Welcome back to Behind the Scenes with the
Brooklyn Nets front office. I'm your host, General Manager Sean Marks. We have a double header for you with the next two picks.
The Nets already selected:
- 8th pick: Tre Johnson (G), Texas
- 19th pick: Nique Clifford (G), Colorado St.
We have no choice but to bring in
some talent via free agency, as our highest paid "stars" are currently Nic Claxton and UNC's Cameron Johnson (YIKES). Without knowing which FAs we bring in, here are the obvious holes on our roster:
- Everything, everywhere, all at once.
Our mandate for this draft is to add as much talent & upside to the roster with these next two picks.
That's why, with the 26th pick, the Brooklyn Nets select
Asa Newell, freshman F/C from Georgia.
That's also why, with the 27th pick, the Brooklyn Nets select
Ben Saraf, G from Ratiopharm Ulm in Israel.
Scouting Report on Asa Newell from The Ringer's Danny Chau
Playing alongside two potentially lottery-bound frontcourt mates in Cooper Flagg and Derik Queen at Montverde Academy has certain benefits. When you don’t always know when you’re going to get the ball, you’ll do everything in your power to make sure you maximize your opportunities when they come. Newell was one of the best offensive rebounders in college basketball and will dunk anything in sight. Nearly half of his scoring production came from putbacks and timely cuts around the basket. While Newell isn’t overtly bulky, he combines ball tracking, hypermobility, and sheer tenacity on the glass, and his quick first and second jump allows him to punch the ball in without hesitation or load up. But that alone isn’t typically the stuff of potential star prospects, which is in Newell’s range of outcomes.
Newell presents so many different avenues for development and has a strong baseline given his defensive versatility and efficient play finishing—two highly coveted skills at his position. Then again, what is his true position, anyway? As with most bigs of his ilk, his ceiling will open up to the sky if he manages to develop into the kind of shooter he thinks he is.
Scouting Report on Ben Saraf from The Ringer's Danny Chau
Name a pass, any pass. Saraf has it in his bag. Crosscourt wraparounds. No-look, over-the-shoulder, hanging midair overhead passes. Not to mention every variant of a pocket pass out of a pick-and-roll—arguably the one skill that he’s better at than any other player in the draft. At just 18 years old, Saraf is a high-usage initiator in the Bundesliga, one of the best leagues in Europe, and coming off a dominant summer in the FIBA youth tournament circuit. The raw production across different levels of competition at such a young age is encouraging. His aesthetic as a southpaw combo guard is immediately familiar—there are any number of immediate stylistic comparisons to draw from, both positive and damning. Comps to Goran Dragic, a fellow lefty driver, make themselves, and since Saraf is also a youngster gaining valuable reps on Ratiopharm Ulm, the ghost of Killian Hayes haunts him.
As ever, shooting better would also help. He’s been an inconsistent 3-point shooter at best, across all stages of play, which could create a sort of no-man’s-land against more athletic competition. Saraf’s knack for getting clean looks on midrange pull-ups is encouraging, but there probably aren’t too many teams looking to build around that as a fixture in an offense. Still, there is a clarity to Saraf’s game that teams in the back end of the lottery could appreciate—the areas for improvement are apparent, and any progress made in those realms can open up his nuanced playmaking.
@pokeresq – the Boston Celtics are on the clock with the 28th pick.
