Back before the NBA Draft in June, Jordi Fernandez made it known in scouting meetings that he liked the Israeli point guard Ben Saraf. The Nets head coach, an admirer of European basketball and knowledgeable about FIBA talent — having been the head coach of Team Canada, was a strong advocate of the 6’7” (in shoes) combo guard. So when the 26th pick arrived, Sean Marks & co. selected Saraf. When the season opened in October and Egor Demin was still recovering from a torn plantar faschia, Fernandez chose
Saraf as his starting PG. Things didn’t work out that well then, but the head coach didn’t lose faith in the 19-year-old.
So when Saraf exploded two days ago and scored 40 points in the G League Showcase, Fernandez was ready to endorse him again, this time to Nets beat writers.
“He was composed the whole game,” said . Obviously, he scored 40 points, but he looked like an NBA player out there,” Fernandez said after the Nets win over Philly. “We watched the game and how confident he was, how he shot the ball, how he shot the three, and his just finishes around the rim. If he would have finished a few more at the rim, he could have scored 50.
“And those are the challenges. He’s really hard on himself. And that’s why Ben is so great, and he will be a great NBA player. But I was happy that he helped the team compete and get a win. That’s got to be the main purpose, whether you play here with the Nets or in Long Island, is you want to help the team compete and then come out with a win.”
Strong praise but the eighth youngest player in the NBA this season was all that Fernandez described. Saraf finished this game connecting on 14 of his 26 shot attempts, including going six-of-10 from beyond the arc. All of these numbers marked career-highs. He also registered six rebounds and four assists.
Fernandez certainly would have knowledge of his potential from Saraf’s FIBA exploits.
A little more than a year ago, he averaged 28.1 points for Israel in the FIBA Europe’s U19 tournament, winning MVP honors. Two years earlier, he averaged 24.3 for the Israeli junior national team in FIBA Europe’s U16 tournament.
As Erik Slater noted Wednesday, the explosion wasn’t completely unexpected.
Saraf has shown flashes of high-level advantage creation during his NBA minutes. However, he’s struggled as an outside shooter and finisher. The 19-year-old has averaged 5.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.2 turnovers on .362/.250/.769 shooting splits across 10 appearances during which he played over 10 minutes.
Now, of course, will come the quest for minutes at the NBA level. Saraf was called up by Brooklyn after his big performance in the Winter Showcase, flying up from Orlando, but didn’t get any time on the court vs. the 76ers. Expect Fernandez to reward him the way he’s rewarded Nolan Traore following his improvements with Long Island. The Nets have plenty of time to further develop Saraf. He’s the eighth youngest player in the NBA.
