Latest news with #Demin
USA Today
21 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Nets' Egor Demin believes he's a good fit for Brooklyn's style of play
NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets surprised many around the NBA when they chose BYU guard Egor Demin with the eighth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft last week. While many NBA Draft experts had expected Demin to be picked later in the Draft, Brooklyn did not risk Demin being off the board and it seems that the team and Demin understand why the partnership happened this way. "Well, I think I'm just a good, good fit. This team is a good fit for me, and I'm a good fit for this team," Demin said during the Nets' press conference with all of the rookies that the team took in the Draft. Demin was in attendance along with: general manager Sean Marks, head coach Jordi Fernandez, No. 19 pick Nolan Traore, No. 22 pick Drake Powell, No. 26 pick Ben Saraf, and No. 27 pick Danny Wolf. "Obviously because it's a lot of athleticism, young guys, and I believe we could be a really high pace and high volume team," Demin continued. "Just being able to run coast to coast. And for me, how efficient can I find those defensive rebounds and just find the outlet as fast as I can. Find somebody in front of me who can finish at the rim or find the corners, right, since we're going to learn a lot of spacing, it's going to be a lot of screens and all that." Demin, 19, is coming off a 2024-25 freshman season at BYU in which he averaged 10.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 41.2% from the field and 27.3% from three-point land. Despite the fact that Brooklyn's selection of Demin was surprising, it's hard to ignore why the Nets were interested in the Russian who stands at 6-foot-8 and 199 pounds and is considered the best passer in the Draft. As Demin discusses his fit for a Nets team led by Fernandez and Marks, it will be interesting to see how much he can improve on his flaws while developing at the same time as four other rookies on the roster. Demin, who struggles with turnovers and outside shooting, will have the Las Vegas Summer League later in July to show what he can do at the NBA level before the coaching staff tries to improve his overall game.
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
From Russia to Israel: Meet the Nets' new international draft class
NEW YORK (AP) — The wall across from the elevator leading to the Brooklyn Nets' practice court features a map of the world, where the home countries of their players and executives are noted. Whoever has to update it had plenty of work after the NBA draft. The Nets had five first-round picks and they scoured the globe to find the players for them. There's a Russian who played professionally in Spain before heading to college in Utah. Guards from France and Israel. Two players who represented Israeli national teams. 'To be honest, it's fantastic the way it just worked out,' said Sean Marks, the team's general manager, who is from New Zealand. 'I mean, if you think about it, the game of basketball is such a worldly game, played all over the globe. You've heard about how the rest of the world is catching up to one of America's games. I won't comment on that. What I will say is there's talent everywhere and that's our job, is to bring in the best talent regardless of race, ethnicity and so forth.' The new players were introduced Tuesday at the Nets' practice facility. The class includes No. 8 pick Egor Demin, a Russian guard who spent a season at BYU; No. 19 Nolan Traore of France; No. 26 Ben Saraf from Israel; No. 27 Danny Wolf from Michigan and No. 22 Drake Powell from North Carolina, whose rights Brooklyn acquired from Atlanta in a trade that still must be completed. Some of them knew each other long before they sat at the same long podium along with Marks and coach Jordi Fernandez — who is from Spain and coached Canada's Olympic team. Saraf and Wolf had practiced together before playing for Israeli teams. Demin, who spent time with Real Madrid's second team before college, knew all about Traore after he poured in 45 points against Barcelona in the semifinals of an under-18 tournament before Demin led his squad to victory in the championship game. 'That was really scary for us to get to this game knowing who he is,' Demin said. Now the Nets will see what they can all do together, though it might not look pretty with so many young players coming to a team that went 26-56 last season. Marks said the only expectation will be that the players go out and compete. 'There is a learning curve for sure, there's no question in that,' Marks said. 'You're looking at four 19-year-olds up here, so I have two boys myself older than them. So that just puts it in perspective, like just how young this group is and to me that's exciting. When you see the continuity we can have with this group and how they can build and how they can flourish over the next three, four, five years, it's going to be exciting.' Brooklyn is the most populous of New York's five boroughs and by itself would be one of the five biggest cities in the U.S. It features large Jewish and Russian communities, so Saraf, Wolf and Demin quickly could become fan favorites. 'It was amazing. Got a lot of messages and a lot of love from the Jewish community here,' Saraf said. 'So it's going to be really exciting and I appreciate all the love I'm getting like in the streets and from the fans.' Wolf felt some of the same love with one of the loudest cheers of draft night in Barclays Center, the Nets' home arena, when his selection was announced. He credits his time playing for Israel in the under-20 European championships for a big jump in his game that made him a viable NBA prospect. The big man spent his first two seasons at Yale, not playing much the first one, then finished strong at Michigan after transferring. 'I think my basketball journey's definitely been up and down,' Wolf said. 'It took definitely a few different steps to get where I am today.' He, Powell and eventually Demin, while playing on NCAA Tournament teams, were somewhat easy to find. It took a little more work for Traore and Saraf, so Marks credited the Nets' scouting staff for identifying them. ___
