The Brooklyn Nets hope to field a full roster by Opening Night, still nearly a month away. Haywood Highsmith wasn’t expected to be ready vs. the Charlotte Hornets on October 22, following off-season surgery.
But at Media Day Tuesday, he said that’s indeed the plan.
Which leaves only two question marks: rookies Egor Demin who suffered a plantar faschia tear after Summer League in July and Drake Powell who missed all of Summer League with left knee tendinopathy. Powell, it turns out, is close to contact work at HSS Training Center, while Demin is a bit behind. Fernandez promised an update on him “at some point” but the Nets are notoriously conservative both on getting players back on court… and it providing timelines.
“He’s been doing the non-contact part of practice,” said Fernandez of Powell “The next step is to do the contact. It’s gonna come soon. We’re excited because we see how he impacts the game and how good he can be in the NBA. I’m not gonna tell you all the secrets until you see it, but we’re very happy with where he is right now and how much work he’s put into it.”
Indeed in video of the first day of practice Wednesday, Powell could be seen near the end active in defensive drills…
And Demin?
“Yeah, probably not as close as Drake is. But same thing, they’re following the proper steps, taking care of something that we don’t want it to linger. He’s doing a great job, and we’ll see him sooner than later. We’ll give you an appropriate timetable at some point.”
The 6’9” Demin has been seen shooting around during first practices.
Demin when asked about the injury at Media Day dismissed it as “not a big deal” and Nets insiders say they’re not worried in the least about how the injuries will affect their play.
Fernandez was also asked about another member of the Flatbush 5 — Ben Saraf — who’s gotten a lot of praise for his early play, particularly from team veterans.
“He’s always under control. He’s never too high, never too low. And you can tell, his positional size and his playmaking are unbelievable,” said the coach o f the Nets 26th pick. “His size helps him also defensively. So he can do all those things. And like I said yesterday, he’s played against grown men in professional leagues for three years already, I believe, and last year played at a very, very high level in the German league with Ulm and in the Euro Cup, which is the second tier there.
“ I was obviously able to watch it because I follow those leagues, and he was impressive then at the age of 18. And now being 19, this is obviously the next step, but that’s why you can see his composure.”
Otherwise, the Nets coach said so far, so good on what he’s seen so far after the first two days of practice.
“I think their commitment to get on percent better every day, you can see it,” Ferandez said. “The practice today, it was not just that we had great energy and intensity, but also the quality of play was a little bit better. And that’s what you want to see. You want to see what you can control, keep bring it, but then the proper steps, right? And the focus and the purpose. Because sometimes you’re gonna be in camp and you’re gonna be exhausted, but if you focus and you can do everything you have to do with purpose, it’s right there where we’re gonna keep getting better and take the next step. So very how practice went.”
