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He's got the keys. The Nets are dressing nine players tonight. MPJ, Claxton, Clowney, Minott, Mann, Traore, Wolf, & Ziaire all out. When this happens, Saraf stops being a rookie waiting his turn and becomes THE guy who runs the entire offense. In the two games this skeleton crew has existed, he scored 22 against Sacramento and 19 against Milwaukee on Tuesday, leading the team in usage both nights, and posted games of 21 drives twice. Brooklyn drafted him 26th overall and has been shuttling him between the NBA and Long Island all season, waiting for the right moment to hand him the keys. These final games ARE that moment. Fernandez started him Tuesday, played him 35 minutes, and let him run every possession while veterans filled a finishing role around him. The G-League tape backs it up. He's been cooking in Long Island lately with games of 21, 40, 32, 21 points when playing 30+ minutes, averaging 19.5 on 54% over the L4 games. Books set this at 15.5 because they see a rookie averaging 6.6 on the season. That number includes 50 games where he was the sixth option at 10% usage while Wolf and Traore handled the ball. That version of Saraf doesn't exist tonight. Tonight's version is the kid Brooklyn is actively developing as their future point guard, attacking Indiana's 2nd-worst PnR ball handler defense and 3rd-worst restricted area defense with a 21-drive volume floor. The last time he saw the Pacers he dropped 12 in just 17 minutes as a reseve to Traroe (20 points). If you scale that to 32-35 minutes tonight and you're north of 20. Both teams are tanking, both teams are playing their kids, and Saraf is the best kid on the floor. #PlayerProps