There was a moment \u2014 one of many \u2014 in the Nets-Kings game that showed just what the new and improved Egor Demin can do. Mikel Brown Jr. wasn\u2019t playing and for many fans, the contest was disappointing. There would be no faceoff between Brown Jr. and Darius Acuff, taken just after him in the June Draft.<\/p>\n
But that gave Brown Jr.\u2019s prospective backcourt mate, the 6\u20199.5\u201d Russian, a chance to show his stuff against the 6\u20192.5\u201d Acuff. The Kings scouting report may have indicated that Demin wasn\u2019t likely to touch the paint, being more comfortable with his 3-point shot. If so, the report was outdated. Demin blew past Acuff and went directly to the rim for the score.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder that was a surprise for Acuff, the Kings and yes, a lot of Nets fans. In last year\u2019s abbreviated Summer League showing, Demin was 1-of-2 at the rim. In the Kings\u2019 California Classic, he finished 11-of-12. The 20-year-old had reinvented himself once again. After the Nets surprised last season by taking him at No. 8 in the Draft, the rub on Demin was that he couldn\u2019t shoot. Instead, he proved to be one of the best rookie 3-point shooters in league history, setting a record for most consecutive games with a three at 34 and becoming the second fastest player ever to 100 threes behind only Kon Knueppel.<\/p>\n
Demin spoke about his doubters recently on a BYU centric blog \u2026 and that included Nets fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry about me, he told Washed Up<\/a>. \u201dI\u2019m not going to show you how I\u2019m getting better. They probably all think I\u2019m not doing anything but I might, you know, be better. I will be better next season.\u201c<\/p>\n So far, so good, as Brian Lewis wrote this week in stories on both Demin and Brown Jr. Demin averaged 23.0 points per game in Sacramento, second only to Acuff\u2019s 23.5 but with a much higher shooting percentage. Acuff shot 16-of-48 in two games while Demin hit on a much more efficient 15-of-27. All those shots at the rim can improve your percentages \u2026. if you make them.<\/p>\n \u201cDrives \u2014 a lot of drives, physicality,\u201d D\u00ebmin said of his offseason priority. \u201cObviously, I must keep working on my shot and defense, details like that.\u201d<\/p>\n That was the physical side of his off-season so far. There\u2019s also been a noticeable improvement in his mental approach to his second year in the NBA.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to say \u2018pressure\u2019 of being a leader, but kind of embracing the role of a guy who\u2019s spent a year in the NBA already,\u201d D\u00ebmin said. \u201cI want to take that role on myself. I want to be here and lead the team mentally, on the bench and on the court as well. I just tried to do what I\u2019ve been working on all summer. I think that\u2019s a great opportunity right now to get those habits in and get that working before the regular season.\u201d<\/p>\n The change \u2014 and his instant chemistry with of the Nets five other 20-year-olds, Mikel Brown Jr., has gotten Nets fans excited. \u201cBackcourt of the future\u201d has a been a description tossed around. Brown Jr. feels it too.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my guy. We talked about \u2026 how we can play off each other and make each other better and make this team go,\u201d Brown Jr. said. \u201cThat was the biggest thing for us is we\u2019ve got to be the leaders to step up and lead this team to wins.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, to be able to show out and share the floor with him, you got to see what he can do. You could clearly see the growth from last year to now. He\u2019s grown a lot just watching him. And my job is to make life easier on him.\u201d<\/p>\n Nets fans while enthusiastic about the future are, not surprisingly, also a bit (but not much) skeptical. Demin after all, missed 32 games last year to plantar fasciitis, being shut down February 27 while Brown Jr didn\u2019t play for Louisville after February 28 because of a back issue. Both say no worries.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m good now, and that\u2019s all I\u2019m worried about,\u201d said Demin, \u201cI\u2019m doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n After being shut down, Demin underwent a non-surgical procedure neither he nor the Nets would describe in any detail but he said it\u2019s helped.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting healthy and making sure I\u2019m doing great with that,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd then the lifting room was probably the biggest priority, since I could do it anytime. I could do pretty much anything out there, gaining some weight, making sure I\u2019m good with my nutrition and getting as much as I can do on the court, being dialed in with that.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s put on the proverbial 12 to 15 pounds of muscle which is clearly evident to anyone who watched him last season. Same with his nascent mustache and goatee.<\/p>\n Jordi Fernandez noted all the changes, including the hair, on the Flatbush 5.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, they all look older, and it\u2019s not just the facial hair,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said of the class. \u201cIt\u2019s also, you know, the amount of time they spent in the gym and how much stronger they are. The eye test, you will see it in Vegas when you will see [D\u00ebmin] wearing our jersey.<\/p>\n \u201cThey look stronger, have done a great job. And not just strong where they don\u2019t move the same way. It\u2019s very [much] stronger and efficient. \u2026 Egor, Ben [Saraf], Nolan [Traor\u00e9], Drake [Powell], Danny [Wolf], all of them have done a very, very good job. And hard work pays off, and we\u2019re going to see it in summer league.\u201d<\/p>\n Next up will the Knicks on Friday evening in Las Vegas which will be available on YES as well as national outlets, the first of at least five games in the gaming capital. Demin may or may not play in all of them. He\u2019s certainly proved he doesn\u2019t need much more seasoning but he\u2019s also said he wants to win the Summer League.<\/p>\n Fernandez noted what else he\u2019s like to see, including a willingness to face up to bullying.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that being on-balance and touching the paint and playing off two feet, you needed that strength. And he\u2019s done an unbelievable job just working in the weight room. And right now you see him move around and he looks more like a grownup. He\u2019s going to obviously do things way better than he did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n However many minutes Demin and his new sidekick play together will be doing Nets fans a solid. They are ready.<\/p>\n Egor D\u00ebmin\u2019s more muscular summer outing shows he understands his next Nets step<\/a> – Brian Lewis – New York PostMikel Brown offers a tantalizing Nets glimpse of what\u2019s to come <\/a>($) – Brian Lewis – New York Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a moment \u2014 one of many \u2014 in the Nets-Kings game that showed just what the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,70757,99],"class_list":["post-750588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-nets-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}