Stephon Castle

[The-Power]

Deserving of his own thread.

Castle's on-ball defense has been something else. I did not expect that at all but he's been an absolute menace when he's defending ball-handlers. Great physicality and activity, highly disruptive and he could potentially defend 3 or even 4 positions in the NBA if that kind of effort continues. I also like his drives, he gets to the rim and draws contact effortlessly in the small sample, and he has been a cerebral passer in his role.

His reluctance to shoot gives me pause, though. He's the one player who could make the top of the draft interesting if he could pull up, or at least shoot it with some space. But alas, he doesn't seem comfortable and that makes a big difference when it comes to projecting him as a prospect. Hopefully it's at least partly a matter of getting acclimated and he shows more of his shooting over the course of the season; continuing to shoot ~80% on his FTs also won't hurt.

[clyde21]

Castle guy, not much competition but clear top 5 for me right now

[tester551]

I know he's primarily listed as a PG/SG type player. Does he legitimately have the size & ability to play SF?

[clyde21]

nah, i think his best bet is if he developes into a jumbo PG, or if he somehow turns into an SGA type guard/wing but that's a tough projection to make

[FarBeyondDriven]

Deserving of his own thread.

Castle's on-ball defense has been something else. I did not expect that at all but he's been an absolute menace when he's defending ball-handlers. Great physicality and activity, highly disruptive and he could potentially defend 3 or even 4 positions in the NBA if that kind of effort continues. I also like his drives, he gets to the rim and draws contact effortlessly in the small sample, and he has been a cerebral passer in his role.

His reluctance to shoot gives me pause, though. He's the one player who could make the top of the draft interesting if he could pull up, or at least shoot it with some space. But alas, he doesn't seem comfortable and that makes a big difference when it comes to projecting him as a prospect. Hopefully it's at least partly a matter of getting acclimated and he shows more of his shooting over the course of the season; continuing to shoot ~80% on his FTs also won't hurt.

he's very impressive. I wouldn't be too worried about his lack of shooting because he's a jump shooter and coming back from a knee injury. He's likely just being cautious.

What I like most about him is he plays the game at his own speed like other greats do. He doesn't get sped up. And he's a beast with the ball in his hand as a playmaker and on defense. I need to see him healthy and shooting before I label him an elite prospect but he's already in that Suggs category for me.

[Hal14]

So far, UConn is using him in a utility role..they're using him kind of like how they used Andre Jackson last season..the Bruce Brown type of role. Wing who is sometimes a secondary ball handler, low volume shooter, low volume scorer but high energy guy w/ pretty good strength/athleticism and tough defense.

That doesn't sound like the type of guy I would take top 5.

Castle was used much different in HS. In HS he was THE guy, the PG, the scorer and the facilitator. Played kind of like SGA in HS. But less athletic, less explosive. But sometimes guys play a different, reduced role as they move up in competition. So we'll see what happens with Castle as the season goes on but for now, he's 12 on my board..

Castle isn't *that* good of a shooter. And lacks a certain level of burst going to the basket as well as handle/shot creation ability so perhaps the utility role (like AJax/Bruce Brown) is what he's better suited for.

Suggs was a very different prospect. He played only PG at Gonzaga and literally was THE guy who carried a team to the NCAA title game as a freshman. He showed better shooting than Castle did too.

[JMAC3]

Hard to know too much as he has only played 4 games thus far, including barely playing in the biggest game vs Unc.

I will say from the limited time his jump shot looks pretty suspect, which is really tough to play point guard in the NBA at a high level if that is the case. Right now I look at him more as defensive wing due to his strength and size. Okoro type from a build, but with better playmaking.

He is a guy I like right now though for the 4-8 range. Selfishly I am probably a fan because Hornets need a guy with his skill set badly.

[Hal14]

Hard to know too much as he has only played 4 games thus far, including barely playing in the biggest game vs Unc.

I will say from the limited time his jump shot looks pretty suspect, which is really tough to play point guard in the NBA at a high level if that is the case. Right now I look at him more as defensive wing due to his strength and size. Okoro type from a build, but with better playmaking.

He is a guy I like right now though for the 4-8 range. Selfishly I am probably a fan because Hornets need a guy with his skill set badly.

A guy that type of skill set..I feel like those are the types of guys you just try and scoop up for the MLE or TPMLE. The Bruce Browns, Josh Harts, Donte Divencenzo, Okoro, D'anthony Melton, Pat Connaughtons of the world.

Picking in the 4-8 range, you try to aim a bit higher and go for someone with more upside, no?

[JMAC3]

Hard to know too much as he has only played 4 games thus far, including barely playing in the biggest game vs Unc.

I will say from the limited time his jump shot looks pretty suspect, which is really tough to play point guard in the NBA at a high level if that is the case. Right now I look at him more as defensive wing due to his strength and size. Okoro type from a build, but with better playmaking.

He is a guy I like right now though for the 4-8 range. Selfishly I am probably a fan because Hornets need a guy with his skill set badly.

A guy that type of skill set..I feel like those are the types of guys you just try and scoop up for the MLE or TPMLE. The Bruce Browns, Josh Harts, Donte Divencenzo, Okoro, D'anthony Melton, Pat Connaughtons of the world.

Picking in the 4-8 range, you try to aim a bit higher and go for someone with more upside, no?

Anthony Black just went 6th, reminds me a lot of him. Not sure Black is really a point in the NBA tbh either.

[Hal14]

Hard to know too much as he has only played 4 games thus far, including barely playing in the biggest game vs Unc.

I will say from the limited time his jump shot looks pretty suspect, which is really tough to play point guard in the NBA at a high level if that is the case. Right now I look at him more as defensive wing due to his strength and size. Okoro type from a build, but with better playmaking.

He is a guy I like right now though for the 4-8 range. Selfishly I am probably a fan because Hornets need a guy with his skill set badly.

A guy that type of skill set..I feel like those are the types of guys you just try and scoop up for the MLE or TPMLE. The Bruce Browns, Josh Harts, Donte Divencenzo, Okoro, D'anthony Melton, Pat Connaughtons of the world.

Picking in the 4-8 range, you try to aim a bit higher and go for someone with more upside, no?

Anthony Black just went 6th, reminds me a lot of him. Not sure Black is really a point in the NBA tbh either.

I think AB was on a different level than Castle in terms of ball handling, running PnR, running an offense (he got basically ALL of the reps at PG for Arkansas), playmaking, pressuring the rim, defense (especially being able to guard up and down the lineup), plus he was an inch taller..

and even then, I had AB ranked like 9th or 10th..

[FarBeyondDriven]

Hard to know too much as he has only played 4 games thus far, including barely playing in the biggest game vs Unc.

I will say from the limited time his jump shot looks pretty suspect, which is really tough to play point guard in the NBA at a high level if that is the case. Right now I look at him more as defensive wing due to his strength and size. Okoro type from a build, but with better playmaking.

He is a guy I like right now though for the 4-8 range. Selfishly I am probably a fan because Hornets need a guy with his skill set badly.

A guy that type of skill set..I feel like those are the types of guys you just try and scoop up for the MLE or TPMLE. The Bruce Browns, Josh Harts, Donte Divencenzo, Okoro, D'anthony Melton, Pat Connaughtons of the world.

Picking in the 4-8 range, you try to aim a bit higher and go for someone with more upside, no?

Anthony Black just went 6th, reminds me a lot of him. Not sure Black is really a point in the NBA tbh either.

Issue with Castle right now is his school choice and he's coming back from injury. They don't really need him so he's getting 20 mpg off the bench. Sometimes he's playing point guard and when he does he looks like a natural with the ability to run the offense, pass and score within the system. Other times he's off ball and they tend to run sets that feature Clingan or finding Spencer or Karaban for open threes, so he's not seeing the ball return to him.

