NBA Mock Draft: Rockets select intriguing playmaker in new mock

Fans of the Houston Rockets watch the Suns. They happen to do it with malicious intent.

You know the drill. Every Suns loss is a Rockets win. They own their pick in the 2025 draft. As of now, it looks like that pick will land in the lottery.

How high in the lottery? That remains to be seen. For some time, that selection has been entrenched as having the 12th-best odds. Still, with the hardest schedule remaining in the NBA, the Suns could hand the Rockets something juicier.

For now, those remain the odds. Yet, for as much as the Rockets' odds have stagnated, the draft itself is in perpetual flux. It's difficult to get a hold on how this will shake out. This class feels extremely fluid outside of the top-5.

In a new mock, Bleacher Report has them taking a prospect that SpaceCityScoop hasn't covered yet.

Rockets grab intriguing playmaker in new mock

That would be Ratiopharm ULM's Ben Saraf.

A soon-to-be Israeli export, Saraf is an international prospect with plenty of intrigue. He's a 6'5" ball-handler with outstanding playmaking chops. Saraf has garnered comparisons to Manu Ginobili.

Yet, he's not a perfect prospect. Across 16 games in the last Eurocup tournament, Saraf shot 22.2% from long-range. Save yourself the time you'd spend scouring his career stats for a more encouraging number. Saraf has been a poor shooter throughout his entire young basketball career.

He's also a suspect defender. Saraf will have limited athletic tools at the NBA level. He may be a target on the less glamorous end of the floor.

Is this the right prospect for the Rockets?

Rockets could take a gamble on Saraf

This is a tough one.

On one hand, it feels like the answer is an immediate "no". If Saraf can't shoot, he's a poor fit with this roster. Shooting, in case you've never heard of the Houston Rockets, has been an issue for this team.

Defense has not - and Ime Udoka would like to keep it that way. If Saraf can't defend, he's unlikely to find his way into Udoka's rotation. So the Rockets should pass on Saraf, right?

Well...

In this mock, Saraf has the highest upside of anyone left on the board when the Rockets select at 12.

South Carolina's Collin Murray-Boyles comes off the board next. Shooting is his concern as well. Moreover, he's a wing. The Rockets have a surplus of wings and should be more interested in a potential primary playmaker like Saraf.

How about Oklahoma's Jeremiah Fears? He's a potential primary playmaker. The Rockets could justify taking him in this spot, but like Saraf and Murray-Boyles, he struggles with shooting. Fears' underlying metrics are concerning as well.

Past that point, the Rockets would be reaching. They could justify trading down for a prospect who's a cleaner fit, but if they're standing pat, Saraf would be as good of a choice as any. If anything, they should be hoping that someone likes him so much that someone like Liam McNeeley, Kon Knueppel or Khaman Maluach is on the board.

Unless the Suns hand them a high enough pick to land them outright.