Ben Saraf DAZZLES for Brooklyn Nets with 11-assist performance | Has he blown past Nolan Traore?

Ben Saraf DAZZLES for Brooklyn Nets with 11-assist performance | Has he blown past Nolan Traore?

Coming up, I’ll tell you why Ben Saraf has solidified himself as the Net’s starting point guard in Jaor Gilman’s absence and why Brooklyn could be in for a rough ride this year offensively. All that more after this. [Music] You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked On Nets podcast right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Nets beat reporter for clutchpoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen of the day. The show is 100% free on all those great platforms. And on today’s show, I’m going to be reacting to the Net’s first preseason action against NBA competition. Brooklyn had a pair of matchups with the Suns in China this weekend. Again, I’m going to offer some takeaways from Ben Saras’s performance, also Nolan Troy. How I feel this Nets offense is coming together as a whole and what it could say about the rookie roles moving forward. Joining the pot now, we got Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily. And Lucas, we got preseason Nets basketball against a real NBA team. And it was obviously these Nets rookies first time playing against NBA competition. And you know, they split a pair of games with the Suns in Macau. They lost the first game in overtime. They won today um in what were two pretty ugly contests, but what you would expect of a team with a lot of rookies playing, you know, their first preseason games against NBA competition. But I think the main storyline entering these games was obviously the rookies and mainly the rookie ball handlers, Ben Sarath and Nolan Troy, and what would what would those guys look like? And my main takeaway from these games, particularly today’s game, was that Ben Saraf has solidified himself in my opinion as the more NBA ready of the two point guards available uh between him and Nolan Troy. Obviously, Jagor Gomen is out with that foot injury. But Ben started that first game against Hoel Jerusalem and I don’t know what the thought process was from Jordan Fernandez, but Nolan Troy has started these last two games. maybe wanted to make it look like it was a little bit more of an open competition, but Ben outplayed Nolan pretty significantly today. 11 assists Ben had today. Just three turnovers in 22 minutes. So, obviously a pretty elite passing game there. Nolan struggled taking care of the ball a lot more. Had four turnovers and three assists in 17 minutes. Neither of them really scored the ball at a high level, but Ben just looks like the more NBA ready guy. So, when you look at what Ben did today and in both these preseason games in contrast to Nolan, what was your main takeaway? Just exactly that. Um, this isn’t a surprise, I don’t think, to us who have been around the team through training camp and heard things throughout the summer. you know, when I was going on a couple of national focused pods and I was like, I would bet on Ben maybe starting opening night, it was a surprise to people that, you know, weren’t as in the weeds on this team, but what we’ve heard is that, and it makes sense if you look at them as prospects. You know, Nolan is younger by a few months, but just his game is not as polished as Ben’s, and this is what we’ve been saying. Um, it’s really just that Ben’s size, the sort of just solidness of his handle makes him look not overwhelmed against NBA athleticism and um, defenders. And it’s, you know, not like he’s exploding by people and cooking guys, but can, again, we’ve used this phrase, get the ball where he needs to go, um, far more than Nolan right now. And that showed up in the assists. Uh, you know, I I posted the stat today. I think over three preseason games, Ben is at like 17 assists to six turnovers and Nolan’s at six assists to nine turnovers. And again, three games, not the beall endall, but that kind of tells you what you need to know if you hadn’t watched these three games, I would say. Yeah. And I think it’s pretty clear that there were rough moments for both of these guys, especially in the first game against the Suns. Like they combined for around 10 turnovers or something like that. like neither of them looked good and then today I think you know Ben looked a lot better but in both games it’s just evident how much more comfortable Ben is orchestrating the offense just setting things up and then trying to you know penetrate the paint and get to his spots and you just look at the difference in the size and the strength obviously is the biggest thing but I think just that shows up in how these two guys are reading the defenses because both of them the skill for Ben and Nolan both is you know being able to touch the paint advantage creation like that was a selling point and We’ve said that they do that a little bit differently, but they’ve both been able to do that, I think, you know, at a decent rate. I think Ben a little bit better, but you see it with Nolan. You know, when he gets into the paint, if he can get into the paint, that frame that he has, it just doesn’t look like he has the ability to really just gain any comfort in those spots. And that’s leading him, it’s leading to some turnovers and it’s leading to an inability to, you know, make some of these reads. Whereas Ben is getting into the paint and he has those kind of like bumps where he can create space. He has that extra 