Left-handed rookie, the future puzzle from the Nets?

On the 2025 NBA draft night, the Nets shouted a slightly strange name at the 26th pick: Ben Salav.

As a left-handed defender who is only 18 years old, Sarav is not a big hit in the draft, but judging from his game content, he reveals a sense of calmness of an old defender. In today's prosperous era of defenders who emphasize explosive scoring and gorgeous offense, such players are becoming more and more like an alien.

For this type of point guard who is neither good at physical fitness nor outstanding in personal singles ability, their advantage lies more in relying on reading games, controlling the offensive rhythm, and special understanding of game offense and defense to gain opportunities. Starting from Israel, after the training of the German League, and until now entering the NBA, this growth path is a little ordinary and low-key, but it is quite stable and steadily step by step.

Sarav was born on April 14, 2006, from Ganji House, Israel, a small city between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. His father is a former Israeli League player and his mother has also played in the domestic sub-league. Sarav has been influenced by the basketball atmosphere since he was a child and has begun to show his extraordinary basketball talent early on.

16-year-old Sarav started his basketball career at Elitzur Netanya, averaging 14 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3 assists in his first season. A year later, he was promoted to the Israeli Super League, playing 30 games, averaging 10.7 points, 3.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game, winning the Best Rookie. In the summer of 2024, Sarav represented Israel in the U18 European Championship, averaging 28.1 points, 5 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 4 steals per game, winning the MVP and scoring leader in one fell swoop.

Thanks to the outbreak of the international arena, Sarav began to attract the attention of European powers, and eventually he chose to join the German league and began to challenge higher-level competitions.

In the 2024-25 season, Salav played a total of 51 games in the German League and European Cup stages, averaging 12.3 points, 4.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game, shooting percentage of 45.3%, and three-point shooting percentage was only 28.7%. He averaged only 8.7 shots per game but was able to score efficiently. This stage has basically begun to show his advantages.

At this stage, Sarav was not the team's main offensive point, but he mainly played the core role of the organization in the second team. Compared with personal data, his greater value lies in the rhythm of controlling the field on the field. Sarav is a counter-trend type among the current defenders. He does not rely on speed to grab the rhythm, nor does he rely on strong scoring and explosive power to break through the defender. His advantage lies in slow attacks and quick attacks, false actions and space use to create opportunities.

He is good at manipulating pick-and-roll offenses, with accurate timing of the ball, and an assist-and-turnover ratio of 1.45. He is one of the top young defenders in Europe. Although he does not often perform gorgeous passes, he knows how to read the opponent's defensive rotation and completes the action transmission before misalignment and open space appear.

Judging from the content of the game, it is hard not to remind people of the early Calderon. Although he is young, he looks like an experienced veteran on the court.

As a left-handed forward guard swinger, Sarav has a natural advantage in breaking out attacks. He made good use of breakthroughs from the left, and after breaking through the penalty area, he could also create space through soft touch and physical confrontation, with his ending shooting percentage at the basket being more than 60%. Although it is not top-notch, this is already a rare level for a rookie player who does not rely on physical talent.

Despite this, Sarav also faces two key limitations: external stability and confrontational ability.

First, his three-point shooting percentage is less than 30%, and his shooting movements are slow, and he lacks stability in both receiving and dribbling shots. Another point is that his 91kg weight is light on the flank position and his confrontation is slightly insufficient. Facing a strong explosive guard or a forward inside player who is good at switching defense, it is difficult for him to gain an advantage in breaking through and rebounding positions. If you cannot rely on physical training and projection progress to improve your shortcomings in the future, your future playing time and tactical value will naturally be quite worrying.

In terms of the team, in the current rebuilding lineup of the Nets, Sarav's most suitable role should be the substitute point guard, or as the second ball-holding point in the double-back lineup. He can partner with the scorer to play the organizational core in the second team, continuing the team's offensive fluency on the bench.

And more importantly, the rookie doesn't need a lot of ball rights to participate in the offense, which can also make him an ideal rotation in the rebuilding team. If the reception and shooting percentage can be steadily improved, his offensive advantage will naturally be greatly improved, and it will also increase the possibility of coexistence between him and the starting player.

Combined with the above and the goals of the cultivation stage, Sarav basically focuses on three points:

First, the stability of three-point shooting, the second is the improvement of right-hand offense and confrontation, and the third is the ability to adapt to the high-intensity game rhythm.

In summary, Sarav is not only a skilled rookie, but also a symbol of the rise of Israeli basketball. He joined the Nets with his fellow countryman Danny Wolf and became the first pair of Israeli teammates to play in the same team in history. From a certain perspective, this is also an important breakthrough.

In this ever-changing basketball era, pursuing scoring explosion, Sarav is not the kind of rookie who was first noticed, but he is likely to become the kind of high-quality veteran who is still active on the front line of the league ten years later. He may not be a superstar, nor even among the All-Stars, but he may be the panacea that every team needs, grasping space in the chaos of offense and defense, and stabilizing the situation when the team is out of order.

Just like McConnell on the stage of this season's finals.

And the Nets bet on Sarav may be the precise point of view of such potential. He will not explode and grow overnight, but he has the opportunity to advance step by step steadily.

His basketball philosophy is not stunning, but it is reasonable enough. And if everything goes well, he will be the type of player that many fans like the most.