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
From Russia to Israel: Meet the Nets' new international draft class
NEW YORK (AP) — The wall across from the elevator leading to the Brooklyn Nets' practice court features a map of the world, where the home countries of their players and executives are noted. Whoever has to update it had plenty of work after the NBA draft. The Nets had five first-round picks and they scoured the globe to find the players for them. There's a Russian who played professionally in Spain before heading to college in Utah. Guards from France and Israel. Two players who represented Israeli national teams. 'To be honest, it's fantastic the way it just worked out,' said Sean Marks, the team's general manager, who is from New Zealand. 'I mean, if you think about it, the game of basketball is such a worldly game, played all over the globe. You've heard about how the rest of the world is catching up to one of America's games. I won't comment on that. What I will say is there's talent everywhere and that's our job, is to bring in the best talent regardless of race, ethnicity and so forth.' The new players were introduced Tuesday at the Nets' practice facility. The class includes No. 8 pick Egor Demin, a Russian guard who spent a season at BYU; No. 19 Nolan Traore of France; No. 26 Ben Saraf from Israel; No. 27 Danny Wolf from Michigan and No. 22 Drake Powell from North Carolina, whose rights Brooklyn acquired from Atlanta in a trade that still must be completed. Some of them knew each other long before they sat at the same long podium along with Marks and coach Jordi Fernandez — who is from Spain and coached Canada's Olympic team. Saraf and Wolf had practiced together before playing for Israeli teams. Demin, who spent time with Real Madrid's second team before college, knew all about Traore after he poured in 45 points against Barcelona in the semifinals of an under-18 tournament before Demin led his squad to victory in the championship game. 'That was really scary for us to get to this game knowing who he is,' Demin said. Now the Nets will see what they can all do together, though it might not look pretty with so many young players coming to a team that went 26-56 last season. Marks said the only expectation will be that the players go out and compete. 'There is a learning curve for sure, there's no question in that,' Marks said. 'You're looking at four 19-year-olds up here, so I have two boys myself older than them. So that just puts it in perspective, like just how young this group is and to me that's exciting. When you see the continuity we can have with this group and how they can build and how they can flourish over the next three, four, five years, it's going to be exciting.' Brooklyn is the most populous of New York's five boroughs and by itself would be one of the five biggest cities in the U.S. It features large Jewish and Russian communities, so Saraf, Wolf and Demin quickly could become fan favorites. 'It was amazing. Got a lot of messages and a lot of love from the Jewish community here,' Saraf said. 'So it's going to be really exciting and I appreciate all the love I'm getting like in the streets and from the fans.' Wolf felt some of the same love with one of the loudest cheers of draft night in Barclays Center, the Nets' home arena, when his selection was announced. He credits his time playing for Israel in the under-20 European championships for a big jump in his game that made him a viable NBA prospect. The big man spent his first two seasons at Yale, not playing much the first one, then finished strong at Michigan after transferring. 'I think my basketball journey's definitely been up and down,' Wolf said. 'It took definitely a few different steps to get where I am today.' He, Powell and eventually Demin, while playing on NCAA Tournament teams, were somewhat easy to find. It took a little more work for Traore and Saraf, so Marks credited the Nets' scouting staff for identifying them. 'Basically they tell me where to go and that's where I go,' Marks said. ___ AP NBA:
Fox Sports
a day ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
From Russia to Israel: Meet the Nets' new international draft class
Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The wall across from the elevator leading to the Brooklyn Nets' practice court features a map of the world, where the home countries of their players and executives are noted. Whoever has to update it had plenty of work after the NBA draft. The Nets had five first-round picks and they scoured the globe to find the players for them. There's a Russian who played professionally in Spain before heading to college in Utah. Guards from France and Israel. Two players who represented Israeli national teams. 'To be honest, it's fantastic the way it just worked out,' said Sean Marks, the team's general manager, who is from New Zealand. 'I mean, if you think about it, the game of basketball is such a worldly game, played all over the globe. You've heard about how the rest of the world is catching up to one of America's games. I won't comment on that. What I will say is there's talent everywhere and that's our job, is to bring in the best talent regardless of race, ethnicity and so forth.' The new players were introduced Tuesday at the Nets' practice facility. The class includes No. 8 pick Egor Demin, a Russian guard who spent a season at BYU; No. 19 Nolan Traore of France; No. 26 Ben Saraf from Israel; No. 27 Danny Wolf from Michigan and No. 22 Drake Powell from North Carolina, whose rights Brooklyn acquired from Atlanta in a trade that still must be completed. Some of them knew each other long before they sat at the same long podium along with Marks and coach Jordi Fernandez — who is from Spain and coached Canada's Olympic team. Saraf and Wolf had practiced together before playing for Israeli teams. Demin, who spent time with Real Madrid's second team before college, knew all about Traore after he poured in 45 points against Barcelona in the semifinals of an under-18 tournament before Demin led his squad to victory in the championship game. 'That was really scary for us to get to this game knowing who he is,' Demin said. Now the Nets will see what they can all do together, though it might not look pretty with so many young players coming to a team that went 26-56 last season. Marks said the only expectation will be that the players go out and compete. 'There is a learning curve for sure, there's no question in that,' Marks said. 'You're looking at four 19-year-olds up here, so I have two boys myself older than them. So that just puts it in perspective, like just how young this group is and to me that's exciting. When you see the continuity we can have with this group and how they can build and how they can flourish over the next three, four, five years, it's going to be exciting.' Brooklyn is the most populous of New York's five boroughs and by itself would be one of the five biggest cities in the U.S. It features large Jewish and Russian communities, so Saraf, Wolf and Demin quickly could become fan favorites. 'It was amazing. Got a lot of messages and a lot of love from the Jewish community here,' Saraf said. 'So it's going to be really exciting and I appreciate all the love I'm getting like in the streets and from the fans.' Wolf felt some of the same love with one of the loudest cheers of draft night in Barclays Center, the Nets' home arena, when his selection was announced. He credits his time playing for Israel in the under-20 European championships for a big jump in his game that made him a viable NBA prospect. The big man spent his first two seasons at Yale, not playing much the first one, then finished strong at Michigan after transferring. 'I think my basketball journey's definitely been up and down,' Wolf said. 'It took definitely a few different steps to get where I am today.' He, Powell and eventually Demin, while playing on NCAA Tournament teams, were somewhat easy to find. It took a little more work for Traore and Saraf, so Marks credited the Nets' scouting staff for identifying them. 'Basically they tell me where to go and that's where I go,' Marks said. ___ AP NBA: recommended
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Should the Nets be worried about their 2025 NBA Draft class?
The Brooklyn Nets came away from the 2025 NBA Draft with arguably the most divisive performance due to the players they drafted along with using all of their picks. Brooklyn made sure to prioritize players who could begin their careers as ball-handlers with the potential to be more for a rebuilding Nets squad, but there seems to be plenty of people criticizing Brooklyn's decisions. "I got some people telling me some things about Brooklyn, people are making fun of these draft picks," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said (h/t to Bleacher Report's Doric Sam) during the broadcast of the NBA Draft when discussing the selections that the Nets made. One of the most-criticized decisions that Brooklyn made was selecting BYU guard Egor Demin with the eighth overall pick, much earlier than most of the draft experts expected. Windhorst continued by saying "I got people saying to me, executives and agents, they're like, 'I was watching them play three two-way guys during this year so that they can clap for taking the guys they've chosen.' He's like, 'These two-way guys might be just as good as the guys they've taken.'" As Windhorst referenced, the Nets played a lot of guys last season and most of them are perceived to be players who may have a hard time sticking around the league. In total, Brooklyn drafted Demin, French guard Nolan Traore (19th overall pick), UNC forward Drake Powell (22nd as part of a multi-team trade with the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics), Israeli guard Ben Saraf (26th), and Michigan forward Danny Wolf (27th). Based on mock drafts, it looks like the Nets reached on Demin and Powell while the other three selections seemed to be about where they were expected to go. For a team like Brooklyn, getting their first star player in the draft is key to the franchise progressing through this rebuild in a way that allows them to think about being a playoff team within the next few seasons. Many, if not all, of the players that the Nets took are projects, but if a couple of them pan out, this could be a draft that got everything started for Brooklyn.
