told Brian Lewis of The Post.<\/a> \u201cHe is a good shooter, and it is always good for me to play with good shooters.\u201d<\/p>\nFor his part, Demin has said that Traore\u2019s ability to fly past defenders and open things up on the perimeter is a big help to his shooting. And while they haven\u2019t played a lot minutes together \u2014 including Monday night when Demin rested and Traore had his best game \u2014 the numbers are catching up to the eye test. We\u2019re no longer in small sample theater.<\/p>\n
Look at the six games that Demin and Traore have started since January 29. Demin has averaged 11.7 points on 43\/38\/83 in those games while Traore has put up 11.0 points on 49\/37\/78. Those are not huge numbers but for teenagers, they\u2019re more than solid. Indeed, they go a long way to justifying the Nets decision-making. And within that stretch, Demin has twice broken his career highs in points with games of 25 and 26 plus once in rebounds at 10 and registered his first NBA double double. Traore also notched his first double-double within that stretch and had career highs in points \u2014 21 twice \u2014 and assists at 13. Moreover, Demin set an NBA rookie record for 3-pointers in consecutive games and Traore became the youngest player in Nets history to register 10 assists in a game. Together they became the two youngest rookies in franchise history to register 20 points in the same game.<\/p>\n
For Traore, it has to be particularly encouraging considering his slow start.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach time you improve, and when you go out and improve a level it shows progress. It\u2019s hard in the beginning, and then it becomes easier,\u201d Traore told Lewis, adding of his improved finishing, \u201cI think it\u2019s just the work; the work I put in every day. And then I\u2019m just getting used to the speed of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their coach is also encouraged by how they\u2019re progressed as individuals and teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the creation,\u201d coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cNolan is able to get into the paint early in possessions, whether it\u2019s to finish or spray it out. We\u2019re starting to see us play earlier, which is good.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe and Egor can both create. \u2026 The next step is the level of physicality. Them being rookies will never be an excuse. They\u2019ve got to use those minutes to improve their technique and learn how to play with more physicality right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, he told Lewis he sees the potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see it as one guy covering for the other: I like the shooting from both of them. Nolan\u2019s not shy when he\u2019s open. We\u2019ve seen Egor shoot at a very high level. Nolan\u2019s speed, his paint touches and pick-and-roll playmaking, same with Egor. \u2026 They have clear goals, short-term things they need to do on both ends. As long as they keep taking those steps they\u2019re doing a great job and that\u2019s what matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
What may also matter in June, as Lewis notes, is how the Nets will see the 2026 Draft with its plethora of guards. Darryn Peterson, Kingston Flemings and Mikel Brown Jr. all are \u201con-ball dynamos.\u201d With a little luck, the Nets could have their choice and Sean Marks & co. always professes that it\u2019s about best pick available. We shall see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back when they were drafted and even into the season, there were doubts \u2014 a lot of them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,3282,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-129298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-nets-analysis","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}