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Will be quite disappointing to not see Castle starting and getting 30 minutes a night. Dude has such sky high potential and should already greatly improve the team's defense as long as he doesn't get rooked for playing physical defense.
Aside from Wemby, Castle is the best talent the Spurs have selected in a draft in a long time. If Sochan started from day 1, there's no way, no how, Castle doesn't start from day being a superior talent. Barnes as a vet, will completely understand coming off the bench, as long as he's getting sufficient minutes and mentoring the young guys.
CP3, Dev, Castle, Sochan, Wemby
Tre, Branham, KJ, Barnes, Collins
If Sochan's IQ doesn't get better, I see Barnes eventually taking over that PF starting position. I know some people don't think that Castle and Sochan can start together due to not being able to consistently knock down the 3 ball, but I disagree. CP3, Dev, and Wemby can all knock down the 3 ball. When Wemby is initiating the offense, which we all know will be a lot of the time, CP3 will be posted up at 3 point line, locked and loaded for a catch and shot from Wemby. If CP3 isn't traded by the trade deadline and finish the season healthy, I can see the Spurs resigning him on a 2 year deal with the 2nd being a team option. By the end of that time, Castle will be seasoned and primed to take over as the starting Point Guard moving forward.
Will be quite disappointing to not see Castle starting and getting 30 minutes a night. Dude has such sky high potential and should already greatly improve the team's defense as long as he doesn't get rooked for playing physical defense.
He needs to get over himself.
It's one thing to claim he will start from day one, it's another to slot him in as a wing. Stephon Castle is not a wing. He's a point guard. Sticking him in the corner is taking away all his utility as an offensive player.
Hate to break it to you guys, but I’d say that it’s pretty likely he doesn’t start day 1. And that’s fine - CP3 is going to miss games and probably won’t play much over 25 mpg anyways. There will be plenty of opportunities for Castle to get playing time as both the primary ball-handler/initiator as well as learning how to play off-ball (which is also extremely important) as a tertiary playmaker.
If he’s so good that he forces his way into the starting lineup mid-year then that’ll be awesome. But let’s pump the brakes after seeing just one SL game. He doesn’t “need” to start right off the bat.
CP3, Dev, Castle, Barnes, Wemby
Tre, KJ, Sochan, Mamu, Collins
Need to make sure that first unit builds a lead. Second unit can feature KJ and have a bunch of other hustle-play type guys.
Your day 1 starting 5 will be.
Paul
Vassell
Barnes
Sochan
Wemby
100% he doesn’t start on day one. But I’m sure he’ll have many starts throughout the year and will be one of the spurs’ top 3 players this year.
I'd expect they'd want to use him as a secondary initiator when Paul is on the floor and first initiator when he isn't. No one wants Castle just standing at the perimeter waiting for catch and shoot three point attempts.
Amen Thompson, last years #4 pick, started 23 games for a Houston team at a similar type development stage. Would expect similar for Castle. His starts will come as replacements for injured/resting starters.
Developing Wemby with a real point guard in CP is likely more highly prioritized then handing the keys to a rookie over a top point guard of all time. Just thinking big picture.
Popovich didn't play Splitter for like three years. Nothing is guaranteed.
I am not worried who is starting just as long as he gets playing time and with the long term plan of him being our PG of the future.
Agreed, gotta run a competent offense before as oppose to wasting a quarter of a season a forced PG experiment
Why does everyone think Paul will start? I could see him coming off the bench. This would help lower his minuets, make it effect the team less when he missed a game and let Castle lead the team more. If Castle doesnt work then they could put someone else in there next to him.
Timvp said it. I think CP3 also said it to a reporter.
I can already see the meltdown here when Castle is stuck on the second unit watching Keldon take ill-advised 3s.
I must have missed that but I just looked it up and saw the report on it. I am not big on him starting but I doubt they will ask me.
Yeah, it has been reported that one of the main appeals of coming to SA from CP3’s perspective was to prove he’s still capable of being a high impact starter.
It’s also pretty wild to think that Castle would just be given the starting job over a guy of CP3’s caliberEven in CP3’s late age it would be shocking if Castle is a better player at this juncture.
Either way, bench unit is looking rough AF. Barnes would help that and even if he is starting, I think TD 21 has the idea nailed as far as how rotations will work. Hopefully we see a lot of minutes with Devin leading the second unit as someone mentioned as well. Pop is going to have to get a little more creative with his rotations than the wholesale unit swaps we've seen in recent years.
