What if I told you that the biggest upgrade the Phoenix Suns made to their starting lineup did not come at the point guard position. That is thanks to the overlooked acquisition of Dario Saric, what should we expect from him this season?
In the midst of the flurry of moves by the Phoenix Suns made on draft night, and the shock and “Suns gonna Suns” reactions following the selection of Cameron Johnson, the acquisition of Dario Saric was overlooked.
For moving down five slots in the lottery, James Jones was able to add a 25-year-old true power forward under team control.
Saric will step right in as both the best defensive and offensive power forward that Deandre Ayton has been paired with in his young career.
A lot of that is credited to Saric being an actual true power forward unlike T.J. Warren and Kelly Oubre.
While Saric is not quite as young as the other key pieces of the Suns’ roster, he is still young and is a more natural long-term fit on this roster than someone like Kelly Oubre.
Many seem to have also soured on Saric as a player in general because of his poor start last year in Philadelphia before he was traded for Jimmy Butler and moved in and out of the rotation in Minnesota.
However, at only 23-years-old, Saric was in the playoffs averaging 17 points 7 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game against the Heat and Celtics. That is production that we really do not know if we could get from any member of the Phoenix Suns young core outside of Devin Booker and possibly/probably Deandre Ayton.
With all of that said, Dario Saric should obviously be starting for the Phoenix Suns on opening night.
He should also be expected to be right around 30 minutes a game like he was in Philadelphia rather than the 23 that he was playing in Minnesota.
Saric should see an increase in scoring just based on his uptick in minutes and should be more efficient playing as a starter and having an elite play-maker in Ricky Rubio.
I would not expect Saric to be on the floor as much in crunch time except for games against other big teams or in a situation where he is playing small ball center. It is more likely that both of Mikal Bridges and Kelly Oubre are on the floor at the end of games in favor of Saric.
Going into the season I would expect Saric’s stats to fall somewhere in between his averages of his 2017-18 season with Philadelphia and his 2018-19 season with the Timberwolves which would put him between 11 and 14 points a game and 5.5 to 7 rebounds on 45-39-85 shooting splits.
With this increased opportunity, Saric should should re-emerge as the player he was in Philadelphia next season with the Phoenix Suns.