The Nets‘ selection of Egor Demin with the No. 8 pick in the 2025 draft was met with surprise by many, but according to Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily, there is plenty of reason for optimism.
The clearest reason for this, according to Kaplan, is that the junction of size, passing, and shooting has never been more important than it is in today’s NBA, and Demin comes into the league clearly having at least two of those three attributes. The swing skill is, of course, the outside shot, which has troubled Demin throughout his career as a prospect, but has had moments of positive projection.
“I saw him up close and personal in his individual workouts, and other workouts that we had here with the group, and was able to compare what we saw during the season to what we saw now, and the uptick and the improvement that we saw was pretty outstanding,” Sean Marks said about the rookie.
Kaplan adds that despite his skills as a passer, Demin will likely be reliant on having a high-quality screen-setter to be able to shake defenders at the NBA level, and that playing off a natural scorer like Cam Thomas should help him get some easy looks as a catch-and-shoot option.
We have more from the Nets:
- The Nets received 28-year-old wing Terance Mann in the trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis from the Celtics to the Hawks. On a young team full of unproven players, Mann will have a chance to serve as a leader either as a starter or off the bench, writes Nets Income of Nets Daily, who adds that Mann’s defensive intensity should fit well in the culture that head coach Jordi Fernandez is trying to build. Mann averaged 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 30 games for the Hawks last season after being traded from the Clippers.
- Dariq Whitehead‘s lack of participation in the Nets’ Summer League squad was met with surprise by some, but the decision was made with an eye towards getting him as healthy as possible coming into the 2025 season, writes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Lewis writes that the decision was made in conjunction with both Whitehead’s agents with Excel Sports and Marks. “With the way I finished last season, it was just something that I guess my agent talked to Sean about and they were [thinking] more so get my body ready and prepare for training camp and next season,” Whitehead said.
- Much was made of the Nets’ decision to use all five of their first-round picks in the 2025 draft. On Thursday, four of those five players made their Summer League debuts, but Lewis calls it more of a tease than anything revealing. Demin and Danny Wolf both shook off slow starts to ultimately have some interesting moments in the loss to the Thunder. Nolan Traore ended with 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists, despite twisting his ankle in the first quarter, and Lewis called Traore’s speed with the ball one of the standout attributes in the game. Drake Powell missed the game with a knee injury, and Ben Saraf came off the bench.
Traore played well, the others didn’t. Just keep it real smh
No 19 yr old is ready to play. Demin has NBA size. So I can see him getting mins. So what is the statement the Nets are giving their fans. Let us develop these players in NBA for 3-5 yrs. And please pay to watch this. We should get the top pick in next yrs draft. And the draft after that. And the draft after that.
Claxton, Porter, Wolf at least is a decent front line. You can’t run a team in BBA with 19 yrs old guards. How long I been saying Nets should sign Giddey.
I can see Mann being a KCP type player now. Just play defense and hit the open 3. Not a bad comp though.