I would trade NBA Rookie of the Year award for a medal with Croatia, says Saric

CLUJ-NAPOCA (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - The Croatian Sensation Dario Saric was one of the most impressive rookies in the NBA last season. But he is not interested in personal accolades, all he wants is to end the Croatian 22-year-long drought.

His team-first mentality was best seen in one play against Spain. Kruno Simon was dribbling the ball on the right side of the court. Dario Saric set the screen, then popped to the three-point line. With Fernando San Emeterio in the passing lane, the 23-year-old Croat drove to the paint and threw a bullet no-look pass to Bojan Bogdanovic, so fast, that not even the two Gasols knew what hit them.

Even Spanish fans in the stands of Polyvalent Hall got to their feet. Sisi (pronounced Shee-shee), as they call him in the national team, once again proved that his basketball IQ is off the charts.

"I just popped out to the three-point line, and when I got the ball, the defender was way too close to me, I couldn't make the pass to the open man, Popovic. That's why I took the dribble, so I could drive and kick it to him, but once I started my move, I saw that Bojan was cutting back door. I knew the pass wouldn't have gone through directly, so I had to throw it fast, just bounce it underneath the defender's arms. That was the only way through. And it turned out to be a beauty of an assist," said Saric, describing one of the best plays we have seen in Cluj-Napoca.

Notice how Saric knows exactly who his teammates were at that moment, and where they were standing on the court. Yet, he does not mention a single defender.

"I'm not sure who was there. Was it Navarro and Pau?"

No, it was Marc and Pau Gasol. A collective 16ft (5m) of wingspan. Not a lot of people would dare to attempt a pass in there, but that play reflects all the fearlessness Saric has, that made the Philadelphia 76ers fans fall in love with him in just his first season. An impressive season it was, just missing out on the NBA Rookie of the Year award.

"Even if I had won it, I would've traded it for a medal with the national team. Because we have waited for a medal for so long in Croatia, we have dreamed about winning a medal, if not the whole country, then the whole basketball population over there. Everybody who is involved in basketball in Croatia." 1995 marks the previous time that the Croats won a medal.

Croatia's all-time leading scorer Dino Radja helping the 23-year-old in Cluj-Napoca

"All of us want the team to finally have a good result, no matter who's coaching or who's not. That's why I would've definitely traded it. Winning a medal here would give us the know-how to do it all over again. Things would be much easier for us in the future then," the Croatian point forward offered, putting his team first again.

Point forward, not power forward. His skill-set made Aco Petrovic start the game against Spain without a typical point guard, with 2.08m Saric dribbling across halfcourt. Simon, Bogdanovic and Marko Tomas were on the outside, while Dragan Bender helped out in the frontcourt. Unusual lineup for sure, but Petrovic called the game "a scrimmage", since both teams had already advanced to the Round of 16, giving the Croatian coach a chance to experiment a bit.

"We're doing fine, just as we expected. Being second in this group is a realistic result, given how hard it is to beat Spain. We actually had our chance, but that's how basketball is, one or two loose balls can decide which way the win goes."

"We are still the only team in this group to put up a fight with Spain, which is good to know if we meet again in this tournament. They will now also know that we could beat them," said the player who knows how it feels to defeat the Spaniards. It was his last second game-winning block on Pau Gasol that sealed the deal for Croatia in Rio 2016.

No point in going back to that game. Or this one in Cluj-Napoca, either. The Croats have analyzed it and sent it straight to the archive. Focus has now shifted to Turkey. Saric will tell you the same thing that all of the red-and-white players have been saying since day one in Romania.

"The most important game is the one in Istanbul on September 10. Maybe even the most important game of this entire generation, with a mixture of experienced players and Bender and I as the younger ones."

"That Round of 16 game (against Russia) is crucial, we have been close so many times and yet almost always fell on the first hurdle when elimination games started. If we win this time, then the Quarter-Finals would be played with a lot of pressure already taken off our backs," the man from Sibenik explained.

Since 1995, Croatia have won only three of their 11 games at knockout stages. With Saric and Bogdanovic complementing each other perfectly, the timing could be right to break the habit and challenge for a podium finish.

FIBA