May 14, 2025; Chicago, Il, USA; Egor Demin talks to the media during the 2025 NBA Draft Combine at Marriott Marquis Chicago. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images David Banks-Imagn Images

What Summer League Stats Might Say About the Nets’ Rookies

Originally posted on Brooklyn Nets on SI
By Wilko Martinez-Cachero | Last updated Jul 20, 2025 10:40 AM ET

The F5’s Owen Phillips analytically broke down which Summer League stats are trustworthy. Here is what his research might mean for the Brooklyn Nets.

The stats Phillips focuses on “are most predictive of how a player will perform during their rookie season.” The methodology used is tracking 25 different stats across Summer League and the NBA for 485 rookies going back to 2008. Per 36 minutes stats are used, rather than the regular box score ‘per game’ stats.

Phillips’ ‘sticky stats’ — that is, the ones we can “trust” — are encouraging for Egor Dëmin. That’s because 'Three-Point Attempt Rate' and 'Threes Attempted per 36 Minutes' tend to translate up. Dëmin’s shooting was one of the biggest question marks about him predraft, but the Russian playmaker let the ball fly unashamedly in Summer League. 85.2% of his shots were threes, making 43.5 3P% on 7.7 attempts per game.

After last night, Egor Dëmin is shooting 10/23 from three (43.5%) in Summer League. 10 of his 11 made field goals have come from deep. Very encouraging diversity and confidence to go along with the volume.

One of my strongest predraft opinions was that Dëmin would shoot and, in… pic.twitter.com/xXNnXLZNZ6
— FLOOR and CEILING (Wilko) (@wilkomcv) July 17, 2025

Phillips writes: “Only three players last season in the NBA took more than 85 percent of their shots from three: AJ Green, Sam Merrill, and Nicolas Batum. Brooklyn should have no trouble finding minutes for Dëmin alongside their other players that need the ball as long as he’s willing to take threes at close to the rate he did.”

Other stats that stick out are assists, blocks, total rebounds and offensive rebounds per 36 minutes. Dëmin averaged 1.3 assists to three turnovers during his three-game Summer League stretch. The Nets’ highest-assisting rookie was Ben Saraf, with 3.7 assists per game. Danny Wolf and Nolan Traore both dished out 2.7 a night.

As far as rebounding, Drew Timme pulled down eight boards per game in Las Vegas. Wolf followed at 7.3 rebounds.

However, Phillips also points to ‘icky stats — in other words, stats that are “least useful for projecting what will happen in a player’s rookie season.” That includes plus-minus and three-point percentage, for instance. Based on Phillips’ research going back years, this might be a less encouraging sign for Dëmin. The 19-year-old shot 27.3 3P% during his sole college season at BYU, although his track record from deep prior to his time in Provo, Utah, was encouraging.

“You don’t need more than a few games to get a sense for who might be typecast as a floor-spacer, a shot blocker, or a threat on the offensive boards,” Phillips summarizes. “Whether they’ll be any good in those roles is a different story that is yet to be written.”

This article first appeared on Brooklyn Nets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: