The Brooklyn Nets surprised fans with their draft strategy last night, making a record five selections in the first round, and selecting three international point guards with size.

The highlight was the selection of Egor Demin with the eighth pick, a 6-foot-9 point guard who is best known for his passing.

Demin played three years at Real Madrid before playing one season of college basketball at BYU, averaging 10.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 5.6 assists.

Demin is among the top passers and pick-and-roll ball-handlers in the class, but struggles as a shooter and defender, raising question marks from many NBA analysts. Demin has the potential to become a star player if he develops on the offensive and defensive ends, but could also end up unable to carve out a role if other facets of his game do not grow.

The Demin selection received draft grades of C+, C+, C, and D+ by Yahoo Sports, Sports Illustrated, The Ringer, and Bleacher Report, respectively, with analysts citing his passing as a strength, but his questionable shooting and defending as significant weaknesses that may hinder his ability to grow into his own as an NBA player.

“This is undoubtedly a huge swing for the Nets here. Demin has a rare ability at his size to make dazzling passes, which would give Brooklyn a jumbo-sized ball-handler. But he’s also struggled to shoot and create his own shot against lengthy defenders, making him more of a love-him or hate-him prospect than a sure thing. Whether he becomes a point guard in the NBA will depend on the development of his jumper,” Kevin O’Connor wrote in his first-round NBA Draft grades article for Yahoo Sports.

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Brooklyn continued their trend of selecting international point guards throughout the draft, with Nolan Traore of France being selected with the 19th pick and Ben Saraf of Israel being selected with the 26th pick.

Both Traore and Saraf measure at 6-foot-5 and struggle to shoot from the outside, although they excel at playmaking, ball-handling, and finishing at the rim. In between, Marks selected Drake Powell at No. 22, who is an athletic 3-and-D wing, which could fill some of the voids left by the drafted point guards.

Brooklyn ended the night with the selection of the versatile big man Danny Wolf at No. 27, who features guard-like court vision and handles, while adding an interior presence and size at 6-foot-11.

It appears that the Nets’ strategy was to select the best talent available and let the cream rise to the top, especially at the point guard position.

Selecting three bigger point guards, each with a lack of three-point shooting, is a bit puzzling, but it could lead to a nice backcourt pairing between the pass-first floor generals and star shooting guard Cam Thomas, who is a volume scorer and is expected to re-sign with the Nets this offseason.

According to Shams Charania, the Nets have traded their second-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for two future second-round picks, ending their draft in the first round. With five new players in tow, Brooklyn will look to improve on their 26-56 record and 12th-place finish in the Eastern Conference next season.