BYU fans rejoiced when the Brooklyn Nets selected Egor Demin No. 8 overall in this year's NBA Draft. Cougar fans have been waiting since Jimmer Fredette to have a BYU player playing on a nightly basis in the league.
After watching Egor make the Big 12 All-Freshman Team last year most Cougar fans were expecting the 6-foot-9 playmaker to enter the NBA and score opportunistically, rack up assists, and rebound well from the guard spot. After shooting just 27.3% from the 3-point line as a Cougar last year, nobody expected Demin to channel his inner Steph Curry when entering the NBA.
But that's exactly what Egor's doing through four professional games.
To begin his NBA career, all 22 of the Egor Demin's field goal attempts have been 3-pointers.
Yep, that's right. Through four games the Russian rookie has only attempted 3-pointers. No two pointers. No pull-up jumpers. No layups in transitions. Only 3-pointers.
How Egor is shooting thus far?
On the season Egor is 9-of-22 from the 3-point line, hitting a solid 40.9% of his shots from downtown.
But boy has he been streaky.
In his first NBA game Demin shot a blistering 4-of-6 and scored 14 points in his impressive debut. He followed that performance up a couple of nights later with a 3-of-5 shooting performance in his next game, making him 7-of-11 from downtown to begin his career.
But over his last two games he has shot just 2-of-11, all coming from deep.
Seeing Egor exude confidence in his 3-point shot is a promising development. His form and mechanics look great. The Nets coaching staff must be looking at the 19-year-old as a promising piece of clay they will be able to shape and mold into a great all-around player.
While Egor's 3-point only shooting so far is definitely a statistical quirk, it's also a bit troubling. Something Demin struggled with last year in Big 12 play was getting to the basket when facing physical, in-your-face defenders. That's basically every wing defender in the NBA. Egor will get more accustomed to the spacing, speed, and physicality of the NBA and as he does he's going to need to learn to push the action and get to the basket.
Consistently hitting 3-point shots will open up Egor's entire offensive arsenal.
Now it's time for him to try something new, like attempt a two-point shot.