2 in where he can see over some of these defenders and make some of these passes. And with Nolan, it’s just, you know, like initiating the offense has seemed like much more of a struggle. And it’s something that we heard about with Jagor Domen at summer league like with his inability to initiate offense. talked to Steve Hzel and he said, you know, Jagger is gonna have to put on size and, you know, add strength in order to be able to hold off NBA level defenders at the point of attack. And Nolan just hasn’t really been able to do that too well. Like we saw today during the third quarter, there was a stretch where Nolan turned the ball over twice. So, he kind of got ripped tight twice towards the top of the key and then he was getting pressured on a third straight possession and he kind of like gave the guy a forearm shiver and it was an offensive foul and it was turnovers on three straight possessions. And that’s just something with Ben, you’re not really seeing that lack of comfort. I feel like trying to initiate and then also just when he’s downhill and in the paint, right? I mean, what’s the classic adage? Fast to the paint, slow when you get there. Ben can slow down in the paint and it can just slow kind of his heartbeat a little where he is reading the floor in a more calm way. Nolan just kind of can’t buy himself right now those extra seconds. It’s all happening so fast. And again, for the type of prospect he was, this should not be a surprise to Nets fans, I don’t think it’s something to, you know, overreact to or panic about. And again, like Nolan did have like a pull-up jumper and I think maybe the first game against the Suns that looked decent. Like Ben had a couple poor plays. Honestly, in the first half of this game, he could have had three or four turnovers and only ended up with two. So, it’s not, you know, totally night and day between these guys. But there’s no doubt that Ben has kind of separated himself in the early going. And I mean, this is consistent with what we’ve heard from Net’s training camp. Um, what we have been ordered to narrate from from the from powers that be telling us to push Ben propaganda. Yeah, I’m not I’m not going to get into all that, but let let’s talk a little bit more about Ben and then we’ll get into uh Nolan and you know what this says about him. When you look at this performance today, I mean, I’m not It wasn’t anything like 11 assists to three turnovers in 22 minutes is really impressive. I will say like there were some really good assists and there were some assists where the Nets made some tough contested threes. But, you know, when you look at this performance, like there were a few plays that got me pretty excited. Like there was one play where Ben drove baseline and he kind of hit like a little underhand shovel pass to uh Terrence man kind of on like a 45 cut to the hoop which was a really nice play. And then there was one play where Ben kind of snaked the pick and roll went to his left side felt like the low man rotate over and hit like a hook pass over like three or four defenders to Danny Wolf in the right corner and he hit a three. And it’s just like that play was really representative to me of some of the things that Ben can do right now that Nolan can’t. Like his ability to slow down, feel that, see it, and then throw that pass over like three or four guys and deliver it right into like the shooting pocket. That was a play that got me excited and it was a play that like I just think Nolan has a ways to go before he’s making that play. I mean, not not to speak in absolutes too much, but Nolan on that play is probably like underneath the rim before that low man can slide over to create that passing window. And sometimes Nolan will be able to like get all the way to the baseline and and throw a pass that, you know, comes around the baseline, you know, like a hook pass falling out of bounds, but right now it’s probably just a little too fast, not letting things develop. Um, and so again, not surprising. I’m excited to see how Nolan just what his like the immediate steps are for him, right? Like how does the Nets coaching staff go about this beyond obviously the jump shooting? Like is it Long Island? Is it just, you know, two weeks of like, hey, you have to every time you jump off one foot in the paint, we’re going to like you’re going to run an extra sprint in practice or whatever. however you discipline NBA players these days, like just the the getting him more comfortable in the intermediate spots of the floor. And if Jieor is back healthy, like I feel like this is trending in a direction where Nolan’s going to spend some time in the G-League. And I feel like that’ll serve him well. Like he’s going to have to he’s going to have to make these adjustments like, you know, and this is something that we’ve talked about and I’ve heard it from a lot of people who scouted Nolan at length and this past season with St. Quinton in France, it was that he has the speed, he can play in transition, he can, you know, turn the corner. Um, he can have some blowbyss, but that that in between game like that, you know, like you said, fast to the paint, slow when you get there. That just hasn’t really shown up. Like there were a couple of flashes like you saw like we saw him hit a nice like pull-up jumper in the game before this, but for the most part, it is a lot of get downhill and then you’re just like he’s just going and taking off on one foot. And we heard George Fernandez talk about this. We were talking to him about Noah Clowny and the ability to play off two and how that develops. He said challenging centers at the NBA level, the best centers in the world, like challenging them at the rim is a foolish endeavor a lot of the time. And Nolan had zero halfcourt dunks last year, so it seems especially prudent to not challenge them all the time. Like it would be one thing if he was finishing above the rim constantly, but to do that at this level, he’s going to be taking some tough layups and floaters and we’ve seen it. Like even his highlight plays are like, man, that’s a really tough scoop off the top of the glass. So, you get where Jord’s coming from with that. Yeah. And it’s tough with Nolan at that speed and it speaks to what you say about, you know, his no dunks. He’s a largely below the rim player and even though he has good height and good length and all those things at his size, his ability to get downhill like using that speed, he’s going to really need to be able to kind of hit the brakes and be able to process in the lane. And a lot of that, I think a huge part of that is going to be adding size to his frame where he’s just comfortable and he’s not getting bumped off of his spots consistently. I think that’ll make his handle um you know, better. But what is your like how bullish are you if Nolan spends time in the G-League this year or just over the next season, you know, two seasons? How bullish are you on his ability to be able to gain a feel for for those types of things? Because it’s not really an easy thing to develop. Like there is just a lot of innate feel involved in those things that he’s not necessarily showing right now. I mean, I want to be clear, three preseason games, he’s 19. He’s the fourth youngest player, right, in the history of the Nets, I believe. Um, and so I don’t we don’t want to come across like we’re ripping him and having a referendum on his career, but when I looked kind of at the tape and I wrote this long thing on Nolan on Nets Daily last month, I was generally a little worried by like, right, you have the idea of a small rim pressure guard and I just was not that impressed with his handle in tight spaces, you know, and his ability to ability to kind of display a lot of craft amongst the trees. And I was like, “Okay, I I get why he fell to 19 after being viewed as a top five pick.” And I was a little worried. And I’m not going to sit here and say that his preseason play is informing my decision or my opinion of him. But before that, I was a little bit wary. And I think that’s where I am right now. Like I really really would like to see slash ambiter to see development in those areas. just the craft and patience navigating the trees because for the type of player that the Nets expect him to be that is so so imperative to his game probably even more than shooting if we’re just talking about swing skills. So listen, I’m not going to say like I’m out or I’m all in. But these next two years 19 to 21 he does have to show some real strides in that area and I think that is fair to say. Yeah, I’ve got some thoughts on the likelihood of that. I also have some thoughts on this performance from Ben Saraf and what we think it could say about his role moving forward. So, we’ll get to all that when we continue locked on nets after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at Pelaton. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with a brand new Pelaton crossraining tread plus powered by Pelaton IQ. 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Coming back from the break on today’s Locked on Nets episode, talking with Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily about the Nets rookie point guard battle and their two their first two preseason games against NBA competition. And Lucas, I think you made a great point closing out that first segment saying that, you know, this isn’t a referendum on Nolan. Like, this isn’t to say that Ben is going to have a better career than Nolan or Nolan’s like gonna have a worse career than Ben. This is just where they’re at right now. And these this wasn’t necessarily something that was unknown. Like these were the critiques of Nolan’s game, you know, last season at St. Quinton was this lack of an in between game, the lack of, you know, a little bit of the in between craft, the ability to get to some of those spots. And you said that, you know, this next se two seasons like he’s going to need to show improvement. And by like in his third season, he’ll only be 21 years old. But like I have a little bit, you know, as you said, a little bit of a level of concern of just like these are things that a lot of it is innate and it’s just like feel for the game and ability to get to these spots and ability like just a natural feel of how to operate in these ways. And for a guy in Nolan who plays so fast and gets downhill at such, you know, like with such velocity, it is a little bit of a change to be able to do some of these things. You know, when you look at like you wrote a film review piece on him, when you look at the things that he did prior to last season, like are there a lot of flashes in that game, you would say, where he’s done these sort of things where you feel like, okay, like he has this, it’s just about, you know, kind of bringing it out of him a little bit more, or do you think it’s something that he just really needs to develop altogether? both people around him and people really