Brooklyn’s training camp has opened with a decision sitting right at the center of Jordi Fernández’s offense: who takes control of the ball next season?
The Nets have three starters who can handle that job in different ways. Rookie Mikel Brown Jr. brings electric pick-and-roll upside.
Julius Randle offers veteran steadiness and proven playmaking. Egor Dëmin has made real strides as a shot creator and got a chance to run the show in summer league.
But only one of them can be the primary, and the others will have to work around that choice.
Randle is the safest answer on paper. He’s a high-usage playmaker who has averaged more than four assists per game since his second season with the New York Knicks in 2020-21.
His value comes from straightforward, repeatable offense: he can grab a defensive rebound and push in transition, or use his size in the post to draw a double team and fire the ball out to an open teammate. For Fernández, that kind of reliability could matter most when games tighten up late.
Still, Randle isn’t the cleanest fit if Brooklyn wants a player who thrives without the ball. He’s the least efficient off-ball option of the three, and he’s more accustomed to handling than drifting to the wing or corner and waiting to cut or catch and shoot.
Even so, Randle sees the same thing in Brown and Dëmin. At Media Day, he pointed to both guards as capable pick-and-roll operators.
“Mikel’s coming off a pick-and-roll and really understands how to read and play the game," Randle said at Media Day. "And Egor does the same,”
Brown, though, looks like the most natural fit if Brooklyn wants a true point guard feel. He ran Louisville’s offense as a freshman and averaged 4.7 assists per game.
In the pick-and-roll, he uses a quick first step to split defenders or freeze them with hesitation. He can also rise into a pull-up three off the screen, which forces defenses to respect both the shot and the drive.
That skill set has already drawn praise. Former Louisville alumnus Donovan Mitchell complimented Brown’s high basketball IQ and compared him to his teammate James Harden, calling Harden a pick-and-roll master.
Dëmin is the youngest piece in the discussion, but he’s not being ignored. Brooklyn used him as its No. 1 option in summer league before Brown arrived in Las Vegas, and the second-year guard has shown enough growth as a creator to stay in the mix. He’s still behind Brown and Randle as a playmaker, but the Nets will need to see whether his downhill scoring can hold up once the regular season starts.
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