The Brooklyn head coach noticeably hasn't played his rookie that much until Saturday. Which got him to drop an honest take on his development.
Jordi Fernandez will soon coach a deep lineup of second year players for the Brooklyn Nets. This rookie class flashed their potential even if some needed the G-League to sharpen their game.
Ben Saraf was one who fell into the latter.
The Israeli talent arrived as the 26th overall pick of the June 2025 NBA Draft. But he's been in-and-out of the Nets' roster, as he sometimes needed to land with the Long Island Nets.
Saraf, though, earned the call to line up on Saturday. He responded by delivering 12 points in 31 minutes despite his Nets taking the 104-97 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Saraf has now scored more than 10 points in his last three games with the Nets -- a first for the guard. Fernandez finds himself pleased with how much Saraf has developed.
"That’s growth," Fernandez said with reporters postgame following the defeat. "I’m very happy because we keep talking to him about playing off two feet, finding the spray, being solid, and he was amazing tonight. That’s the definition of getting one percent better."
Saraf sometimes looked overwhelmed by the NBA speed and struggled to adjust. Except Fernandez didn't want to overwhelm him.
"It doesn’t need to be anything crazy, but there’s little wins. He’s already a really good player — size, he can guard, handle, pass," Fernandez said. "So good performance. Five assists to one turnover is elite.”
Saraf himself agreed that the "playing off two" scenario worked efficiently better for him.
"When you’re playing off two, everything is easier," Saraf said postgame via Erik Slater of ClutchPoints. "It’s something new for me. I’m trying to make the adjustment. [It was] not really [an emphasis in Germany]. I think the size and athleticism here is different. It’s harder to make plays off one, so you have to play off two.”
He even kept himself composed during one potential turnover scenario early in the first quarter.
Saraf is one of five members of Brooklyn's deep rookie class. One that's seen Nolan Traore and Egor Demin rise as the potential leaders of this crew. Although Demin is sitting out for the rest of the season with a foot ailment.
But still, the trio plus Danny Wolf and Drake Powell fuel some optimism inside the Nets' facility moving forward. And now Saraf has taken notable growth steps as Fernandez has seen.
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