If these do end up being the final games that Dario Saric plays overseas, he's put himself in position to leave a lasting mark.



The 12th overall selection of the 2014 NBA Draft has emerged as a force amidst Anadolu Efes’ current playoff push, helping propel the Turkish Basketball Super League club to eight straight wins, its longest streak of the campaign. The beginning of this surge coincided with a coaching change made with three games to go in the regular season, and has since carried over into the post-season.



First, let’s examine Saric’s playoff production. In five games so far, he has averaged 13.6 points per game, while shooting 52.3 percent from the field (23-44). Perhaps most intriguing, the 6’9” tall, 223-pound forward has nailed nine of his 12 post-season three-point attempts. In Efes’ current TBSL semi-final series, Saric has been especially on-point, connecting on six of his eight tries from beyond the arc.



Defensively, Saric, who the Sixers acquired in a draft night trade with the Orlando Magic, has manufactured 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per contest since the playoffs got underway.



Last week, in a radio interview with 97.5 FM The Fanatic, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo described Saric’s style of play as one that would be “a fit for the NBA, a good stretch four who can go in and bang inside.”



“He defends well,” said Colangelo, “and rebounds the ball very well.”



Lately, it’s not simply that Saric’s surface-level numbers have stood out. It’s how he’s gone about generating them. As long as the Google Chrome translator plug-in isn’t leading us astray, game recaps on Efes’ website indicate that Saric has assumed a key role in the team’s recent success.



Apparently, Saric contributed to Efes opening up an 18-point lead in Thursday’s commanding 88-73 triumph over Darussafaka Dogus. Two days earlier, in the series opener against Darussafaka, the 22-year old rose to the occasion in the second half. He tallied 10 of his 17 points after intermission, as Efes ultimately managed to erase an 11-point deficit. Saric has paced his teammates in scoring in three of their five playoff outings.



“Both Bryan and I have a strong desire, a commitment, to going to see him and sharing the plans that we see moving forward,” Sixers head coach Brett Brown told The Fanatic on May 18th.



Brown and Colangelo each separately said that a visit to Istanbul to meet with Saric could be imminent, perhaps as soon as early June.



“As far as opportunity, there’s a clean slate, you could argue, at our forward position,” Colangelo said in his appearance on 97.5. “It’s a chance to be part of this jumping off point.”



Saric’s output hasn’t just been trending upwards since the start of TBSL playoffs. He’s been performing at a high level since the middle of March. Over his last 16 games, he’s averaged 13.3 points and 6.0 rebounds, while shooting 54.3 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from deep (28-56 3fgm).



“This is a good situation with respect to Dario,” said Colangelo, who had watched Saric play in Europe prior to joining the Sixers’ front office in April. “Here’s a guy that wasn’t considered a shotter two or three years ago, but he’s become a much better player overall.”



Saturday, Saric and Efes clinched a berth to the TBSL championship series. Efes owns a league-record 13 titles, and is seeking its first crown since 2009.