This BYU standout is exactly the player Masai Ujiri loves to develop

Egor Demin blends positional versatility with elite passing feel, making him a rare chess piece in today’s NBA Draft.

Marquee names suck up most of the oxygen in every draft cycle, but the RaptorsHQ’s Draft Watch is where we crack a window and let the hidden aromas drift in. Our next new scent? Egor Demin, the Russian 6-foot-9 guard who spent his formative years in Real Madrid’s academy before running Kevin Young’s uptempo show at BYU. Demin’s resume oozes premium stock: Euroleague Next-Gen champion, Real Madrid senior-team cameo at 17, and now the first five-star recruit in Cougar history. In a class light on true primary creators, his jumbo-guard profile has lottery teams (and most likely the Toronto Raptors’ scouts) salivating.

Mock Draft Range

Best rank: 7 / Worst rank: 24

(Per Hoopshype’s Aggregate Mock Draft 7.0)

Taking his Game to De-Max

At 6’9” with a 6’10.25” wingspan, Demin surveys the floor like a veteran point guard. He manipulates the defense with eye/head fakes, whips left/right-handed live-dribble laser passes to the corner, and will do the Steve Nash “keep alive” dribble until he finds an opening. He sees and leads the cutter with his passes while maintaining a live dribble. If there’s any doubt that he can play the point, just watch plenty of BYU’s pick-and-roll possessions, where it felt like they scored on almost every sequence. Watching Demin in PnR actions, it feels like everything is in slow motion for him as he manipulates the defense, angles, and timing and waits for the perfect pocket pass to the roll man.

Demin sets the tone for his team, often dictating when to slow down or push in transition. He makes excellent decisions on when to grab the rebound and push the pace, using his court vision to get easy buckets that even the Indiana Pacers will approve. Demin’s size also allows him to playmake like a big at the nail, where he can act as a connector. Also, he’s big enough to be on inverted pick-and-roll, but he hasn’t been utilized that way. Just imagine how deadly he can be with his passing as the receiver on the short roll.

Scoring-wise, while it feels like Demin wanted to get rid of the ball all the time, he’s shown a willingness to create his own shot or be the play finisher. Smaller guards can get in trouble against him once he touches the paint, as his size allows him to shoot over them. He’s not explosive but nifty enough to manipulate the defense and create his openings with his unorthodox layups. Demin has shown a willingness to pull up or catch and shoot from the perimeter, but it hasn’t been consistent.

Demin’s basketball IQ is not just on display on the offensive end. He’s a solid team defender, making good reads on when and who to rotate, using his length to stunt and play the passing lanes. Demin slides well enough to switch across 1-3 positions and has enough length and quickness to cover ground and rotate back to the perimeter.

De-Min-imal Improvements Needed

Demin’s perimeter shooting needs some work. It’s tough to be a starting-calibre point guard if he can’t shoot, and the defense sagging off him negates most of the advantage that his size gives him. Demin is also not one of the top 5 best athletes on the floor, even at the NCAA level. Much like Steve Nash and Josh Giddey, he relies on his handle, angles, misdirection, and threat to pass to give him a pseudo-first step. He’ll often look for a re-screen if the initial PnR action got busted, and a lot of that is because he could not get past his defender. Demin is scrawny, and if he’s already struggling through contact in his drives to the basket, the monsters are bigger and stronger at the next level.

Another issue here is what kind of role Demin can play if he’s not the main playmaker on the floor. He likes to have the ball in his hands for the most part, and he’s not that effective as a play finisher due to his limitations.

De-Fit with the Toronto Raptors

The addition of Demin will revive the “Vision 6’9” narrative. He will be another jumbo decision-maker alongside Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Brandon Ingram. However, I wonder how effective he can be when he’s not the primary ball handler and in Coach Darko Rajakovic’s pass-happy offensive schemes.

Demin’s size and versatility should allow him to afford rotation minutes. The Raptors can even play two backup point guards, as Jamal Shead complements his game fairly well. A bench mob with Demin, Shead, Mogbo, and one of Walter/Gradey could be a fun one. Defensively, his hip mobility, wingspan, and IQ should allow him to switch 1-3, but he will need to get stronger to comfortably switch against stronger forwards, especially power forwards.

However, Demin, at 19, aligns with the team’s developmental arc and timeline, considering Barnes, Gradey Dick, and Ja’Kobe Walter. He’s a hedge for the present and the future. He could be useful in spot minutes, especially if he can hit his perimeter shots at a decent clip, but having him on the fold is more of a long-term play. Who knows whether Immanuel Quickley will still be the team’s starting point guard next season? If anything, he provides the front office with an “out” for a quick pivot in case this “compete now” experiment flops. There’s no better way to start a rebuild than having a starting-level young point guard at your disposal.