Egor Demin Silences Summer Doubt With Impressive Season Debut for Nets

Throughout the draft process, and even after the Brooklyn Nets made him the eighth overall pick back in June, there was plenty of doubt surrounding Egor Demin's stroke from beyond the arc. The biggest question mark surrounding the BYU product, at least in the eyes of experts, was whether or not he'd be able to adjust to the NBA level in the shooting department.

In his first regular-season action, Demin shot 4-of-6 from deep, setting a franchise record for the most threes made in a rookie's debut. Dating back to his first appearance in the preseason on Oct. 17, Demin is 6-of-9 overall from the three-point line. Now that Demin has proven his jumper can translate seamlessly, let's revisit some of what was said about the 19-year-old over the course of the offseason.

"There aren’t many indicators that inspire optimism in his shot. He made only 69.5% of his free throws and doesn’t have soft touch on tough layups or floaters. He made only 27.3% of his dribble-jumper 2s, 23.9% of his dribble-jumper 3s, and 27.3% of his catch-and-shoot 3s, per Synergy," Kevin O'Connor wrote. "Additionally, with stiff mechanics and a shaky ability to create his own shot against pressure, he clearly has quite a long way to go."

Days after this scouting report dropped, and once Brooklyn had selected Demin, Head Coach Jordi Fernandez spoke glowingly of Demin's shot.

"His ability to shoot the ball [attracted us]. He’s gonna shoot the ball very well in this league. That is another thing that excites us," Fernandez said via ClutchPoints' Erik Slater.

And now, one regular season game in, it appears that Fernandez was right.

Granted, we got a sense of what Demin could do from a shooting standpoint during summer league play in Las Vegas, but now there is concrete evidence that in a regular season game, against fellow NBA players, his "stiff mechanics" may not get in the way all that much.

It's important not to get too carried away, however. The same size is beyond small, and there is a strong likelihood that this hot streak won't continue—but it doesn't need to. As long as Demin can remain any sort of a threat, and consistency will be key to that staying as the reality, he will have proven the doubters wrong.

There will be ups and downs, just as is the case for any rookie campaign, but critics' primary gripe with the players seems to have been slightly blown out of proportion—assuming the steady shooting continues.