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Brett Brown is confident Dario Saric will play for the Sixers next season after an assistant coach returned Friday from an eight-day trip to Istanbul.
“Obviously, decisions are going to have to be made on his part, but we like we see and we believe he likes what he sees,” Brown, who described his opinion as a “gut feel,” said before the Sixers' game against the Heat.
Player development assistant Chris Babcock traveled to Europe to spend time with Saric and monitor his workouts. Saric, who was born in Croatia, has been playing overseas since being taken with the 12th pick in 2014. The 6-9 forward is averaging 11.6 points (56.0 percent from the floor, 40.4 percent from three, 92.3 percent from the line) and 5.3 rebounds this season for Anadolu Efes in Turkey.
“[He is a] competitive bull-in-a-china-shop player,” Brown said. “I think the city of Philadelphia is just going to love the physicality of him. I think we all have to be reminded he hasn’t played a second of NBA basketball, as good as I think he might be. But nobody’s ever going to question his heart or his toughness.
“He just comes with a size and a skill package at that big of a position. He could play three-four, four-three, whatever. He can dribble, he can pass, he’s working on his shot. We feel like he’s getting better. That was the report that came back two hours ago.”
Last month, general manager Sam Hinkie said the Sixers have consistent contact with Saric. Hinkie estimated no more than three days go by without someone from the organization reaching out to him.
During this trip, the Sixers’ interest in him was reiterated.
“We continued to stay with him and remind him that he has a bunch of coaches and teammates and friends back here that look very much forward to seeing him as soon as we can,” said Brown.