It's probably fun for a lottery talent to use his one year in college to play for a great coach with a chance at a national title. He's certain to play on the big stage so all eyes will be on him. For us, and maybe his draft stock, it's tough because we aren't seeing him play as much as he should and who knows, that might be the case all season? It makes it really difficult to evaluate.

I'm not too worried about his shot. The stroke looks good enough to work with. What worries me is that he does not appear to be an above the rim (or anywhere near) type athlete, kinda like Cason Wallace in that regard. In fact, even their play style is similar. I think Castle is bigger and stronger and can switch 1-3 on defense plus he's a better passer. Wallace is quicker with a better handle and shot. But when the dust settles I think they're in the same tier (now) as prospects.

I still feel Castle can be better. I think Wallace is his floor. But he needs to show more burst and prove he can hit shots to make that a reality. Hard to make an argument that you can be an elite, top of the draft, point guard prospect, without it. Maybe it's the knee and they're just not worried about rushing him too much and he's not confident to really push things athletically. His PG skills and defense will play at the next level. He's going to have to show some burst at some point this season for me to put him near the top. Or, he can settle into being a borderline top 10/end of lottery guy like Wallace.

[The-Power]

Last game he turned down four (semi-)open 3s and missed the two he took badly. That has to change if he wants to fully win over NBA teams.

[The-Power]

His inability and reluctance to shoot is hurting him big time right now. Tough to place him on a big board but clearly my early hopes of having him close to the top is not panning out thus far.

[FarBeyondDriven]

His inability and reluctance to shoot is hurting him big time right now. Tough to place him on a big board but clearly my early hopes of having him close to the top is not panning out thus far.

agreed. But it's very possible that he's reluctant because he has better shooters alongside him in Spencer and Karaban which would then make sense why he'd turn them down. I think at some point though, he's going to need to show he can knock down threes for him to be in the top half of the lottery. Hopefully that happens the rest of the season or in the tournament. If not, he's got workouts and the combine to prove it. He's fallen to the 10-14 range for me as we sit.

[FarBeyondDriven]

as I suspected, it's the presence of returners that score that seems to have limited Castle's aggression on offense. With Karaban out and them needing Castle to score he delivered in a big way. He's hitting his FTs and threes too.

[FarBeyondDriven]

unfortunately with Karaban returning Castle reverted to the bystander he's been on offense most of the season. It would have been nice to see him be the man on his own team but learning how to play winning basketball and winning a likely National Championship was probably more important to him than better numbers. I can't hate him for that.

[MemphisX]

unfortunately with Karaban returning Castle reverted to the bystander he's been on offense most of the season. It would have been nice to see him be the man on his own team but learning how to play winning basketball and winning a likely National Championship was probably more important to him than better numbers. I can't hate him for that.

This is an interesting point. He will likely get picked higher than he is mocked. His low usage will hurt him during the draft season but workouts likely kill that.

[JMAC3]

Yeah, I think this guy just has it.
Reminds me a bit of Marcus Smart, not sure where I have him yet but I want to move him closer to the top 5 then I had him 24 hours ago. His shooting isn't great by any means, but he shows some good touch on floaters.

His physicality, athleticism, feel for the game and size just intrigue me.

[SeattleJazzFan]

Yeah, I think this guy just has it.
Reminds me a bit of Marcus Smart, not sure where I have him yet but I want to move him closer to the top 5 then I had him 24 hours ago. His shooting isn't great by any means, but he shows some good touch on floaters.

His physicality, athleticism, feel for the game and size just intrigue me.

i agree with this. he's athletic, plays hard, plays smart and has good size and has the demeanor you look for. that's a nice base to start from. his mechanics are fine and so i think there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of his shooting. cares on the defensive end. he's not marcus smart on that end, but i get the comparison - for a frosh he's pretty elite on defense.

at least at this point in the game, i'd take him as high as 10 and he could absolutely rise depending on what he shows in the next five weeks.

[DOT]

As a totally unbiased observer, he should stay another year to hone his skills.