Given his vast international experience, Saric was a much more complete player at the beginning of last season than Fultz and Simmons are now. As such, Saric started the first 10 games of last season, but his struggles led the team to trade for veteran Ersan Ilyasova. Saric came off the bench for 45 of the next 46 games. The Sixers traded Ilyasova in February. By then, Saric had clearly become the best rookie in the league.