The Brooklyn Nets have two All-Star caliber names on the roster in Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle, but neither one looks like the long-term answer if the goal is to build a true championship contender. Both are around 30, which leaves Brooklyn with a simple reality: a younger player has to grow into the face of the franchise.
Right now, the Nets have two obvious candidates for that job in Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr. But with Brown still having yet to play a second on an NBA floor, Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes sees Dëmin as the safer bet to become Brooklyn’s best player over the next three years.
“Brown is too much of a mystery to make him a responsible pick, while Dëmin shot 38.5 percent from deep last season and showed all the connective passing Brooklyn hoped for,” Hughes wrote. “A Summer League performance that saw Dëmin flash rapidly developing on-ball skills and scoring chops inside the arc puts him over the top.
“The Nets have loads of young candidates who might only be a breakout away from changing this prediction. Ben Saraf, Nolan Traoré and Noah Clowney have all had their moments, and Clowney is the oldest of the group at just 22.”
Dëmin’s Summer League run gave Brooklyn plenty to like. He looked noticeably more athletic, punctuating it with an alley-oop slam and a windmill. He also appeared far more comfortable with the ball in his hands, especially when working in the paint, where he went after smaller defenders with post moves and attacked the rim with more force.
That said, the next step is the hard one. Dëmin has to show he can do it against established NBA defenders, the kind who make life miserable on the perimeter and around the basket.
Summer League can fool people. There have been plenty of players who lit it up there and never carried it over, including Kevin Knox, who made the All-NBA Summer League First Team in 2018 after a strong stretch but couldn’t turn that into real NBA production.
Still, Dëmin has one trait that travels: his 3-point stroke. It’s smooth, and even if his on-ball creation doesn’t fully translate into star-level production, his off-ball shooting and connective passing should keep him useful on the wing or at shooting guard.
If the Nets are going to surprise people next season, though, Dëmin is going to need a major leap.
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Day'Ron Sharpe Faces A Big Nets Test At Center
Nic Claxtons departure left the Nets with a clear opening in the middle, and DayRon Sharpe now steps into the kind of opportunity he has not had before. Entering his sixth NBA season, Sharpe is moving from his usual role as a backup big man into what could be his first run as a full-time starter, a shift that puts a bigger spotlight on his game and his ability to hold down the center spot every night.
Sharpe has started only 21 games in his career, so this is a major test of whether Brooklyn can trust him with a larger workload. The Nets appear likely to boost his minutes, but the situation is still fluid enough that another starting-caliber center could enter the conversation depending on how the team performs early on. [Read more 🡒]
Mikel Brown Jr. Is Giving Nets Fans A Real Training Camp Debate
Mikel Brown Jr. arrives in Brooklyn with the kind of rsum that can make a training camp feel a little more interesting than usual. After a promising freshman season at Louisville, the rookie guard carried that momentum into summer league, where he averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game while flashing the sort of poise that suggests the Nets may have something to sort through at point guard.
Browns biggest challenge now is less about proving he belongs and more about turning that early buzz into a real role. He is expected to battle other guards on the roster for playing time once camp opens, and for a team looking to define its backcourt, his development could quickly become one of the more closely watched storylines in Brooklyn. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Suddenly Have One Big Question In The Middle
With Nic Claxton gone, the Nets suddenly have a major decision to make at the center spot, and DayRon Sharpe is set to get the first real chance to answer it. Brooklyns plan is to give Sharpe an extended run as the starting five, a notable shift for a team that is trying to figure out its next identity in the middle while also sorting through the ripple effects of moving on from its longtime anchor.
Sharpe has flashed enough to make the opportunity worth watching, but this is still the kind of spot that can define how Brooklyn approaches the rest of the roster. The Nets need clarity in the paint, and they need it fast, because the center position now sits at the center of everything from lineup construction to whatever comes next on the trade and roster front. [Read more 🡒]