{"id":368604,"date":"2026-10-09T05:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368604\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T05:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:01:34","slug":"egor-demin-making-nets-forget-what-theyre-missing-in-mikel-brown-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368604\/","title":{"rendered":"Egor Demin making Nets forget what they’re missing in Mikel Brown Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

Halfway through Egor D\u00ebmin\u2019s rookie season, the Nets slid him off the ball. A year later, with Mikel Brown Jr. out<\/a>, they\u2019ve moved him back to lead guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, is D\u00ebmin a point guard? A shooting guard?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither, D\u00ebmin says. He\u2019s a player, and he\u2019s a winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And early preseason returns say the Russian might be right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philadelphia 76ers forward LeBron James (23) defends Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin (8) during the first half at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\u201cI think back to last year in summer league \u2014 and even before that on the predraft when I was in the workout with Brooklyn \u2014 I\u2019ve been saying at all times to Jordi [Fern\u00e1ndez] and the other coaches that I\u2019m seeing myself as a very versatile player in the future and that I want to be anywhere I can benefit the team,\u201d D\u00ebmin said. \u201cI\u2019m a winner, so I want to win as much as I can.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that means for me to have 25 assists and five points, or whatever that means for me, I want to win first. Working on certain things helps to be even more versatile, whether I\u2019m off or on the ball. And that\u2019s the goal, for sure, is being everywhere and being able to be everywhere. You look at LeBron [James], he can play from 1-through-5.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin started a second preseason game Thursday at point guard and sparked a second Nets win, this one 114-108 over James\u2019 76ers<\/a> at Barclays Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Brown unavailable, D\u00ebmin had 13 points, a game high-tying five assists and finished a game-high plus-13 in 21:36. It was another auspicious outing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin (8) drives to the basket past Philadelphia 76ers forward Jabari Walker (33) during the first half of a preseason NBA game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. Heather Khalifa for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cVery composed, five assists, one turnover, got to the paint multiple times,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cYou just can see how much he\u2019s improved already from last year. I probably wanted him to be a little bit more aggressive shooting 3s, but his willingness to get everybody involved is showing. He played the right way, defended. \u2026 He was a good leader handling the ball, communicating with everybody. His voice is growing, so it\u2019s very important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Using his voice is vital for the 20-year-old sophomore, who is rapidly growing into a leadership role on this young, rebuilding Nets team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not afraid to lead,\u201d Julius Randle said. \u201cWe know what he does on the court, talent-wise how he is, but he\u2019s not afraid to lead and use his voice. And I try to encourage him to do that even more. You\u2019re not too young to be a leader. So, he\u2019s very vocal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell he\u2019s comfortable in his own skin, with who he is as a player, and really understands the game. So he\u2019s never trying to prove anything out there; he\u2019s just playing the game and making the right plays. But he\u2019s not afraid to use his voice. You can tell he has a point guard background. So he knows how to lead a team and get us organized. He has a bright future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin started last season as a point guard but too often got turned at the point of attack and couldn\u2019t drive. An offseason spent bulking up and working on his downhill game has paid dividends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Nets\u2019 Egor Demin, right, drives to the basket against Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 Vj Edgecombe (77) during the first half. AP Photo\/Pamela Smith<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, it looked like he touched the paint, he had no plan for it,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe worked, and he put his mind to it and handling pressure. He\u2019s just like a new player.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This new player gives Fern\u00e1ndez options if he and Brown can play on or off the ball once the latter returns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin repeatedly touched the paint during the win at Charlotte on Tuesday. On Thursday, he crossed up James and went over Joel Embiid for what likely was the best drive of his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really trying to be a leader of this group in the most selfless way,\u201d D\u00ebmin said. \u201cI want to win and I want to do whatever it takes to win. I want to make sure that I understand every single person and that\u2019s my way to lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, putting as much work as I can to lead as an example of what I\u2019m doing from a development standpoint and being vocal is what Julius talked about is going to be a big part of who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halfway through Egor D\u00ebmin\u2019s rookie season, the Nets slid him off the ball. A year later, with Mikel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":["post-368604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368604","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=368604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}