Last night in Orlando, the Homie had his best game of the season. Scoring 24 points on 8-15 shooting (including 3-5 from three, and a slim-margin-of-error layup in the final minute to give the Philadelphia 76ers the lead) with eight rebounds, three steals, and zero turnovers, Dario Saric was absolutely brilliant, the kind of versatile, whirling-dervish frontcourt player we hoped we were waiting for as he took two years to come from Croatia. Though the game will likely be better-remembered for T.J. McConnell's game-winning jumper -- his second this season, and seemingly more than the Sixers have had the last three years combined -- Dario was the biggest reason we broke our five-game losing streak, beating the Magic 112-111.
After his second great game in a row -- Saric had 20 on 8-11 FG against San Antonio just the night before -- it's worth asking if Dario Saric might be the current second chair for Rookie of the Year honors. He's second in scoring among rookies with his 10.3 points a game, third in rebounds with 5.6 and fourth in overall minutes played with 1278. He ranked third in USA Today's latest rookie ranking earlier this week, and might easily vault to second after last night, especially if current No. 2 Malcolm Brogdon's play (nine points and five assists on 43% shooting over the last seven Milwaukee Bucks games, losing six of seven) keeps sagging.
Of course, this is all totally moot for the overall Rookie of the Year discussion if Joel Embiid comes back soon -- he's No. 1 in virtually every rookie category, and by a considerable distance. And despite the fun of his recent hot play and both some dazzling highlight plays and memorable clutch moments earlier in the season, Dario hasn't actually been that good on the whole this year -- he's shooting under 40%, has more turnovers than assists, and his advanced stats (PER, Offensive/Defensive Rating, On/Off, Real Plus-Minus) all paint him as a sub-par on-court contributor.
But if JoJo takes a little while coming back, this might still become a discussion yet. Embiid's only played 31 games so far this season, and no player has ever won Rookie of the Year playing fewer than 50 games. (Patrick Ewing did so in '85-'86 and Vince Carter in '98-'99 -- though that was a lockout-shortened season -- while Kyrie Irving won in '11-'12 with just 51.) The Sixers only have 29 games left in the season, at least a handful of which Embiid will undoubtedly miss due to travel and back-to-back concerns. Can he get to 50, and if not, how low will the games-played bar of entry be? Personally, I'd say that even if Joel doesn't play another minute this season, he should still sweep the ROY voting. But I also would have said he should be an All-Star, and we all know how that turned out.
Hopefully The Process returns for Saturday's game against Miami, he plays another 25 games this season and we never have to have this conversation again. But if Joel can't get the GP numbers he needs, it's good to know that the award might end up staying in the family anyway. Keep it up, Super Dario.
