"Big part of what I’m studying": Nets’ Egor Dёmin on shooting struggles, following Doncic, SGA and more (EXCLUSIVE)

LAS VEGAS – No matter if the ball clangs off the rim or swishes through the net, Brooklyn Nets rookie Egor Dёmin does not flinch.

He has still taken open shots. He has still played aggressively. He still maintains a stoic demeanor that masks his competitiveness and enthusiasm.

All of which explains why the Nets drafted Dёmin with their No. 8 pick after starring with the Russian national team (2021 FIBA U16 Euro Challengers), Real Madrid (2023-23) and BYU (2024-25). Instead of fretting about Dёmin’s shooting numbers overall (41.2%) and from deep (27.3%) at BYU, the Nets have marveled more at Dёmin’s playmaking and his potential.

“There have been a lot of questions about my shooting at the end of the NCAA season. It’s good for me that Brooklyn trusted me that they believe in me as a good shooter in the future,” Dёmin said. “This is where I take this confidence from. When coaches are telling me to shoot the ball, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to be confident in myself knowing how many reps that I put into this.”

Therefore, expect Dёmin to fire away when the Nets (0-2) play the New York Knicks (0-2) in Las Vegas Summer League on Tuesday (6 pm ET). After posting eight points while shooting 2-for-5 from 3 in Friday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dёmin improved his marks two days later. In Sunday’s loss to the Washington Wizards, Dёmin scored 14 points while shooting 4-for-13 from the field and 4-for-10 overall.

He added four assists against the Wizards amid extra ball-handling duties after posting zero against the Thunder while mostly moving off-the-ball.

“I think he’s doing a good job with handling everything that we give him,” Nets assistant coach Steve Hetzel said. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it an experiment for him to be on the ball or off the ball. We don’t really have a point guard. We have positions on the floor, and we try to get to them.”

Dёmin spoke more in-depth to Sportskeeda about his initial struggles with his shooting and the game’s physicality as well as how he’s studying Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić. Dёmin also shared an amusing story on how he watched the 2016 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and posted.

Egor Dёmin Exclusive

What do you think of Summer League so far?

Dёmin: “It’s a great experience, especially for me being here for the first time. I’ve never been in anything like that. So it’s pretty much the NBA. It feels a little bit surreal having the logo on the chest. It’s not just the NBA. It’s the Brooklyn Nets. With these group of guys, it feels great.”

What things do you think you have both excelled and struggled in so far?

Dёmin: “I think you can tell in the first two games that I’m not afraid of shooting the ball. How efficient that is, that’s another factor. That’s important. But for me right now, it’s a process. I’m doing things in the game that I have to improve and work on some stuff out of the struggles. The physicality is something that I need to get used to. That’s the same as I did when I got to college for the first time. In those first days, I struggled a little bit with the physicality and with how fast the game is. But in the locker room, we talk about reps being the most important thing to get better and improve. In the second game, I played a lot at point guard. The coaches gave me the ball in my hands to start the game and a little bit later. That’s a great opportunity for me to try to accomplish and get better at it.”

I saw your interview the other day when you said you see yourself more as a playmaker than a point guard. What is the difference between the two?

Dёmin: “Nikola Jokić is a point guard, but he is a playmaker. Luka [Dončić] is kind of a point guard, but he can also not be a point guard. He can be all over the floor. Obviously, he handles the ball much more than Jokić. But what I’m trying to say is that it’s how you view and approach the game. How do you handle possessions when you’re out there on the court? How dangerous are you on the scouting report and how does the other team see you as a danger?”

I read that Andre Kirilenko has advised you to look at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Russell Westbrook as two players to study and emulate. What are you studying about those two players in how that can apply to your game?

Dёmin: “Shai’s one of the players. He’s definitely not just the only one that I’m studying. Shai is the one that I’m learning about how to create for myself, find angles and change of pace up/down, front/back, side-to-side and stepbacks as well as midrange opportunities. Luka is another example. He’s more about creating for others and making the defense become controlled by him. Those two guys are a big, big part of what I’m studying.

With Russ, it’s about energy. It’s about energy and the level of his hustle and the level of his unselfishness with how he handles himself on the court. He’s really willing to do the main role and the other role as a hustle player – playing defense, getting rebounds and trying to do everything at his best to affect the game in many ways.”

What other feedback has Andrei given you to get ready for your rookie season?

Dёmin: “Just things about life and how life is in Brooklyn. Obviously, he was there and spent a lot of time playing. One piece of advice he gave was ‘to live as close as you can to the gym.’ That’s not only about the location, actually. But it’s about a philosophical thing. ‘Be in the gym as much as you can.’ For me, that is the biggest part of the process.”

You’ve mentioned that one of the many reasons you’re looking forward to Brooklyn is there is a lot of Russian influence and restaurants near the city. What have you learned about the area?

Dёmin: “I’ve already learned with being a couple days in Brooklyn that it’s a city of people. If you give love to people, people are going to give you love back. I think it’s beautiful. I think it’s amazing. For me, a big part of my game and my personality is being connected through being grounded. It’s not just about being locked in the box on the court and just thinking about myself. It’s about my teammates. It’s about the coaches around us. It’s about janitors in the gym. It’s about people around security and fans. That’s a big part of who I am.”

I read that the first NBA Finals you watched was in 2016 between the Cavs and Warriors. What do you remember being exposed to an NBA Finals for the first time?

Dёmin: “It’s actually a pretty funny story. It was in June, and I was with my team in Russia at a camp. We’re doing camps with the Russian team, and we weren’t allowed to have phones at night. Our coaches would take our phones before we went to sleep, so that we’re not sitting in our bed looking at Instagram. They want us to recover and everything.

But some of the guys took a second phone just to watch this game. Our coaches would have let us watch it. But we were just too young to ask them and be brave enough to ask, “Can we not sleep at night so we can watch this game?’ Obviously in Russia, there is a huge time difference. So we watched this Finals in the bathroom all together with the team on this small little phone while trying to be quiet. We had no data. Every time there was a sound, we would go to our beds. So when the coaches checked in on us, they thought we were sleeping.”

What a wild first NBA Finals to watch. There’s so many elements with seeing the Warriors’ 73-9 win season, Cavs coming back down 3-1, LeBron James’ play and Kyrie Irving’s Game 7 shot.’ What stuck with you when you watched that Finals?

Dёmin: “I wish I knew about basketball as much as I knew right now the moment that I was watching it. Obviously, it was more about LeBron playing [Steph] Curry. It wasn’t that big of a deal for me at that moment because I didn’t know much about basketball as I do right now. I definitely want to run it back and watch those games again to enjoy it more from the point of view of an actual player.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.