This was the aggressiveness Nets coach Jordi Fernández has wanted to see from first-year point guard Egor Dëmin, who set a franchise record for rookies with seven made 3-pointers on 14 attempts Monday night against the Warriors.
Still, the 19-year-old lottery pick also registered just three assists in 32 minutes and committed two key turnovers in the fourth quarter as rebuilding Brooklyn’s first three-game winning streak of the season came to an end.
“The lessons come every day, especially against a good defensive team,” Fernández said of Dëmin after the game. “The 3-point line looked good, but his decisiveness and ability to touch the paint to create assists could have been better. And now he’ll watch film, and he’s always very good with that.
“He has high expectations for himself and I’m gonna say the same, I want that 3-point shooting percentage and aggressiveness the same, but I want better setups. I want more paint touches. I want more assists. I want more physicality in both ends. He’s gonna try to do his best. That’s a good thing about our young guys. They have high expectations for themselves and they show up the next day and work.”
Dëmin, the first of the Nets’ record five first-round picks this year at No. 8 out of BYU, said after the game that it was “an honor to be on the court at the same time” with future Hall of Fame point guard Steph Curry.
He more than held his own, matching the highest-scoring output of his career with 23 points, while also matching Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel for the most 3-pointers by an NBA rookie this season.
“It was a big confidence builder for him,” teammate Nic Claxton said of Dëmin. “He hit some really big shots for us. Obviously, there’s still a lot of errors where he can learn from. But the sky’s the limit for him and he’ll keep getting better.”
The 6-foot-8 Dëmin has averaged 11.8 points, 3.3 assists and 2.2 turnovers while shooting 38.7 percent from long distance during the Nets’ 7-4 stretch in December entering Thursday’s home game against the Rockets.
“Much more comfortable, for sure,” Dëmin said. “I think that’s kind of how the progress looks, I’m assuming, not just for myself, but for everybody. With time, [it will] start being easier for me to be on the court, physically and mentally.
“Well, mentally I’m understanding the game better, right? And just adjusting to the game, growing the right way. I think that for me, being able to spend as much time on the court as Jordi’s giving me, it’s an honor. And I want to be efficient, as I was saying before the season started, I want to be everywhere, and I want to impact the game in many different ways.”
Three other rookies — Nolan Traore, Danny Wolf and Drake Powell — also played at least 15 minutes apiece against the Warriors, with Traore contributing a career-best nine points on three conversions from beyond the 3-point arc.
“That’s a good team with a lot of experience between Draymond [Green], Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry, so I was proud of the young dudes for going out there and competing. They’re getting better and better,” leading scorer Michael Porter Jr. said. “Nolan hit some really big shots, and Egor obviously played really well with seven 3s.
“So they’re getting better and better and they’re gonna keep getting more and more experience under their belts, and it’s gonna get easier and easier for us to compete against those really high-level teams. We’re maturing very quickly.”