Bryan Colangelo uncertain about Dario Saric joining Sixers next season

Philly's president is "somewhat neutral" on whether or not the Croatian big man will sign this summer

By James Herbert

Jun 14, 2016 at 2:22 pm ET • 1 min read

A couple of months ago, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Dario Saric would join the Philadelphia 76ers this summer. Back in March, Sixers coach Brett Brown told reporters that he was confident Saric, who plays for Anadolu Efes in Turkey, wanted to be in the NBA and his gut told him that the No. 12 pick in the 2014 draft would be on the roster sooner rather than later. Now that the offseason is here, though, Philadelphia president Bryan Colangelo sounds uncertain.

Colangelo told NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper last Friday that "the timing of him coming to the NBA is still in question" and, while he thinks both sides want to get a deal done, he won't really know what will happen for a few weeks. In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey on Monday, Colangelo tried to clarify his comments:

"It wasn't pessimistic. It wasn't optimistic," he said. "It was somewhat neutral as to whether or not I felt he would be coming over. I still feel that way.
"I'd like to think our objectives are aligned. What we would like to do is get him in to play for us next year."

From the Sixers' perspective, signing the 22-year-old Saric this offseason is an ideal scenario. They want to start winning games, and adding talent can only help there. More importantly, bringing him over now would mean that he signs a rookie-scale contract. And that's where things get tricky.

From Saric's perspective, coming to Philadelphia now probably means sacrificing millions of dollars. With the rising salary cap, rookie contracts are even more favorable to teams than they were before. If money is his main issue, it makes more sense for him to keep playing in Turkey for another year.

Until recently, Sixers fans were under the impression that Saric had already made his mind up. Colangelo's comments, even with the clarification, can only be seen as disappointing. Maybe Saric will still elect to sign with Philadelphia, but maybe he is concerned that there isn't room for him to be a playmaking 4 if it drafts Ben Simmons with the No. 1 overall pick. Maybe he just wants to make as much money as possible. Both concerns are reasonable.