Upside and Motor: BYU's Egor Demin is already busting NBA Draft boards

It has been an eventful first couple weeks of the college basketball season, with several highly-touted prospects making strong first impressions on the NBA scouting community. These prospects have all been under intense scrutiny for years, of course, but nothing beforehand can replicate the physicality and athleticism of NCAA hoops. That is, with the slight exception of prospects already entrenched in top pro leagues overseas..

With G League Ignite out of the picture, we've seen a resurgence of top prospects looking to cash in on college basketball's new NIL ecosystem. That includes international prospects, such as Russian 18-year-old Egor Demin, who left Real Madrid to join new BYU head coach Kevin Young in Provo, Utah.

That made for one of the most fascinating pre-draft storylines. Young was an accomplished and well-respected assistant coach in the NBA, earning several head coaching interviews over the years. It was only a matter of time until Young, once Brett Brown's right-hand man in Philadelphia and Frank Vogel's top assistant in Phoenix, got his chance to lead a pro team. Instead, Young opted for the lifestyle (and money) of college hoops. BYU was a fascinating choice, and his ability to draw legitimate NBA talent to the Beehive State immediately put the Cougars on the map.

Young is an NBA-level coach drawing up NBA-level stuff, and he's making excellent use of Egor Demin's decidedly NBA-ready skill set in the early going. We've only see three games from this revamped BYU team, but Demin is skyrocketing up draft boards. Of course he is. What NBA front office doesn't want the 6-foot-8 point guard with a high processing speed, tight handles, and feather-soft touch?

Egor Demin is already soaring up draft boards after a red-hot start for BYU

Demin arrived at BYU with well-defined appeal and equally unambiguous flaws. He was 6-foot-8 with the downhill speed and playmaking instincts necessary to run an offense. The way of today's NBA is size and skill. That intersection has more value than ever, so Demin's archetype alone was going to earn him extra leeway with NBA scouts.

That said, before the draft, there were concerns aplenty about the reliability of Demin's jump shot, especially from 3-point range. There were also concerns about his ability to finish through contact at the rim, while defense was a point of weakness in Europe. Demin was essentially billed as project with great tools and a great brain, but not enough skill to fully contend with the top prospects in a loaded draft.

Well, we should be cautious about overreacting to a small sample size, but the process and results have been great from Demin so far. We can note the inferiority of his competition — Central Arkansas, UC-Riverside, and Queens (NY) — while also noting just how impressive Demin's output has been.

He made his initial splash with an 18-point, 11-assist debut against Central Arkansas, earning rave reviews for his processing speed and passing creativity.

That is, again, just one half's worth of passes from Demin, including a cross-court wraparound from underneath the basket, a short roll bullet to the corner shooter, a perfectly placed lob, and a gorgeous touch pass to a spacing wing out of the pick-and-roll, among others. Demin's blend of size, vision, and downhill speed is unteachable. Pair it with the ability to switch gears, manipulate defenders with his handle, and score proficiently at all three levels, and suddenly Demin has the feel of a top-five pick.

We need to see where the numbers settle over time, but Demin is shooting 50 percent on 3s so far, attempting 5.3 per game. He's also 2-of-7 at the charity stripe, so again, let's not read too far into it. But Demin has launched comfortably out of DHOs and made catch-and-shoots look routine. For a player who is destined to attack rotating defenses off the catch at the next level, even league-average shooting on solid volume would be a huge asset for Demin. It sets up the rest of his game beautifully.

Assuming he can shoot respectably from deep, the rest of Demin's game is going to pop. He looks comfortable creating angles on drives and finishing with touch (or power) at the rim. He's not strong, but he has vertical and horizontal burst and a nice floater package, allowing him to keep on-ball defenders guessing and rim protectors neutralized. Demin has done an excellent job of changing speeds and subtly manipulating defenders to his advantage. The scoring package feels far more advanced than expected out of the gate.

