{"id":377571,"date":"2026-10-20T03:26:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T03:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/377571\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T03:26:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T03:26:49","slug":"egor-demins-added-muscle-is-already-showing-in-his-nets-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/377571\/","title":{"rendered":"Egor Demin’s added muscle is already showing in his Nets play"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Nets tipping off Wednesday against the Hornets, it\u2019s hard to quantify just how far Egor D\u00ebmin has come from this point a year ago as a rookie.<\/p>\n

But coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s quippy answer does speak to D\u00ebmin\u2019s biggest strides.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe ask the performance team about his weight and how much bigger his biceps is. Maybe that\u2019s a way to quantify,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI\u2019m very happy with the way he\u2019s played. \u2026He sees the floor very well, and he\u2019s done a great job getting into the [paint].\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin\u2019s added muscle has been well documented<\/a>, as has his growth from a lithe teen who struggled against NBA physicality to a more filled-out version.<\/p>\n

The second-year guard couldn\u2019t or wouldn\u2019t say how much stronger he\u2019s gotten, only that he\u2019s more ready for the rigors of the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true. There was a growth, a significant growth, in what dumbbells I\u2019m picking up on the arm day, yeah,\u201d D\u00ebmin laughed.<\/p>\n

But for the Russian, it\u2019s about more than just touching the paint or even getting to the rim.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about knowing what to do when he gets there.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, play off two feet and look for the spray or keep your options open. But don\u2019t go in there without a plan,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe\u2019s done a great job. He\u2019s worked at it, and shown he\u2019s way more comfortable now getting there.<\/p>\n

\"EgorEgor Demin (8) of the Brooklyn Nets passes the ball during a game against the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re 18, 19, the game goes so fast. Now it slows down, because you\u2019re more confident, you\u2019re stronger. We\u2019ve seen it in preseason \u2014 he\u2019s just got to continue to do it in the regular season.\u201d<\/p>\n

That regular season starts Wednesday against the visiting Hornets.<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin will likely start on the ball<\/a>, with Mikel Brown Jr. still on a minutes limit. That means D\u00ebmin will have to not only not get turned at the point of attack, but actually have a plan once he gets in the paint.<\/p>\n

\"BrooklynBrooklyn Nets\u2019 Egor Demin (8) dribbles the ball during a game against the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center in Miami, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t done that for a while, getting to the rim like that actively, and sometimes when I get there it\u2019s hard to believe, where I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m actually here,\u2019 and I almost expect something to happen,\u201d D\u00ebmin admitted. \u201cSo for me, realize that I\u2019m actually a big body, so\u2026 it\u2019s harder to defend for people, especially now. So just having a state of mind that nobody can stop me, and just having that idea of getting there aggressively and finishing with quality and not just to show that I got to the paint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joshua Jefferson (back) practiced full contact Monday and will be available vs. Charlotte. Tyler Bilodeau will be out with a sprained shoulder.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez on having legendary soccer coach Pep Guardiola \u2014 who is also Catalan \u2014 visit during the summer: \u201cHe loves basketball, so he wanted to see the gym and the players and watch them work out. \u2026 He\u2019s curious on how we do things, how we work here. And obviously I have a lot of questions for him on how he\u2019s handled certain situations. \u2026 There\u2019s a lot you can learn from a leader like that. He\u2019s one of my favorites, so it\u2019s always good to see him and obviously have him [here].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Nets tipping off Wednesday against the Hornets, it\u2019s hard to quantify just how far Egor D\u00ebmin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,5235,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":["post-377571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-egor-demin","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\/377571","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=377571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}