{"id":180155,"date":"2025-09-25T05:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T05:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/180155\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T05:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T05:24:08","slug":"ben-saraf-already-impressing-nets-with-game-professionalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/180155\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Saraf already impressing Nets with game, professionalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Saraf is the second-youngest player on one of the youngest rosters in NBA history. But the Israeli point guard doesn\u2019t seem like a rookie, much less a teenager.<\/p>\n

Talk to various Nets, and Saraf\u2019s name keeps coming up as having surprised them in summer workouts with his maturity and seasoned game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you first get to the NBA, it takes a minute to not look at these superstars as you did when you were growing up watching them,\u201d Michael Porter Jr. said. \u201c[But] overseas players it\u2019s a little different, because they\u2019ve been playing pro so long. I noticed it in Ben, talking to coaches about Ben, just how he is in open gym, just how impressive he\u2019s been to me. He\u2019s 19, and just his level of professionalism, just walking around is well beyond his years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saraf turned pro at 16 and has already played three seasons, at Elitzur Netanya, then Elitzur Kiryat Ata and finally last season at Germany\u2019s Ratiopharm Ulm. <\/p>\n

Between reaching the Bundesliga final and FIBA, he played over 60 games last year, which has led to Saraf being seasoned.<\/p>\n

\"BenBen Saraf of the Brooklyn Nets drives against Jamir Watkins of the Washington Wizards in the first half of a 2025 NBA Summer League. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like, yeah, playing like it\u2019s going to be my fourth year playing professional, so I\u2019ve got some experience. With playoff games I played with full arenas, so I think it\u2019s helped me,\u201d Saraf said. \u201cAnd my last teammates, my last vets \u2026 I\u2019m trying to learn from each one of them. I don\u2019t feel like a rookie here. I am a rookie, I\u2019ll do all my duties, but it\u2019s basketball, so I\u2019m just going out there and playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrooklynBrooklyn Nets guard Ben Saraf (77) speaking at Media Day. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Nic Claxton praised Saraf\u2019s feel for the game, while the Israeli point guard has displayed a veteran physicality.<\/p>\n

Saraf\u2019s biggest adjustments in the NBA will be the greater athleticism and different shot selection; that is, more one-on-one play.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pace of the game,\u201d Saraf said. \u201cThe shot selection are different. Here it\u2019s way faster in the NBA. In Europe it\u2019s going to be more moving the ball, cuts. And here it\u2019s a lot of one-on-one, which I like. So I like it here; but it was pretty different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like here we just need to let the ball fly. If we have a wide-open shot, we shoot it right away. Maybe [in Ulm] we want to be, like, more doing tactics, and attack this defender, that defender. But I feel like if we\u2019ve got a good shot, let it fly; and this is exactly what we\u2019re doing here, and that\u2019s exactly what the best players in the NBA, the best coaches. So, I really love this game style.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez \u2014 a Spaniard \u2014 hasn\u2019t been surprised by Saraf.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, no, because I\u2019ve watched Ben play so many games. He\u2019s played at a professional level in games that matter,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI was more familiar. Our players, since he didn\u2019t play in college, so they\u2019re less familiar, and maybe that\u2019s why they\u2019re a little surprised. Ben\u2019s a great player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Day\u2019Ron Sharpe came back from the offseason noticeably leaner, but predicted he\u2019ll still dominate the offensive glass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Saraf is the second-youngest player on one of the youngest rosters in NBA history. But the Israeli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[671,355,99],"class_list":["post-180155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}