The third key first-year player, Dario Saric, probably was going to get eased into his initial NBA season more so than the other two. That was the plan, at least, for the Croat, who spent the last two seasons playing in the Turkish league after being acquired on draft night in 2014 by the Sixers. Now, with Simmons out, Jahlil Okafor being eased back from a knee injury and Nerlens Noel sidelined indefinitely with a strained groin, Saric suddenly is a bigger ingredient than Brown had initially planned.
"I think that Dario, under normal circumstances, could feel his way a little bit more comfortably," said Brown. "Yes, he has been thrown into the fire. But I bet at the end of the year we will all look back and think that this situation has helped him more than hurt him.
la la lalala.... music for my ears...