Stephon Castle

[Chuck Everett]

Who’s the last guard who’s not a scorer and can’t shoot 3s that has become an allstar in the NBA?

Fred Van Vleet. But also DeAaron Fox. Fox averaged 11.6ppg as a rookie and shot 30% from 3. Also a top 5 pick.

[MasterIchiro]

He looks NBA ready. Spurs made a very wise selection.

Steph plays winning basketball on both sides of the ball.

[Chuck Everett]

Pick him San Antonio. You need a physical defender on the wing aside from Sochan.

Mission accomplished.

Go Spurs Go!

[MasterIchiro]

Time for an audit.

[ReggiesKnicks]

Time for an audit.

Highly inefficient but projects as a combination of a slasher and connector offensively while being able to be a disruptor defensively.

Ultimately my biggest gripe with Castle is projecting him out into the future. He isn't a good shooter, nor is he an elite playmaker, which means he can't be your lead or primary guard/playmaker. He then, in all likelihood, isn't your smallest player, which hinders some of his defensive potential because, as we saw with guards like Marcus Smart, Eric Bledsoe, and Jrue Holiday when they are your "smallest" player, you have a massive leg-up defensively but some of that impact is negated when they are playing next to another smaller guard in the back-court.

Offensively, he isn't spacing the floor for someone like De'aaron Fox to have 5-out spacing, which is typically going to be a massive boon to Wemby teams.

Ultimately he is going to have a long NBA career as a fringe starter (Starting on bad teams but questionable fits on good teams). He has some higher-end outcomes still which blow my current assessment out of the water, but those are unlikely even if they do exist in some capacity.

[basketballRob]

I could see Castle making several all-star teams. He has a lot of size and length for a guard. I like his handle. His defense is potential all defense. He'll likely be a 20/5/5 player for a decade.

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[wemby]

Time for an audit.

Highly inefficient but projects as a combination of a slasher and connector offensively while being able to be a disruptor defensively.

Ultimately my biggest gripe with Castle is projecting him out into the future. He isn't a good shooter, nor is he an elite playmaker, which means he can't be your lead or primary guard/playmaker. He then, in all likelihood, isn't your smallest player, which hinders some of his defensive potential because, as we saw with guards like Marcus Smart, Eric Bledsoe, and Jrue Holiday when they are your "smallest" player, you have a massive leg-up defensively but some of that impact is negated when they are playing next to another smaller guard in the back-court.

Offensively, he isn't spacing the floor for someone like De'aaron Fox to have 5-out spacing, which is typically going to be a massive boon to Wemby teams.

Ultimately he is going to have a long NBA career as a fringe starter (Starting on bad teams but questionable fits on good teams). He has some higher-end outcomes still which blow my current assessment out of the water, but those are unlikely even if they do exist in some capacity.

This is just crazy lack of perspective. Castle's lack of efficiency is overstated because a lot of it is due to the fact that he takes lots of threes despite being a very bad shooter from 3 at this point. In fact, he usually takes LONG, DIFFICULT threes, not wide open corner ones. This has to do with the fact that Spurs are approaching this as a development season, so the focus is on him getting reps more so than contributing to the win column. A good coach simply making him take less 3s (and better ones) would just skyrocket his efficiency.

However, iIf you only take 2s, he's shooting 49.7%. For perspective, someone like Paolo Banchero shot just 47.1% from 2 his rookie season. Also, a lot of Castle's shots are self created, and he has shown the ability to get to the line. It's funny to me when people make bold statements like these yet fail to consider the context, you can't compare Risacher's shots on the Hawks to Castle's on the Spurs given their roles. So of course Castle needs to get better as a shooter and wiser at picking his spots, but it's actually very easy to envision him as a much more efficient scorer with a proper scheme and shooters around him.

As for his playmaking, it's actually quite good and improving. Being able to create for others is a particularly hard skill to master, he has shown a lot of flashes and lately his assists numbers are going up. Also role plays a part, if you're not the primary ball handler of course opportunities for assists are not going to be as readily available. He's already damn good in his rookie season at 20, he's going to improve like most rookie guards do. Your take is going to look awful in hindsight.

[MasterIchiro]

I could see Castle making several all-star teams. He has a lot of size and length for a guard. I like his handle. His defense is potential all defense. He'll likely be a 20/5/5 player for a decade.

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Yeah, he's the closest thing to Jimmy Butler since Jimmy Butler.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Time for an audit.

Highly inefficient but projects as a combination of a slasher and connector offensively while being able to be a disruptor defensively.

Ultimately my biggest gripe with Castle is projecting him out into the future. He isn't a good shooter, nor is he an elite playmaker, which means he can't be your lead or primary guard/playmaker. He then, in all likelihood, isn't your smallest player, which hinders some of his defensive potential because, as we saw with guards like Marcus Smart, Eric Bledsoe, and Jrue Holiday when they are your "smallest" player, you have a massive leg-up defensively but some of that impact is negated when they are playing next to another smaller guard in the back-court.

Offensively, he isn't spacing the floor for someone like De'aaron Fox to have 5-out spacing, which is typically going to be a massive boon to Wemby teams.

Ultimately he is going to have a long NBA career as a fringe starter (Starting on bad teams but questionable fits on good teams). He has some higher-end outcomes still which blow my current assessment out of the water, but those are unlikely even if they do exist in some capacity.

He's clearly proven he's a lead guard/playmaker given what he's doing as a 20 y/o. As a starter he's shooting over 30% from three which isn't great but it's not far off from what Doncic shot as a rookie. Young players improve their shots all the time in this league and even if he can't, his comp has always been Jimmy Butler who has made a career out of being a high level starter despite facing similar limitations as a shooter. He has nearly a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio, which again, isn't great, but it isn't terrible since he's a 20 y/o rookie so not sure why his playmaking is a question at this point.

Your comments about defense make zero sense. He's a big guard that can comfortably guard 1 through 3 and maybe even hold his own against the occasional 4 regardless of whether he's playing PG or not.

[JMAC3]

He has had a nice season, probably going to choose to ignore the last 10-15 games as they are usually filled with noise with guys having huge box scores. Castle attempting to put up a triple double every game in a bunch of consecutive losing efforts feels pretty noisy to me and probably not something we should expect moving forward.

Still think playing off ball next to Fox is the best path for him and not the lead guard narrative that was getting pushed last year around this time.

[MasterIchiro]

He has had a nice season, probably going to choose to ignore the last 10-15 games as they are usually filled with noise with guys having huge box scores. Castle attempting to put up a triple double every game in a bunch of consecutive losing efforts feels pretty noisy to me and probably not something we should expect moving forward.

Still think playing off ball next to Fox is the best path for him and not the lead guard narrative that was getting pushed last year around this time.

I specifically said the Hornets should evaluate him as a potentially elite secondary playmaker.

[Dat2U]

I still wonder how he fits off the ball with Fox. He still can't shoot but he's somewhat compensated for that by relentlessly attacking the space they are giving him and finishing at a high level but I keep coming to the fact he has to learn how to shoot at some point to have a real impact.

[Chokic]

Castle is an inefficient chucker. It will only be a matter of time before the honeymoon period wanes and spurs fans want him gone.

[Marvin Martian]

I still wonder how he fits off the ball with Fox. He still can't shoot but he's somewhat compensated for that by relentlessly attacking the space they are giving him and finishing at a high level but I keep coming to the fact he has to learn how to shoot at some point to have a real impact.

Fox can't shoot either and people are still buying stock on him at 27. I would say that Castle is the better prospect due to his size and ability to draw fouls

[Dat2U]

I still wonder how he fits off the ball with Fox. He still can't shoot but he's somewhat compensated for that by relentlessly attacking the space they are giving him and finishing at a high level but I keep coming to the fact he has to learn how to shoot at some point to have a real impact.

Fox can't shoot either and people are still buying stock on him at 27. I would say that Castle is the better prospect due to his size and ability to draw fouls

There are varying degrees of being a poor shooter. Castle is pretty much at or near the bottom in every category outside of the paint. Fox & Castle play together? Can Fox, Castle & Sochan play together and not hurt spacing. Alot of questions yet to be answered.