By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The news were shocking. Once more the top pick of the Sixers is injured and missing the season is more than probable.
The press release is clear: “Philadelphia 76ers forward Ben Simmons rolled his right ankle during the final scrimmage of the team’s 2016 Training Camp at Stockton University earlier today. It was determined that Simmons suffered a fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone of his right foot”.
And while the Sixers have not yet announced how long Simmons is going to be out, it’s obvious that things are not looking good. That’s why Dario Saric will be more than ever in the spotlight. And he says he is ready for the challenge: “I need more time to get everything. I think I did ok [in] my first training camp in life in NBA. I’m happy, happy how I did. I think I’ll be a little bit more step by step every day.”
According to the 22 years old Croatian forward his transition to the NBA is going well and he gets real help from his teammates in the training camp: “You need these days to stay together, to have dinner together, to hangout in hotel with meetings, and things what we have around basketball. I think it’s good for us to build team chemistry. It’s very important because we are a young team. Everybody expects from us to move two, three steps up.”