In their latest mock draft, Jonathan Givony of ESPN has the Portland Trail Blazers selecting Egor Demin with the 11th pick in the first round of the NBA Draft. Demin is a freshman guard from Russia who primarily played point guard at BYU, and he seems to have significant momentum since the recent NBA Draft Combine.
It’s hard to find a more polarizing player in the draft than Demin. Some love his exceptional size, passing ability, quick release, and his room for potential, but others can’t get past his poor outside shooting at BYU, his apparent lack of athleticism and his occasional shaky handle. As Givony notes:
Demin has made significant gains with his body and will continue to fill out, while making a barrage of 3-pointers with picture-perfect mechanics and a lightning-quick release that offered significant room for optimism despite hitting 27% of his 3-pointers in his lone season at BYU. Also, NBA teams raved about his interviews in Chicago.
If those negatives above sound like deal breakers, let’s tempt you with this: he measured 6’8” without shoes at the combine. That makes him the tallest a point guard ever measured at the combine, and if you see him as more of a shooting guard, he’s also the tallest shooting guard ever measured.
Position: Guard
Height: 6’ 8” without shoes
Wingspan: 6’ 10”
Weight: 199lbs
Birthday: March 3, 2006 (19 years old)
Demin shot 41.2% from the field and just 27.3% from beyond the arc. He had 5.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 10.6 points per game in 27.5 minutes. If Portland pulls the trigger on Demin, they have to believe that his shooting will improve. Another knock is that he didn’t stand up too well to physicality when facing Big 12 opponents. As a 6’ 8” guy who is just 19 years old, you might reasonably expect that aspect to naturally improve. Would the Blazers really go down this road, especially after having experimented with the nearly 6’ 8”-while-barefoot Delano Banton?
Someday a guard will come into the NBA and break the paradigm of what a guard should be. That’s what is tantalizing about Demin. If he makes a name in the NBA, he could be an absolute game-changer, with a whole bunch of teams kicking themselves that they didn’t try to draft him. It’s probable that the Blazers will be in position to at least have the opportunity to make a decision on whether to draft Demin.
Enjoy Demin’s highlight reel, especially his passing starting at 9:45.
Elsewhere in the mock draft, Givony notes that rival teams are eyeing what the Philadelphia 76ers plan to do with the 3rd pick, and perhaps consider if they can use it to get an immediate upgrade instead of focusing on a rebuild.
Some teams expect the Sixers to be active in trade conversations, with names such as Kevin Durant (Phoenix) and Lauri Markkanen (Utah) as potential targets in packages that could include Paul George and the No. 3 pick. Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has made a career of being active and aggressive on the trade front, but historically, it’s rare to see a top-three pick being traded.
As for Egor, this is the third time Demin has been mocked to the Blazers, with previous appearances in February and December. Most of these questions will be resolved in just over a month, when the first round of the NBA Draft takes place June 25th on ESPN.