in the know would say the season before he was playing for St. Quinton. Uh so in 2023 24 he flashed more of that in between game a little bit more craft and poise. But as you keep scaling up it’s really hard to increase your craft while you’re at such a physicality and athleticism deficit. Whereas, and again, I don’t mean to always keep doing the head-to-head thing, but a guy like Ben, you do trust to make, I guess, improvements a little bit quicker because he’s not at such a disadvantage in terms of his frame and physicality, right? So, he’s not trying to climb two mountains at once in terms of the craft and in terms of his body. Whereas Nolan is kind of both right now. Like to your point, there’s probably a ceiling on how much he can improve that intermediate part of his game while his body is still catching up to the NBA level. Um, but in terms of the the positives, cuz it was not all negative and he was a first round pick for a reason. It’s not the understanding of the game in terms of like reading the floor and understanding pressure points. Um, it’s really just kind of his ability to manipulate space and and the handle in tight spaces. Um, but like today, you know, there’s obviously growing pains. Like today, Claxton had the ball at the top of the key and there was, you know, like an offball action and Nolan had a slip to the basket that would have been a layup and he just kind of didn’t see it. So there, you know, there’s also stuff like that. But I would say, yeah, that’s where I’m at on Nolan. To your question, there was not such a lack of that in his pre-draft film that I would just say, “Oh, it’s not going to happen.” And he has to find other ways to improve. There is there are flashes of the intermediate scoring and craft. Yeah. And for for Jagor and Nolan, like we’ve heard from Nets coaches, the body is going to be the biggest thing. Like he needs to get his body to a level that allows him to do these things comfortably because that is a huge asset when you’re trying to, you know, operate in the lane and do some of these things. Like we we’re seeing a different position, but we’re seeing the same thing with Nick Claxton. a guy who, you know, obviously is nowhere near the level of ball handler that Nolan is, but a guy who’s trying to improve his like off the bounce juice and scoring around the basket and his feel in those areas and he really wasn’t able to do that until his body, you know, is getting to a level that is requisite with NBA defenders and physicality. So, Nolan’s got to get there. Yeah. But Nolan also has to improve as an outside shooter. So, there’s kind of like two areas that I don’t think are necessarily always easy to develop that he’s going to have to improve. And, you know, this is for Ben and Nolan. Like, neither of these guys right now can shoot. Like, if you look at through seven games, you know, four summer league games, three preeason games, Nolan and Ben are combined three of 21 from three. Nolan’s two of 13 and Ben is one of eight. So, I think that that is not necessarily going to be like make or break. It would certainly help, you know, both of them a lot if they could develop the three-point shot. But let’s go to Ben now because when you look at this performance, this 11 assist performance from Ben, you know, 11 assists in 22 minutes, like nothing to, you know, scoff your nose at. And how when you look at this, like is this something where you’re like, I okay, I thought he had that in him, or is this something where as it’s unfolding, you’re like a little surprised that he was able to put this this performance together in his second game against NBA level competition? I would say pleasantly just feel feeling pleasantly like I can’t say I’m shocked but I also don’t want to give myself too much credit because I’m like oh I knew the 26 pick was going to be good right away. Um, but it makes sense based on like if he’s going to be good, you would expect the question marks to remain questions for a while, like kind of the shooting um, and some of the lateral quickness, but you would expect the strengths to play right away, at least a little bit, and they have been. This is a message that someone uh, who does a lot of great draft work um, sent to me. He said, I don’t know if you’d want me to say his name. I I don’t think it really matters. He said, “Yeah, he said, “I really like the strength with the pace and the feel. It seems like he has the fewest critical issues of the Nets rookie group. He gets to spots and knows what to do when he gets there. And I think if you just want a three sentence, you know, understanding of why he’s impressed so far, that’s it right there.” Yeah. And and I think that um you know when you look at everything that he’s been able to do in these few games, it lends confidence that he’s going to be able to build on it in some other areas and develop further. You know, I mean the jump shot has a long way to go, but we did see like the buckets that he did score in this game. Like he did show a little bit of a feel of, you know, getting downhill and stopping on a dime and, you know, feeling the defender go by and being able to pull up in the mid-range and hit that jumper. Like that is a good thing. I think from three you’re seeing, you know, him and Nolan, but I see Ben on a few possessions like passing up open threes that they really shouldn’t be and looking to drive them. And I feel like that as the season progresses is going like Jord’s patient right