Wemby, Paul, Vassell, Keldon, Tre. I don't know if Castle is gonna get as many on ball reps as people here think, tbh.
This goes against convention, and certainly likely against what was promised to certain players... but I wouldn't mind us starting out with our best lineup from last year, which posted an impressive +20.8 Net Rating in 142 minutes across 39 games (our second most frequently used lineup, and what was our "closing lineup"): Jones-Vassell-Johnson-Sochan-Wemby.
That lineup was 5th best lineup in terms of Net Rating in the entire league last year with a qualifier of at least 100 minutes played, and ours actually comes from the largest sample of games played. The only four better lineups all came from playoff teams:
#1 - PHI - Batum - Harris - Embiid - Melton - Maxey +34.0 - 219 min (14 games)
#2 - NYK - Hartenstein - Hart - Brunson - DiVincenzo - McBride +31.1 - 172 min (14 games)
#3 - CLE - LeVert - Niang - Garland - Okoro - Mobley +23.1 - 118 min (17 games)
#4 - MIL - Lopez - Lillard - Giannis - Connaughton - Beasley +21.7 - 120 min (26 games)
Of the four above and the Spurs at #5, the Spurs had the second best DEFRTG at 96.6, just behind MIL at 95.7.
Roll out that lineup and have Paul/Castle/Champ/Barnes/Collins be your bench. If Collins regains his shooting touch, the shooting of the second unit is going to be significantly better. The bench actually looks a lot better than other compositions here.
Of course, I'm sure Paul has a promise to start, and Keldon has pushed to a 6th man role... but that would be interesting.
i give him like a 15% chance to start.
With pop wth knows
Something that may not be apparent from the stats is that the Spurs players could behave differently in closing situations than the rest of the game. Like in a close game, Wemby's defense could be more focused and thus better able to cover for defensive weaknesses. The Spurs are potentially running more deliberate actions on offense and given Jones the ball more while limiting the free styling of the other guys. The opposing team playing for focused sets could mean the ball is in their best scorers' hands more, making Sochan's on-ball defense more useful. Johnson's a strong rebounder for his position, and the heightened emphasis on securing boards at the end of games works to reinforce his strengths. Vassell's ability to make tough shots means teams are going to expect him to have the ball late in games, and that increased focus would allow for Devin's budding play-making to shine through.
I wouldn't know if any or all of those theories are supported by data. It would take a deeper analysis to figure that out. But I'm just saying that it's possible some lineups work well when they're allowed to be situational and wouldn't be the same if they played a lot outside of those situations. It's like how GS' "death lineup" had to be used with care so it could stay a massive positive. They couldn't survive if they were forced to play that small against conventional lineups the majority of the game. However, depending one who starts, I don't see why the above lineup couldn't be a regular stint after the first subs of the half.
Sample rotation (bolded name represent a player subbing in):
PG SG SF PF C 12:00 Paul Vassell Castle Sochan Wembanyama 07:00 Jones Vassell Johnson Sochan Wembanyama 04:00 Jones Vassell Johnson Barnes Collins Quarter 12:00 Jones Castle Johnson Barnes Collins 09:00 Castle Champangie Barnes Wembanyama Collins 07:00 Castle Champangie Barnes Sochan Wembanyama 05:00 Paul Vassell Champangie Sochan Wembanyama 03:00 Paul Vassell Johnson Sochan Wembanyama Half
If my calculations are correct that should be:
10 minutes for Paul
17 minutes for Vassell
12 minutes for Castle (including 4 at PG)
15 minutes for Sochan
17 minutes for Wembanyama
10 minutes for Jones
6 minutes for Champagnie
13 minutes for Johnson
11 minutes for Barnes
9 minutes for Collins
That's a nine-man rotation which is what makes the most sense for a younger team with establishing stars but which is still trying to spread developmental minutes around. It would be difficult to have a 10th player, because even if you reduce some guys' minutes, others could stand to have more minutes anyway. Every position has three guys playing there except for SF (four) and center (two), so there are a lot of different lineups that put players in positions to where they have different responsibilities. I think something like this would be really good to start the year so the team can get a sense of what works. But we'll probably see and 11-man rotation with Branham and Wesley getting minutes and Barnes starting.
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