Saric Hopes Croatia Will Fix Fans' Broken Dream

ISTANBUL (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - It might sound out of place for a 21-year-old who is among Europe's most promising players in a potentially career-defining year, but what Croatia's Dario Saric will seek above anything else this summer is redemption.

Ever since FIBA EuroBasket 2015 last September, when a talent-laden Croatia finished in a disappointing ninth place in the tournament, the Anadolu Efes Istanbul forward feels a burden on his shoulders.

“We broke our country's dream last summer,” Saric admitted to fiba.com

"We have to fix it.

"The fans are disappointed, for the last 20 years they have been promised big things. We always had good teams, we had talented players but in sport it all comes down to the final result.”

Croatia last stepped on the podium at a major tournament in 1995, when a side led by Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Arijan Komazec and Velimir Perasovic took bronze at the FIBA EuroBasket in Athens.

Saric believes he has found where the path to redemption starts – at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in July.

Croatia were drawn in Group B of the OQT in Turin, where they will do battle against Tunisia and hosts Italy and potential match-ups later against Group A sides Iran, Mexico and Greece.

“It's good that we are playing nearby and we won't have to go all the way to the Philippines,” Saric said.

“On the other hand, we have to get past very strong opponents like Greece and Italy.

“But I hope our team will show character.

“I think this can finally be our year, we could make it to the Olympics and from then on anything is possible.”

Saric has faith in the talent of players like Bogdanovic and Tomic

Saric maintains that Croatia can find a remedy in time for the OQT despite the uncertainty currently surrounding the continuation of coach Perasovic partly because the youngster has identified the cause of their EuroBasket 2015 woes.

“The coach is not the problem, what happened was the players' fault,” Saric asserted.

“We played very bad, we did not find the right chemistry on the court.

“It's fair to say we found nothing.

“But we can have an honest relationship between us, even when something bad happens we have to discuss it and not wait for the 10 days [of the tournament] to be over and go back to our clubs until we meet again.

“This is the most important thing we need to do this summer and then we can play good basketball.”

“The team quality is not [an issue], we have so many talented players. For example, Ante Tomic has been maybe the top center in the Euroleague in recent years, Bojan Bogdanovic plays so well in the NBA. What this talented generation needs is to make the extra step this summer, qualify for the Olympics.”

Saric was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers and is expected to make the jump to the NBA in the summer, but even such a huge career development would not impede him from helping Croatia take the gigantic step he envisions.

“Of course I will play, I think for the Americans as well the Olympics is the most important event and everybody would understand,” he insisted.

“I know that, if I do go to the NBA this summer, I might arrive a bit tired for my first season.

“But this is the Olympic Games we're talking about. An athlete may get only one chance in his life to play there.”

FIBA