now. But I could see Jordy getting a little fiery as the season progresses if he continues to if Ben of them, but if Ben continues to, you know, look off those open threes because he did that in summer league a few times and that’s carrying over into the preseason. seems like there needs to be a little bit of like a rewiring because even if he shoots a terrible percentage, he just needs to take him like he him or Nolan, I don’t remember which one it was, but took like I think it was in the first Suns game, a defender went under a screen, they you know, off one dribble, pulled up and took the three and it didn’t look good from the top of the key, but it’s like yes, just keep taking those if they’re going to do that. And they haven’t really been to this point. So that’s your mindset shift. in the first one. First game, Ben missed two and then he passed up like three or like three or four right away like where he had a catch and shoot opportunity. Um yeah, it’s got to be an interesting wiring for those guys, right? Because Ben and Nolan, these guys are smart basketball players. I mean, they have had so much ball handling responsibility for professional teams and they know that like a a catch andoot three if they’re not feeling it is not a great shot for the offense numbers wise. So, they feel much more comfortable. Okay, let me get the ball and like let me try to get something off the dribble. And if we’re just being totally um quantitative about it, probably right, that’s going to lead to better offense. But in the long term, they do need to shoot. So, that’s got to be interesting for them. I I wanted to throw It’s kind of like a It’s Sorry to cut you off. It’s kind of like like you said, like these guys are they’re smart high IQ basketball. That’s players. Part of the reason the Nets brought them in. So, it’s kind of like a dissonance between them being like, okay, I’m not that good of a shooter. Like, this isn’t great for the offense, but, you know, kind of putting that to the side and being like, I need to develop as a shooter. So, I think Jordy and this player development staff, which I think they will is going to have to hammer it home, like pull them to the side, be like, but like we’re not even trying to win this year. Like, jack like jack those threes up if you’re open. Like, we need you to take those shots. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how long it takes them to be like percentages be damned, you know, points per possession be damned. Like, I’m going to take these shots because it’s in my best interest developmentally. What do you think Ben shot on catch and shoot threes last year with Ratzio Farm? Uh, he shot 27 overall. So, I don’t know. I’d say like low30s maybe. 37%. 37%. Okay. Very few attempts. very few attempts. Probably it looks like two a gameish 30 28 of 76. So, you know, he he shot worse the year before and like small sample size, but again, it’s not a thing that is totally out of the question that he’s fine even if some of the misses early on have looked bad. Um, and again, just so young and you know, I was talking about it. I think Noah Clowney and Kobe Buffkin, we were watching them shoot around at in practice one day and it’s like, man, you can just tell two years of like NBA strength and skill training and their shots just look professional. And so after two years, Ben and Nolan, like you know, we’ll see. It’s certainly I wouldn’t say it’s hopeless. We will see. That’s to be determined. But it’s something that I think I have determined right now is that this Net’s offense is going to look really bad with these guys handling the ball a lot. And that’s obviously a lot of that has to do with them and the struggles that they have handling ball pressure. But then also there’s guys like Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. who are going to factor into the conversation. So what did we see from those guys and how do we feel about this Nets offense as a whole with the regular season opener approaching? Get into all that when we close out Locked on Nets after a quick break. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Guys, FanDuel gives you so many ways to play. You can build parlays, try player props, and even follow live lines during games. It makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little something riding on the action. Whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? 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We got Jorgman and Nolan Troy, Ben Sraa rolling with that and that is probably going to help us tank a lot because our offense is just going to be at a much lower level than it was last year with Dennis Shruder and some of these guys. These first two preseason games, you’re seeing that vision a lot. So, you know, obviously there are going to be struggles from Nolan and Ben handling ball pressure and that is going to lead to this offense just looking like it’s in complete disarray a lot of the time. But the guys who are going to be tasked with calming it down sometimes are Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. The top two guys. And we saw Cam Thomas come out in the first uh the first preseason game against the Suns. And he looked really good. He had 22 points. He had six assists, only one turnover, seven of 12 from the field. I think he was like six of six from the free throw line. Really efficient showing. And that was encouraging. And then he came out in game two and it kind of reverted a