Ben Saraf

Offense

Saraf has a solid array of dribble moves, though his success is still largely dependent on speed and bursting quickly past his man to the hole. He gets some credit for his ability to change pace at times, otherwise, his crossover and hesitation don’t appear to advance him much. However, you can see the building blocks and some impressive moments where a hesitation freezes someone or he has started to string moves together that can put the defense off balance.

His playmaking on the drive is very hit-or-miss. One play he will bust to the hole or execute a nice move and then the next one he just drives right into the defender’s body and throw the ball into their arms or wildly off the backboard .. There are also flashes of creativity that show genuine flair as he’ll pull off pull off a move that would make Jason Williams smile and makes you sit up.  That was honestly part of my experience with watching him, every time I started to feel a bit bored with Saraf, he’d pull off something impressive that would recapture your attention.

Saraf’s jump shot is slow and stiff, at times resembling a slingshot motion. It lacks fluidity, and he struggles to get it off cleanly or consistently, especially off the dribble or under duress.  Saraf has the makings of a step-back jumper, but his overall shooting limitations currently negate its impact. Defenders don’t respect his shot, which shrinks driving lanes and puts more pressure on his already shaky finishing.  If he can start to hit it consistently it would open up more paths to the hoop as defenders had to respect it

Inside Saraf is a below the rim player who is able to use his long arms and ok hops and fluidity to try to score, but his touch is pretty mixed. He missed a number of layups with light contests and really struggled against length  He plays very stiff which I think hurts, as he can rotate his arms around a bit, but just has little bend making it harder to carve out angles to score. If he doesn’t get into a good position initially or gets challenged and has nowhere to go. He does have a nascent runner, which if he can develop would help alleviate some of the other inside finishing problems.  Additionally, he displays solid footwork which helped him get to some good angles to score. He would benefit from learning to use his body better to shield the ball.

Saraf is a solid rebounder for a guard, with good positional size and anticipation. He can grab boards and immediately push in transition, and he throws excellent passes to ignite the break.

My favorite part of Saraf’s game right now is his passing, which is arguably elite for his age and among the best in the draft class. He sees the floor well, can manipulate defenders, and makes every pass you’d want to see: no-looks, live-dribble lasers, skip passes, pocket feeds in traffic, and lobs. His sleight of hand and creativity with ball delivery are reminiscent at times of a young Jason “White Chocolate” Williams.

Turnovers come in two categories. First and most concerning stems from his ball handling and lack of separation. He had the ball picked, ripped, lost control, and was called for a variety of travels, double dribbles, and offensive fouls. All the great passing will be limited if he can’t put pressure on the defense and can’t maintain control of the ball.  Second, he probably needs to be a bit more careful with his cross court passes and lobs. Like a lot of the talented passing guards I’ve written about, I’m mostly not concerned about the passing turnovers compared to the volume of assists. But he did have a good number of pretty ambitious passes already getting intercepted. And in the NBA, players will close on those much quicker. Not a big deal to me, but just a place for his judgement to mature as he acclimates to the league

Defense

Saraf’s defense is both very promising, but very frustrating and will clearly be a bit of a swing skill for him, even if he tightens up some of his offensive issues.  He often gets lost in rotations and is vulnerable to backdoor cuts. Though he shows some willingness to help or tag down low, he’s not effective there, as he lacks the strength, size, and explosiveness to make a real impact. Fouling is his most common form of resistance inside, and even that sometimes results in And-1s.

He’s far less active on defense than offense. When he rotates can end up standing around, especially around the key. It was pretty disconcerting watching him get lost or stand around in no-man’s land.  As high as his feel is on offense, his defense doesn’t match it yet.

That said, his on-ball defense is actually pretty solid. He has solid lateral speed and a good ability to change direction, both east-west and north-south. Against isolations, he’s shown that he can stay in front of his man and even use his length to block some jump shots. He performs best when guarding bigger guards, as some quicker, shiftier guards can just blow past him.

He does use his speed, length, and anticipation to get into passing lanes and has the ability to generate a good amount of steals. But part of this is that Saraf is prone to taking risks, and when they don’t pay off, he gets caught out of position and gives up easy looks.