Nets’ Egor Dëmin has been more Klay Thompson than Shaun Livingston at summer league

The Brooklyn Nets’ Egor Dëmin caught the ball in the corner, wide open, with 34 seconds left in their game against the Orlando Magic at summer league in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Immediately, NBA TV analyst Isiah Thomas sounded the alarm: “You can’t leave that guy.”

Based on pre-draft scouting reports, this is not remotely true. Dëmin had “no track record of shooting,” The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie wrote in his draft guide, citing 3-point percentages from BYU last season (27.3%), Real Madrid at the Next Generation Tournament the year before (18.6%) and the Russian national team at the Under-16 championships in 2021 (30%).

But based on a more recent (albeit significantly smaller) sample, Thomas’ reaction was absolutely appropriate. Dëmin had been shooting well in summer league, and he seemed to have the hot hand. He proceeded to validate Thomas’ call by cashing the 3, his fourth of the game and third in the span of about two minutes in crunch time.

When the Nets selected Dëmin with the No. 8 pick, it was widely considered a reach. The criticism, however, was largely predicated on him being a non-shooter. What if that was wrong? What if this 6-foot-9 passing wizard is a totally different kind of player in the NBA? 

In Vegas, Dëmin has been more Klay Thompson than Shaun Livingston. On a per-minute basis, he has attempted 3s about twice as frequently as he did in college, and he has made 43% of them. The 19-year-old said after his first game that he now prefers to call himself a “playmaker” rather than a “point guard,” via Clutch Points’ Erik Slater, and he’s working on improving as a cutter and screener so he can bring more to the table when the ball isn’t in his hands. He also said that we’ve all been pronouncing his last name wrong. (It’s Dyoh-min.)

Sean Marks, Brooklyn’s general manager, told reporters on draft night that, during a pre-draft workout, Dëmin “showed us out here at [the Nets’ practice facility] that he can absolutely shoot the basketball.” Dëmin impressed scouts and executives at his pro day, too, but it is still something of a shock to see a guy who shot 69.5% from the free-throw line last season fire away with such confidence. He’s not just spotting up in the corner; he’s taking deep 3s, relocation 3s and off-the-dribble 3s without hesitation.

Dëmin is a demon when it comes to vision, processing speed and overall feel for the game, so the idea of him turning into a deadeye shooter is tantalizing. If his pull-up jumper becomes enough of a threat that defenses have to guard his pick-and-rolls aggressively, it will amplify his passing. Vecenie, who ranked Dëmin 26th on his big board, wrote that “there’s every chance Dëmin ends up making this ranking look quite bad if the jumper works out.”

As encouraging as Dëmin’s shooting has been, we are talking about a total of 10 makes on 27 attempts in three exhibition games, so it’s far too early to conclude that Brooklyn has drafted a taller, Russian version of Tyrese Haliburton. And the flip side of Dëmin appearing more effective than advertised off the ball is that he has been less productive than one might have expected on the ball. One of the reasons the Nets needed his late-game heroics against Orlando is that, with a double-digit lead under the five-minute mark, Dëmin committed two consecutive turnovers. In that game alone, he committed six turnovers, and he has four total assists in Vegas.

In the first quarter on Wednesday, Dëmin punished the Magic for their full-court pressure, cutting in front of his defender in the backcourt, catching an inbounds pass and accelerating for a lefty dunk. It was undeniably sick. It was also, unfortunately, the only 2-point shot he has made at summer league, and just his fourth 2-point attempt.

Dëmin hasn’t looked like a non-shooter, but the other weaknesses on his pre-draft scouting reports have been more pronounced. He has rarely gotten into the paint, and he has had issues with ball pressure, just like he did in Big 12 competition. This is reflected in his 19.4% usage rate and the fact that the Nets have often opted to have other players initiate the offense with Dëmin on the court.

“He’s going up against guys who have been out of college for a while now,” Brooklyn assistant coach Steve Hetzel, who is coaching the summer league team, told reporters Wednesday, via ClutchPoints. “Their bodies are fully developed, and the physicality is something that he’s going to have to get used to.”

In order to become a maestro in the pick-and-roll at the next level, Dëmin needs to get strong enough to hold off the wing defenders who will be harassing him. “Right now, he’s got to focus on the weight room,” Hetzel said. Dëmin himself knows this will take time, telling reporters that this is a “big transition” and his teammates are guarding him with the same level of intensity in practice.

The promise of Dëmin is that, down the road, he could be the Nets’ primary playmaker, a huge guard who plays with pace and pizzazz but never gets bored of making the right reads. In the meantime, it appears that the plan is to let him develop at his own rate, since Brooklyn has drafted a few other young playmakers across the positional spectrum. If Dëmin’s shooting turns out to be sustainable, it wouldn’t just mean that he is more likely to realize every last bit of his upside. It would mean that he’s a more viable pro, regardless, so there’s less pressure on him to figure out everything else right away.