Nets rookies Egor Demin, Drake Powell taking their lumps and getting some tough love

While the Nets are busy tanking to land their next young foundation piece, Jordi Fernández is busy trying to develop the record rookie crop he already has in the fold. That means a healthy supply of tough love from the head coach, who had to dole out some to first-round draft picks Egor Dëmin and Drake Powell. Both underwhelmed in Friday’s loss at Dallas, seeing their playing time curtailed — along with not-so-subtle warnings that they could lose even more, starting Sunday against the Bucks. Dëmin, the Nets’ first lottery pick in 15 years, has been a fixture at point guard.But he struggled through his worst performance since entering the starting lineup with just three points in an error-prone 18:10. The Russian teenager shot 1-for-7 overall and 1-for-4 from deep, with just one assist, one rebound and two turnovers.

Dëmin has been prodded to drive more, but clearly he tried to force things Friday and made ill-advised gaffes.He got blocked trying to go into traffic — seemingly looking for a foul call — and later threw the ball away on a behind-the-back pass. The result was getting pulled and limited to just 2:14 in the fourth quarter.It was his first negative game score in the NBA, per Basketball Reference. “He was trying to fix mistakes by trying to make things happen, and this is not how you want to do things,” Fernández said of Dëmin.

“I need him to play with better readiness and better physicality. “This is not the way that the team needs him to play.So he’s got to be better.

Otherwise, the minutes are going to go down, and somebody else will take advantage of that.So I know that he cares.

He’s always responded and punched back.So, he’s way better than what he performed [Friday].”  Sign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.

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