Rookies Drake Powell and Ben Saraf were nowhere to be found at Tuesday’s Nets practice. Instead, they were a few miles East at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, getting G League minutes in Long Island’s 112–107 loss to the College Park Skyhawks.
For Powell, now a regular in the Nets’ rotation, it marked his first G League appearance. Saraf, meanwhile, returned to a setting he knows well, heading back to Long Island for the first time since mid-November to get needed reps during Brooklyn’s extended layoff before Friday’s matchup with the Dallas Mavericks.
Both rookies continued to show flashes. Powell scored just eight points, most of them at the free throw line, but grabbed seven rebounds and handed out five assists as Brooklyn keeps pushing him to grow into a more complete wing. Saraf shot 2-for-10 from the field and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.
And fans shouldn’t forget about fellow rookie Nolan Traore, who’s been rapidly improving in the G League since late November. He’s now averaging 18.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists across 12 games while shooting 41.3% from 3-point range. He kept that momentum going against the Skyhawks, contributing 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the loss.
Such swings in performance are natural for rookies and young prospects. Repetition is the fastest path to growth, and the Nets hope those experiences translate into reliable production at both levels of the organization. Powell, Saraf, Traore and two-way players Tyson Etienne and E.J. Liddell, and others, are all navigating that development arc. Coaches in Brooklyn and Long Island are working closely to make sure each one progresses toward his ceiling.
Jordi Fernández often says Brooklyn and Long Island operate as “two clubs, but one organization.” After Tuesday’s practice, with Long Island’s game against the Skyhawks playing on the video board, the Nets head coach expanded on what that actually means.
“Obviously, we have our coaches watching how the players are doing, communicating with our coaches there, making sure we meet expectations as far as how we want to compete and how we want them to play, how we see them as NBA players and they do what they’re supposed to do,” Fernández said.
The oversight is shared across the organization. Long Island’s game against the Westchester Knicks on Wednesday will offer another real-time window into that development work, with Powell, Saraf and Traore expected to remain on G League assignment.
“Obviously, we have right now our front office there [today], I’ll be at the game tomorrow, so all those things that we can do to not just support them, but also to make sure that the process goes well and that they understand the only thing we care about is the process,” Fernández said.
Fernández said the developmental approach is the same whether a player is in Brooklyn or Long Island. The expectations do not change. If the staff wants Saraf to run pick-and-rolls with more intention or avoid low-value pull-up 3s, those standards apply in both places. The same goes for recognizing good shots, defending with discipline and understanding how each action fits into the larger system.
And it’s not just Powell, Saraf or Traore. Two-way players like Liddell and Etienne, along with the rest of the Long Island roster, are held to those same benchmarks. For Fernández, the G League is not only about giving players reps. It is also about building alignment across the entire operation, from the roster to the coaches to the performance and medical staffs who help shape each player’s growth.
“All those reps are huge and it’s also huge for the rest of the guys there,” Fernández said. “They’re our players, too. That’s why we have a coaching staff that sees them every day, we can go through the whole roster, and also with our coaches. We’re developing coaches. We’re developing players. We’re developing performance and medical staff. So, all that is very important for us.”
While Traore’s rapid rise speaks to the organization’s development work, Danny Wolf, the 27th pick in June’s draft, is the clearest example of how NBA reps can turn into NBA confidence.
The 21-year-old made only three NBA appearances from opening night through Nov. 24, with several G League stints mixed in. He dominated at that level, averaging 20.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists across seven games while shooting 48.1% from the field.
Since breaking into Brooklyn’s rotation, he’s quickly become a key part of how the group operates. Over his last six games, he’s averaging 11.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 44.4% from deep, giving the Nets the freedom to stretch the floor and experiment with taller lineups that use the 6-11 rookie as a primary connector.
His rise underscores the larger theme running through the organization: consistent reps, whether in Brooklyn or Long Island, can accelerate a young player’s trajectory.
“The Brooklyn Nets, Long Island is just one big umbrella,” Wolf said. “The coaches are in unison with their messages and they kind of share the same beliefs. It’s similar schemes both offensively and defensively there. It’s been great. The coaching staff and front office made it clear they want us to get as many reps as possible wherever that may be, and when I was in Long Island, I just tried to take advantage of them. When I got my opportunity here, I just took it and ran with it, and no matter where I’m at I’m just going to keep working on my game.”
