Egor Dëmin is an integral part of the Nets rebuild, their first lottery pick in 15 years.
So, Brooklyn fans surely took notice when general manager Sean Marks casually mentioned that the Russian rookie suffered a plantar fascia tear this offseason.
“He wants to get out there,” Marks said. “He’s been a little bit limited with the plantar fascia tear after summer league.
“So he hasn’t potentially had the summer that he would’ve loved. But at the same time, size, position, the way he plays, the way he sees the game and so forth … really enjoyed being around him and looking forward to getting him out there and seeing what he can do.”
Pressed further, Marks expects Dëmin to be ready by opening night.
“He’ll be limited for the first part of camp with what he’s going to be doing, but hopefully, there’s a buildup through the first couple of weeks here, and then he gets out there,” Marks said. “But we have no issues with thinking he’s going to miss, you know, the start of the season.”
Dëmin downplayed the injury.
“Well, the injury itself, I’m assuming it’s not that big of a deal at this point,” Dëmin said. “But it’s something that comes with the volume in time.
“I’m not a doctor, so it’s hard for me to even tell what’s going on with it. So for me, it’s just important to stay present. I’m trying to focus on whatever plan I have from the physicians and whatever timing I have from them.”
Rookie Drake Powell missed summer league with left knee tendinopathy, and Haywood Highsmith is recovering from knee surgery.
Both suggested they could be back by Oct. 22.
“My knee has been doing good,” Powell said.
Marks added: “He’s not playing 5-on-5 as it stands now, but the hope is he’ll be in camp and doing drills. He didn’t participate in open gym, but at the same time, we have no issues with him being held out of camp and so forth. We’ll build him up through there, and he should be good to go for hopefully the preseason games.”
The prevailing wisdom was that Highsmith would miss the start of the season, but the veteran wing suggested his goal was opening night.
“Right now, I’m 6 ½ weeks out of surgery, so I’m doing jogging, spot-shooting, movements and workouts. Not 100 percent. Light contact,” Highsmith said. “The plan for me is to be ready for the start of the regular season.”
Nic Claxton said the sore back that plagued him last season is healed, and his top goal is keeping better focus after three ejections and four flagrants: “Consistency every day, showing up, growing my game … being a leader consistently, keeping my mental in a good place and not ‘crashing out’ out there.”
Rookie Ben Saraf has impressed with his veteran-like poise.
Coach Jordi Fernández said Noah Clowney “looks like a man,” after playing at 220-225 pounds last year but weighing in at 234 on Tuesday.
Brooklyn native Terance Mann, who grew up near Barclays Center, commented on how much the area had changed.
“Just driving around Park Slope, Kensington area, all the new builds, just a whole different vibe,” Mann said. “The Modell’s is now Brooklyn Basketball Training Center. I used to buy my soccer gear there. So just weird, weird. But it’s cool.”
