After Egor Dëmin became the Nets’ first lottery pick in 15 years, many doubted his shooting. He then went out and set NBA rookie 3-point shooting records.
After the young guard’s struggled to get downhill in his first season as a pro, now many are pointing to Dëmin’s inability to get to the rim. It’s the latest weakness he’s working on.
It’s always dangerous to draw conclusions from summer league. But Dëmin’s debut in the California Classic — a 23-point outing against the Kings over the weekend — couldn’t have gone much better.
Dëmin shot 8-of-15 from the field, pulled down seven rebounds and finished a team-best plus-14 on Saturday. Most auspicious was his aggressive play, using his bulked-up frame to get in the paint. And when he got matched up against No. 7 overall pick Darius Acuff Jr. — whom the Nets bypassed to take Mikel Brown Jr. — Dëmin confidently blew by him and went straight to the rim.
