smart and has a higher ceiling. What pick was he by Philly?
No, he isn't. He's having a hot game, but Smart is far superior on D, and they're both below average on O.
He was #12 overall
I think for this system Saric is a better fit. Call me crazy, but it's true
Another over reaction to a player who has a good game against us but is having a below average season.
This is his first season n the NBA right? You don't see his skills for a player his size?
He's played professionally for years over in Europe... He's not getting any better - this is what you get with him.
What?!?? How does this make sense? So European players don't improve?
No, not when they have that type of background. Look at Mirotic who had a pretty similar context to Saric with his background and age coming into the NBA - he's not getting any better either.
American college players develop for years after coming in because they get older/stronger and they learn the professional game, which is much, much different than college ball. The same can't be said for European players who come here at age 22 and have already been playing professional ball for years.
Mirotic was picked in the same draft as Lamarcus Aldridge. He came into the league at like 25/26 there is no comparison between the two besides that they are both European and they shoot 3s. Saric is a better playmaker, shooter, and for now a better rebounder. He fits today's NBA a lot better as a playmaking 4. Saric is 22. To say that is ridiculous. Yeah Giannis never improved even though he's been playing basketball since he was like 8 at least. Dirk never improved. Europeans don't improve once they get into the NBA.
Good Lord, do you even research stuff before you post? Because absolutely none of this is true.
Mirotic is only 25 RIGHT NOW, and he's been in the league for two years already with this being his third. So he didn't "come into the league at 25/26" since he's not even 26 yet.
He came into the league at 23 and Saric is 22 and will turn 23 during the season, and Mirotic had 5 years of pro basketball experience where Saric had 3.5 years of pro basketball experience. So, yeah, they're very, very comparable.
Further, Giannis only played one year of professional ball before moving over here, and he came over at 18. So, once again, this is not the same situation as Saric. Of course Giannis is going to improve and develop his game, because A) he's still young and in the formative years of professional basketball (evidenced by him growing three inches since being here) and B) he only played one year of professional basketball over there. This is not the type of situation that I was talking about, which is clear to any rational person.
And though not as drastic as the Giannis example, Dirk is largely the same scenario coming over here much younger than those like Saric and Mirotic. Dirk turned 20 days before being drafted in 1998, so he was significantly younger than Saric is now, even though he played pretty much the same amount of professional European ball before the NBA.
So do research before posting and don't misrepresent my argument. All I'm saying is that generally European players like Saric who come over as older rookies who are A) significantly older than the average American rookie and B) already significantly experienced in professional basketball do not develop very much once coming over. They're pretty close to finished projects as they are, because they're not really going to get any bigger/stronger/more athletic and they've already developed their basketball skills in the professional arena.
That's not a controversial argument whatsoever.