little bit more to what we’ve seen of Cam Thomas in the past where he had he scored 16 he shot points he struggled from the field four of 12 but he only had one assists in like 24 minutes or something like that. So when you look at Cam Thomas how did you feel about his approach in these first two preseason games? And do you feel like there’s going to be anything different this year or do you think we’re going down the same path that we have been? I mean, I think he’s getting better still. I think you can really see him refining some of what makes him a valuable offensive player. Like just the individual ability to draw fouls and looks a little sprier this year. Like I don’t know if that’s I’m making that up, but like on the he lost a lot of weight like But don’t you think he looks it? Do you think he like No. Yeah, I do. I thought he looked at at I thought he looked at at practices and then we asked him about it. And this is like what’s so funny about Cam is he’s I feel like he’ll he’ll just even like when he’s so clearly trying to make changes, he’ll never admit that like maybe he had a wrong approach about anything like you know what I mean? Like he he added all this muscle. He looked like almost like a linebacker these last couple years and he had three hamstring injuries last season. So then he we asked him at the end of last year like do you feel like this added weight? you feel like any of the training like, you know, played a a role in these hamstring injuries? And he was like, “No.” And then he comes back the next off seasonason and he looks like he’s dropped a significant amount of weight. And you asked him like, “Do you think any was any of that like due to the hamstring injuries? Do you feel like this will change the way you’re doing anything?” And he’s like, “No, it’s just like I just didn’t like the way I looked last year.” Like it was almost like an aesthetics thing. And it’s just like that’s just like the funny part of Cam Thomas’ personality. But the point when you give him a chance to be like talk about this improvement that you’ve made, he’s like, “Nah, I’m the same.” And that’s what makes him good. Like that is what drives him. And um I mean, yeah, sorry. Go on. No. And that there was also a playmaking conversation like you know this is he’s been asked this question numerous times about are you going to try to be more of a playmaker? But somebody in China asked him it. Yeah. And he said no. He said no. Like I’m just going to play my game. like whatever. Like that might be true, that might not be true. But with the body thing, he did lose weight and that was I think you can pretty much safely say that was partly due to the hamstring injuries and also he, you know, at the rim I feel like he didn’t look like he was finishing as well last season. Like he didn’t look like he was elevating at the same level. It was just a different kind of way he was approaching the game and he lost the weight and I do think it’s showing up on the court to your point. So do you feel like that’s going to play a significant role in him kind of changing things this season? I don’t know about significant, but I just think, you know, he is young and he really hasn’t played as many minutes in the NBA as you might think given we just had this whole restricted free agency thing and like but if you look at him versus other guys that went through restricted free agency, Giddy has played way more NBA minutes than Cam Thomas. I don’t have the numbers offhand, but yeah, he’s still getting better. Um, and there are just he’s still getting better, but he is kind of not, you know, I don’t think gonna make this drastic change. Like, he’s good and twoon two situations. I think the anticipation skills where he can draw fouls and find shooting angles, find open shots lead him to finding lobs and finding dump off passes. But, you know, sometimes there are plays and dynamic situations where he doesn’t see a kickout pass and there’s just not the instant reaction of the the the playmaking that you would want if he’s going to have this 30% usage rate where it’s I’m working my way to the rim. I’m working my way to my spot, but oh, like someone has come open unexpectedly in the corner. Let me find an open three. And so even like in the first game you see him, you know, 18 on the shot clock, kind of come down in semi-transition, shot fake, shot fake, pivot, pivot, you know, 18-footer. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t, but like this is the Cam Thomas experience, right? All of that to say, he’s a good offensive player because he makes a lot of jump shots. And if shots, a lot, really, really tough jump shots. Really tough jump shot. It’s just it’s so impressive, man. like some of the shots that he hits like you always hear the announcers and they’re almost like taken the back but you know I I’ve I’ve not to cut you off but I I just I’ve almost felt like it’s interesting with Cam Thomas because I felt like this position that he’s been put into the last couple seasons like it’s good because he’s playing but I feel like it hasn’t been like the situation that might be best for his development in that it can’t have a it can’t be a 30% usage rate like that’s just you’re not going to get the best out of him for the team. I’m not saying he’s bad. I’m not ripping him, but like you know how many guys lead good offenses on 30% usage rate, that type of stuff. It’s like the top.1% of off of guys. But that’s my point. I feel like in this