Dario Saric thriving in shadows of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons

On Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers trailed the Miami Heat by 24 points early in the third quarter and seemed poised for a letdown night with Joel Embiid sitting to rest a sore ankle. Instead of laying down, the 76ers slowly clawed back into the game by ratcheting up their defensive efforts. Those efforts, along with complete and utter domination on the boards and some timely shooting in the fourth, turned a 24-deficit into a two-point victory at the Wells Fargo Center.

Skim the liner notes from any dispatch from the night, and a few heroes emerge. Ben Simmons recorded his sixth triple-double of the season. Marco Belinelli came off the bench to score 17 points in his first game as a Sixer, including a stretch where he scored nine consecutive points for the team in the fourth. Trevor Booker had nine rebounds off the bench and played like every loose ball belonged to him and only him for the entire second half.

However, it was Dario Saric’s third-quarter performance that sparked the comeback and ultimately put the 76ers in position to win the game in the fourth. The Croatian kicked off the second half by cutting the Heat lead to 20 in the 76ers' first possession and ended the quarter with 14 points, a pair of rebounds and an assist while playing fantastic on the defensive end of the floor. Saric was relentless in his efforts to get to the rim, leading to early foul trouble for Miami and him getting to the free throw line six times in the quarter. Saric wasn’t perfect, but without him, the 76ers lose at home to a struggling Heat team playing the second of a back-to-back on the road — and this is essentially the purgatory that Saric has existed in all season.

When you play alongside Embiid and Simmons, it’s hard to find yourself in the lede of any story, much less the headlines. Yet Saric, once again, is having an excellent season for someone so early in his NBA career. After Embiid went down with injury last season, Saric was the focal point of the offense and made a late push for the Rookie of the Year Award by averaging 17-7-3 after the All-Star break. This year, with both Simmons and Embiid receiving the brunt of the touches, his per-game and per-100 possessions numbers are nearly identical to what they were in his rookie year despite a huge dive in his usage rate. Saric is more efficient, shooting better and contributing more to wins despite being the third or fourth option on any given night.

For Philadelphia, Saric, more than Embiid and Simmons, is the reason "The Process" is finally starting to pan out. When you acquire the number of high lottery picks that Philly did, it’s easy to point to the superstars and say, “Yes, it was all worth it.” But when you get into the losses of Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor and what’s happening with Markelle Fultz, it gives you a greater appreciation for the lone role player who allows Embiid and Simmons to thrive. He does many of the little things while filling whatever role needed on the nights that either of the young stars sit.

For Saric, though, he’s kind of lost in the noise, almost forgotten. Look no further than the way Wednesday night’s game was reported. Saric isn’t mentioned until the third paragraph in ESPN’s game summary. He isn’t mentioned at all in the Miami Herald's recap and not until the 10th paragraph at the Sun Sentinel. The Philly Inquirer doesn’t mention Saric in its recap, and on the 76ers' own team recap, we read more than 470 words before Saric’s name is mentioned — this despite the fact he led Philadelphia with 19 points on the night.

It’s not a huge deal that his presence almost ceases to exist when people write about the 76ers, but it creates a false sense of the identity of this team. Simmons and Embiid are very much the current providing the light for Philly’s bright future, but Saric is the biggest part of a circuit creating the path for the team’s two budding stars. Even if you’re not a believer in Saric’s importance to the team, watching him at his best is one of the most fun experiences the NBA has to offer right now. Just watch the kid pass: