Despite shooting just 27.3% from 3 in his first year at BYU, he has made it his biggest asset as an NBA player. He is up to 39.7% shooting from long range and hit his 100th career 3-pointer against the Jazz on Friday.
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In the first quarter of Friday’s game, he went 3-for-5 from deep and then kept going, finishing with 25 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for the first double-double of his career.
He finished with six 3-pointers on Friday night, going 6-for-12.
He said there has been no magic solution for his shot other than constant work.
“Shooting the ball is as simple as it is,” Dëmin said. “Just being in the gym and throwing the ball.”
Dëmin met with the media before Friday night’s game and talked about his NBA experience, playing at BYU and what returning to Utah meant to him.Advertisement
“It feels amazing. I’m so excited to be back here,” Dëmin said. “Obviously, I’m expecting a lot of BYU colors tonight. I’m very grateful to be back here.”
He also said about 30 people showed up to watch him at Friday’s game. Many of them were from his BYU circles.
“There is a lot of culture at BYU,” Dëmin said. “A lot of people know how close the BYU organization is in general. Not just basketball, or just football, or whatever, but all the sports together.
“I’ve been lucky enough to end up at that school and gain so many friends and so many people around me who want the best for me and who I want the best for, so it’s very exciting to be part of that great BYU family.”
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Dëmin also praised BYU head coach Kevin Young. When the Cougars hired Young, the main selling point was that he could turn BYU into a place where players could come to develop an NBA-level game.
Dëmin was the first of the Young era to make good on that statement, and he has done so with encouraging numbers. He has started 34 games this year for the Nets and will participate in the NBA Rising Stars game.
“He’s an NBA coach, so this year he taught me basically everything I need to know to be able to play at the NBA level,” Dëmin said of Young. “Maybe not even that big of a skill set, because at the end of the day, you come to the league and you’re just yourself. That’s the goal.”
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“It taught me a lot of knowledge, (like) I come here and I’m ready to play, and I know what we’re doing, and I have an idea of what it’s like. It gave me this kind of foundation of an NBA player, to be able to come here and know what’s going on around me.”