The defense still needs work, and Demin will generally need to add weight at the next level. But, 2.0 steals in 29.7 minutes per game isn't shabby. He's showcasing active hands and enough lateral quickness to shift around the floor a bit. As he continues to round out his skill set and mature physically, there won't be much keeping Demin from catching teams' attention at the top of draft boards.

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You're wrong to write off Cooper Flagg after Duke's collapse vs. Kentucky

Mark Pope's new-look Kentucky Wildcats beat the star-studded Duke Blue Devils in the Champions Classic, 77-72. Cooper Flagg, the 17-year-old freshman and projected No. 1 pick, had his best game yet in the loss, dropping 26 points on 9-of-19 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in 32 minutes.

Naturally, the discourse revolved entirely around his final two possessions — back-to-back turnovers in the waning seconds to secure Kentucky's victory.

That led to a lot of gleeful contrarianism from folks on the internet ready to knock the highly-touted Flagg down a peg. Sure, it's fun to poke holes in the consensus top prospect, and it was a thrilling win for Kentucky. We can even say the last 12 seconds of that game taught us a lot about Flagg's shortcomings, which do in fact exist. What we can't do, however, is let optics and knee-jerk reactions to a couple mistakes color his draft stock.

Flagg is still pretty clearly the best prospect on the board, as the rest of his performance rather convincingly illuminated. A 6-foot-9 forward with his athleticism, playmaking flair, shot-making potential, and defensive range is difficult to come by. That said, Flagg still isn't the most polished on-ball weapon, which can lead to hiccups when Duke funnels the basketball to him in clutch moments.

This was a great learning experience for Flagg. Expect the next crunch-time possession to go much smoother. Credit to Kentucky for the swarming defense, and yes, Flagg has something to work on. But, at the end of the day, this has very little impact on Flagg's stock, especially when we already knew one-on-one creation was a work-in-progress, and especially when he was so excellent for 32 other minutes of action.

Who are the five best rookies in the NBA right now?

Let's update the rookie ladder, because I'm personally riding the high of this Jared McCain heater. It has been a "weak" rookie class, as advertised, but we're starting to get a glimpse of the upside scattered throughout. There are real NBA players, even future stars, in the mix here. Keep the faith.

5. Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta Hawks

He's not scoring very efficiently (.372/.246/.622), but we're starting to get glimpses of why Zaccharie Risacher was the No. 1 pick. He has become a regular in the Hawks starting lineup and we aren't far removed from a 33-point, seven-rebound, three-steal performance against the Knicks. New York's defense isn't the juggernaut we expected, but Risacher's movement shooting and committed defense at 6-foot-8 give him a solid baseline.

4. Ryan Dunn, Phoenix Suns

It remains patently absurd that Ryan Dunn is shooting 37.8 percent from deep, but that number is starting to fall after a scorching-hot start. How far does it fall, and how does his confidence hold up through the inevitable regression? Those are key questions, but Dunn's defensive playmaking is essential to the Suns second unit regardless.

3. Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies

Stepping into the starting lineup recently due to injuries, Jaylen Wells has been a key rotation cog for a legitimate contender in Memphis. He's pretty much your ideal second-round gem on the wing — a deadeye shooter with positional size who defends his position well and offers enough dribble-pass equity to project as more than a fringe role player.

2. Zach Edey, Memphis Grizzlies

The obvious Rookie of the Year favorite remains Zach Edey, even if he continues to come off the bench. He still can't really defend bigs on the perimeter, but Edey has been a disruptive rim protector in addition to his extremely efficient scoring around the basket. The 7-foot-4 big man is averaging 11.3 points on 65.7 percent true shooting with a league-best 16.7 offensive rebounding percentage.

1. Jared McCain, Philadelphia 76ers

Jared McCain has essentially put together three of the best rookie performances this season on successive nights for the injury-addled 76ers. He dropped 34 points and 10 assists on the undefeated Cavs this week. McCain's 3-pointers are starting to fall, he's scoring with remarkable efficiency around the basket, and he's clearly capable of scaling up when the Sixers are hurt, a key attribute when your star running mates are Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey.

Who holds the belt right now? A mini-NBA mock draft