#brooklyn-nets

#brooklyn-nets

The Lakers have entered the game as favorites 44 times this season and won 34, or 77.3%, of those games. They score 116.6 points per game, slightly more than the 115.7 points the Nets allow.

Right now, he's not good to go. We'll see what the next step is. It's important that we manage them. As rookies, they come in, and usually when they do a lot of draft workouts their summer is not perfect because they go through a lot. It's almost like they're missing a summer. They do play summer league, but it's not a real summer. Then you get into training camp, and it feels like you go into playing right away.

It's like asking a bunch of kids, who are just learning how to swim, to make sure the other one doesn't drown. That's the tightrope Jordi Fernández has walked as the Nets push through the final stretch of a season that has gone sideways in the standings, even as the organization stays committed to a development plan built for patience.

The jumper gives Brooklyn spacing, and it gives Démin a base to build on. But the next step is the one that changes how defenses treat him. It's not another layer of shot-making. It's learning how to consistently get into the paint and get to where he wants to go on the floor, on his terms, against NBA bodies and NBA game plans.

As implosions go, this one was impressive. The Nets blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead, folding down the stretch in a 115-104 loss to Atlanta before a sellout crowd of 17,121 at State Farm Arena. Brooklyn was cruising along up 102-91 with 6:45 left, but coughed up a 24-2 run to close out the collapse. They went without a basket for the final 5:18, giving away turnover after turnover - and a win they seemed to have in the bag.

"Day'Ron is special," Dëmin said. "His superpower is rebounding. A lot of his points are putbacks and those aren't easy. I joke with him that the last couple of weeks he's been looking for me a lot coming off handoffs and ball screens, and I tell him when he sets screens, I'm going to find him. The more you play together, the more confidence you build, and he makes the game easier for everybody."

The event, set for 9 p.m. ET at Intuit Dome and airing on Peacock, gathers much of the league's young core for a four-team mini-tournament. Three squads of NBA rookies and sophomores will be led by Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, while a fourth team of G League standouts will be coached by Austin Rivers. Dëmin slots onto Team Vince, alongside VJ Edgecombe, Derik Queen, Kyshawn George, Matas Buzelis, Cedric Coward and Jaylen Wells.