A lot of people fantasize about 6th man Dario, his play style just fits that kind of role so well with his ability to be a first option and make plays, and given our struggles with depth it would be a major boost to have him coming off our bench.

If we do manage to add a max FA, and assuming Fultz gets his shot back and becomes the guy we thought we had on draft night, the amount of shots to go around will be virtually nonexistant for Dario in the starting lineup. Embiid, Simmons, Fultz, and the max FA would take them all up, and even if we don't get a max FA and continue rolling with Covington let's say, Fultz + Simmons + Embiid doesn't leave a lot of room for more than spot up shooting(which Dario has recently done very well).

Many have stated that Dario really struggles when coming off the bench, but shines for some reason as a starter. I myself previously fell into this line of thought. Let's take a look at Dario's career splits:

Off the bench per 36(50 games): 16.1ppg, 8.8rpg, 2.6apg, 39.8%FG, 30.3%3PT, 77.6%FT, 50%TS

As a starter per 36 (85 games): 18ppg, 8.3rpg, 3.3apg, 43.9%FG, 36.5%3PT, 84.9%FT, 55.2%TS

I think we can scrap the differences in rebounds and assists. He's obviously going to rebound more when great rebounds such as Embiid, Covington, and Simmons are off the floor. His assists while obviously go up by playing with such great players, regardless of role. An interesting note is that Dario's USG% is the same coming off the bench as it is in the starting lineup.

What we see here is a nice uptick in scoring and a big improvement in shooting efficiency from all over the floor. We must consider though that Dario is a much better player now than he was last season.

Rookie Dario as a starter per 36 (36 games): 18.4ppg, 8.4rpg, 3.5apg, 41.8%FG, 31.2%3PT, 78%FT, 50.8%TS, 3.4TOs, ORtg 98

Rookie Dario off the bench per 36(45 games): 16.8ppg, 8.8rpg, 2.7apg, 40.3%FG, 31%3PT, 78.4%FT, 50.7%TS, 2.2TOs, ORtg 101.4

Interesting findings here, Dario in his rookie season posted the same shooting splits off the bench as he did starting. While we do again see the increase in both points and assists, a lot of that should be contributed to the players around him, an increased USG%, and the fact that he was simply a better player at the end of the year than he was at the beginning. He actually posted a higher ORtg off the bench than he did as a starter, but coming off the bench also obviously helps in going up against non-starters. . At the end of the day, the two were really the same player.

Instead of starting versus coming off the bench, let's look at Dario over time as the season progressed.

Rookie Dario's first 50 games per 36: 14.7ppg, 8.6rpg, 2.5apg, 37.5%FG, 32.4%3PT, 76.7%FT, ORtg 97.8

Rookie Dario's last 31 games per 36: 21.3ppg, 8.7rpg, 3.8apg, 44.8%FG, 29.5%3PT, 79.5%FT, ORtg 102.1

Despite a drop off in 3PT%, we're seeing a now major rise in scoring and FG% with a much bigger ORtg going to the Dario we saw at the end of the year.

While it would be easy to just attribute this to, as previously stated, Dario simply being a better player at the end of the year than he was at the beginning like almost all rookies are, when you consider Dario's performance this season it becomes questionable if this is a trend for the guy.

Sophomore Dario's first 33 games per 36: 15.4ppg, 8.3rpg, 3apg, 43.5%FG, 35%3PT, 84.1%FT, ORtg 104.3

Sophomore Dario's last 22 games per 36: 20.2ppg, 7.9rpg, 3.3apg, 48.9%FG, 46.2%3PT, 94.9%FT, ORtg 111.7

While more efficient than the guy we saw as a rookie, the Dario we saw at the beginning of the year is once again clearly a different guy than the one who we're seeing now and will hopefully continue to see for the rest of the year. The Dario we saw at the beginning of the year was honestly a bit of a disappointment, but the one we're seeing now is an offensive juggernaut looking primed to become one of the best 4s in the league on offense.

Of course you have to consider that Dario is still a young player adjusting to the NBA game, he's going to just simply get better with more and more time on the court, but I think it's worth questioning if there really is something to this. Off the bench versus starting, we really don't see much of a difference. This however sparks a major gap in production for Saric, and it's like he reset after rookie year a bit - it's not like he kept building off a great rookie finish immediately.

Could this be due to him playing a ton of basketball over the summer? In 2016 Dario logged a lot of time in the Olympics, and last year he played in Eurobasket.

Regardless, while Dario has earned his role as a starter we shouldn't just continue to roll with the assumption that he can't play well when coming off the bench. He might just be a slow starter instead. Maybe it's a combination of the two.