offense, like maybe he would be doing this regardless, but like I feel like if he had a few like a star next to him or some like really really highle players, he wouldn’t be, you know, like now he’s just looking around like I’m going to go get mine. Like of course and that’s fine and I I get that. But the question really is like are we sure that putting different guys around him would change it? Like maybe he doesn’t I don’t think so. And I I sounds so negative a little bit. But would it change it or would he just kind of be in the corner a little bit more often and and taking some more catch and shoot threes which again great shot for him. He is a great shooter. But that this you know it’s kind of a circular roundabout you know questioning like okay then where else is he providing value? like why wouldn’t you just get a guy that is like a little bit worse of maybe an offensive player off the bounce but you know can space cut and defend around better players. Uh, I don’t mean to like do this whole conversation again with Cam, but he’s going to lead them to some wins. And like we can joke about the Nets maybe sealing topping out as a 30 35 win team if they like, you know, went for it for some reason this season. And I know that’s not good, but like to lead a team to that is you got to be pretty decent. And if that’s what Cam Thomas is, then you know he’ll show it this year and he’ll win them some games because he is can do these things on offense. Yeah. and and we’ve known this, but I think another takeaway from these first couple preseason games, and we got to, you know, roll through this because we got to wrap up the episode. I think, you know, if we if the Nets remove him from the equation, you know, early in the year, relatively early with a trade or something or like they’re winning some more games, like he’s the only guy on this team who can get a bucket off the bounce really. like the rookies can do it like once in a while maybe like some other guys will get lucky on some plays but like if you’re talking about going to work off the dribble and getting a bucket he’s like the only guy so if you take him out of the equation that is going to hamper this team’s ability to compete a lot and I’m interested to see as the season progresses with how these contract negotiations went you know how does that situation like how does the Nets having the tanking incentive how does Cam maybe maybe he wants to get to a different situation to showcase what he can do on a decent team. It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. Want to touch on MPJ quickly. He’s the other guy who I said is going to be a go-to guy. My takeaway from this kind of known he can’t really do much off of more than like one or two dribbles. And like that is why I’ve kind of felt Jordy admitted this much pretty much at practice when I asked him about it recently. And that’s why I thought, you know, the idea of him coming in filling that Cam Johnson role like at that level, I feel like that was pretty farfetched. He might still score a lot and do some things, but I feel like it’s going to be in a different way than Cam Thomas than Cam Johnson did it last season in his role. You know what he’s almost your brief thought on that because we got to close it out. He’s best as almost like the tight end on a good passing offense where with all the back offball movement, you know, and the and the uh twirl actions and coming off screens and slipping them, he’s a huge target that he’s already had a few back door cuts. you know, you throw it up to him if you’re Ben Sarafh on on a on a back door and like there’s two easy assists a night, you know what I mean? Like kind of a safety blanket tight end sort of guy in the red zone. Yeah. And then yes, you know, you’ll get him off some, you know, pin downs that kind of operate like pick and rolls, you know, where the screener dives and he’ll do some of that, but it’ll be way less, I think, of an offensive creation season than Cam Johnson last year. Um, which again, good third maybe, maybe maybe Denver could have gotten more out of him as a third, fourth guy, but the Nets just don’t have the infrastructure to really see that. They’re probably going to have to struggle with him as a second guy, you know. Okay, well said, Lucas. And that’s all we have today, but I appreciate you taking the time and we’re going to have you back this week. We got some Drake Pal, we got Danny Wolf talk. We’re do a lot more leading up to this final preseason game and then the regular season, but appreciate you taking the time as always, my man. That does it for today’s episode of Locked on Nets. If you guys do not already, subscribe to Locked on Nets on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. If you enjoy the content, take a second, smash that like button, leave a comment, leave a fivestar review. Anything you can do to engage is much appreciated. We got one more preseason game left. We got plenty to break down on these prior preseason games and then we got the regular season rolling on around the corner. So, I’ll have coverage of all that and more when I’m back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater and Lucas Kaplan react to Ben Saraf’s 11-assist performance during the Brooklyn Nets’ preseason win over the Phoenix Suns. They analyze the point guard race between Saraf and Nolan Traore and what both players’ roles will look like moving forward.

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