Dario Saric is averaging 20/7/4 in the month of March on 47% from the field and 39% from three. Do those numbers remind you of another recent rookie’s March domination? The rookie in question is similar to Dario in more ways than just numbers. If you filter out all unnecessary thoughts, you will find that the memory is waiting for you, crystal-clear and easily accessible. Did you figure it out yet?
It’s Nikola Mirotic! In March of his rookie year, Mirotic averaged 20/7/2, albeit on worse percentages than what Saric is doing right now. That was the high point of Mirotic’s career up to this point and it was enough to put him strongly in the ROTY of the year discussion. Wiggins ended up winning the thing but Mirotic definitely turned some heads with his strong play after a slow start.
Saric’s case is a little bit different. There are no other players waiting to steal his ROTY of the year award, unless Joel Embiid is only pretending to be hurt to catch Dario off his guard. There’s also nobody really waiting to steal his minutes, while Mirotic had to fend off Taj Gibson on a fifty-win Bulls team.
What I’m saying is we can just give the damn award to Saric already since he played a huge part in the 76ers almost beating the slumping Warriors. That’s what I’m trying to say in my verbose, roundabout way.