Dario Saric
un 26, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Dario Saric (Croatia) shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number twelve overall pick to the Orlando Magic in the 2014 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Reuters

The Philadelphia 76ers finally have some good news going for them but it’s not about their performance in the current 2014-2015 NBA Season. Dario Saric, who was drafted 12th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft and whose rights was traded by the Orlando Magic to the Sixers on draft day, has been named the Euroleague Basketball Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the month of November.

Saric is not expected to join the 76ers line-up anytime soon but the stashed talent in Europe is making big waves in his stint in the Euroleague after impressive performances in recent games. For November, he averages 13.3 points per game on an efficient 62.2% field goal percentage with 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists. The individual logs by the rangy forward in some games will downright excite Philadelphia fans, who are lacking in something to cheer for this NBA season.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound Saric, who plays for Anadolu Efes Istanbul and is from Croatia, had a double-double vs Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari in their last game finishing with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Saric’s previous high was a 21-point output against Nizhny Novgorod and those performances have helped his squad to a 5-2 win-loss record tied with Real Madrid for Group A lead in the team standings.

Conversely, Saric’s NBA team, the 76ers are in another trying season and has started the year with 17 straight losses and is at 0-17, easily the worst record in the NBA. Philadelphia is one loss away from a 0-18 start, the worst ever for any NBA team established by the New Jersey Nets in the 2009-2010 NBA season.

Despite being just 20 years old, the Croatian already has an extensive experience playing pro basketball in Europe with stints at Zrinjevac (2009), Dubrava (2010-2011), Zagreb (2011-2012) and Cibona (2012-2014). Saric was also named the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship MVP in 2010; Nike International Junior Tournament MVP in 2011 and FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship MVP in 2012, among many other awards.

In the last major international competition, the FIBA World Cup of Basketball 2014 in Spain Saric led Croatia to a Round of 16 appearance with averages of 11.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists.