Ben Saraf and Ulm recorded their first loss of the season across all competitions, falling to Bamberg 103-100 in the German League Cup Round of 16 as Ronaldo Segu drilled home a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Saraf chalked up 20 points and 4 assists in 22 minutes in his squad’s defeat but once again showed why he is shooting up the NBA draft boards around the world.

Throughout the season, Moshe Halickman, who has been covering Ben Saraf since 2021 for the Hebrew side of the Sports Rabbi website will now analyze the Israeli’s performances from a different point of view and from a fun angle in English too! But to find out what his final rating was you’ll need to read all the way until the end of the column.

The Good: Assists
Most of Sharaf’s assists came before the game was on TV here in Israel due to Yom Kippur, but 4 assists in 22 minutes is not a bad at all, certainly considering that he came off the bench. Saraf once again brought his excellent passing ability to the forefront.

The Bad: Turnovers
Saraf coughed up the ball twice which not something unusual, but both came in the 3rd quarter when his team was struggling and were critical and unnecessary turnovers.

The Good: 2nd Quarter Triple
Ulm was leading by double digits but that advantage was reduced to just 2 points when Saraf was there to hit a big 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, in a game where he was 1-1 from beyond the arc. He later put up an airball from long distance as the shot clock expired, but the shot did not appear to count on the stat sheet.

The Bad: 0 Rebounds
Saraf finished the game without a rebound. True, he is a point guard and rebounding definitely not isn’t one of his main tasks on the floor, but with his height he should have been able to collect at least one board over the course of the game.

The Good: Drawing Fouls
Saraf once again showed that he can penetrate into the paint with ease and by doing that he draws many fouls which then puts him on the line. Even on plays that seemed borderline, he was able to get the calls from the referees as he has quickly earned their respect.

The Bad: Free Throws
Over time we see that Saraf’s ability to score from the charity stripe is mediocre at best right now, certainly for a guard. Every time he reached the line in the game, he missed the first shot and scored the second on the way to 3-6 overall. While it’s true that these 3 missed free throws weren’t the main thing that decided the game it’s and there are so many factors that make the difference, but when you look at the final result 103-100, obviously 3 more points from the line couldn’t hurt. In general, no one is perfect, but going more than 50% is definitely possible.

The Good: Cutting
It may seem commonplace at this point that Saraf manages to cut inside where he gets the ball and finishes easily in the paint and that’s what he did in this game as well.

The Bad: On for Offense, Off for Defense
This is also becoming a phenomenon, as coach Ty Harrelson makes sure that Saraf is on the floor every important offensive possession in money time, but takes him off on the ensuing defensive possession. It happened in this game as well as Saraf wasn’t on the floor when Bamberg hit the game winning 3-pointer. Saraf may not have impressed defensively during the matchup, but his coach in general does not see him as one of the players he wants on the floor on the defensive side of the ball at the end of the game and that is not a good thing.

The Good: Soft Hand
Saraf is able to create for himself from the midrange and in this game he took his shots even closer to the basket going 7/9 from two which is excellent.

The Bad: Finishing at the rim
Unless he draws a foul that earns him shots from the line, when Saraf drives to the basket he struggles to finish at the rim and ends up being blocked on multiple occasions.

The Good: 17 points in the second half
What a second half Saraf had. He scored 8 points after coming off the bench in the 3rd quarter and in the 4th quarter, he once again came to the forefront with 9 points including an incredible basket from the right corner at the end of the shot clock. Down by 3 points in the final seconds of the game, Saraf found himself all alone in the paint and cut the Bamberg lead down to just a lone point bringing his game total to 20 points. Once again, Saraf showed his ability to excel in crunch time, even though the end result was not in his favor. He was also instrumental while inbounding the ball when Ulm tied the game up in the dying moments of the clash.

The Rating: 8
8.5 would have been more accurate and obviously if the result had been different Saraf’s rating would have been higher. At the end of the day Ulm lost so it’s hard to give anyone on the team a score of 10 and to be honest Alfonso Plummer was the best player on this night and starred in the clutch on the way to 23 points going 7/9 from deep. Plummer would get a 9 for his showing (or more accurately, 9.5), then there is room to differentiate him from Saraf who was not perfect, especially from the line. But let there be no doubt, Saraf’s performance was excellent but due to the fact that the loss was not just any loss but one in a knockout game makes one feel that this was really a missed opportunity. Next up for Saraf is a EuroCup game on coming (20:00) when Ulm will meet Besiktas on the road in Turkey, just before the intriguing game against Deni Avdija’s Portland Trail Blazers on Sukkot. Saraf’s draft stock is only rising and the sky’s the limit.