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We've known this all along. Whoever expected him to miraculously turn it around overnight is delusional, TBH. But after seeing two summer league games, I'll take that gamble.
So much of Castle and Sochan's future hinges on their ability to hit jumpers, same goes for Wesley and Cissoko. Not super confident on Spurs' ability to help them get there though, but getting the best shooting coaches money can buy should be a top priority.
We've known this all along. Whoever expected him to miraculously turn it around overnight is delusional, TBH. But after seeing two summer league games, I'll take that gamble.
He plays much more mature than a 19 year old. He’s physical. Doesn’t speed up. And made several plays where it looked like he knew what he wanted to do well before anyone else did. As you said, he looks much better than advertised. If he learns to shoot, he could be an absolute stud. We’ll see how big of an if that is.
The downside: much of the rest of the pipeline looks like absolute ass.
I don't see a single person that disagrees with you.
People in here thought his shooting issues were gone after Cissoko said he was great and he hit 2 threes in the first game
I think it’s a little silly to buy into the idea that he just willingly chose to not take jumpers in college (or that his low %s were the result of anything else aside from him just not having a reliable jumper).
Everything else about his game has been extremely impressive. Overall it’s hard not to be pretty damn excited about him. I’m just trying to temper expectations because ultimately if he can’t ever be a respectable shooter then he’ll likely just be a solid role player.
I’d probably be a little more willing to look past the shooting if we didn’t already have another former top 10 pick who can’t shoot. The defensive potential with Castle/Sochan/Wemby is out of this world but I’m afraid it won’t matter if Castle/Sochan are both non-existent as shooters.
Regardless, the kid is 19 years old and his form isn’t awful so I’m choosing to be optimistic and believe he’ll figure it out. If he’s even an average shooter he’s going to be an incredibly valuable piece.
There is a lot of hand waving here when it comes to being able to shoot. We have a lot of posters that are living in 2007 thinking that all you have to be is a good defender and everything else will work out somehow on its own. Yes you need to be a good defender, but it is a shooter's league now. You have to be able to knock down shots if you are a guard for a forward. You negate a lot of the good work you do on the defensive end when you go down to the other end and shoot 20% from three point range.
I agree. That’s why the Dillingham trade was such a kick in the nuts. It’s not even about thinking Dillingham is a lock to pan out as an all-star…it was just nice to see us finally draft someone who can already shoot as opposed to: “Well this guy does a lot of things right, if he can just develop his 3 ball then he’ll be awesome!”
People forget that Wemby wasn’t a great shooter on his Euro League team and was a poor shooter for the first half of the NBA season. He kept shooting anyway. It’s a great sign that Castle shoots it anyway. The confidence is important. So are the long hours at the gym. Wemby reportedly was the first in and last person out of the gym. If Castle is the same, he’ll reach the same percentages Wemby did by the end of the season.
I get concerns about Castle's shooting, but I don't much care. He's going to work on it, hard, and it's going to come around. Dude's all of 19 years old, even if he's built like he's 27. I see confidence issues; he wants to make them, is thinking too much.
What I reeeeeaaally liked about him is almost exactly the same that popped my eyes open with Wemby during the SL last year: the passing and sense of the court. I didn't realize Wemby was such an incredible passer. Even in his first game, the supposedly terrible one, he was dropping passes and picking guys out that I wasn't sure why people weren't raving about.
Castle isn't the flashy passer, and maybe not at the same level, but the way he sees the court is innate. Even closely guarded he sees the skip across the court, or spinning in the lane he innately knows how this is opening things up for his big. There was a pass near the end that I remember Oberto doing once, a very short bounce pass under the rim to his big, a smart bounce where a wrap-around, which nearly every other player would do (especially a young one), would get picked off, and Castle bounced it. (White guy missed the bunny, but still.)
Even as he's in action, he's seeing everything around him, and that's going to be superb for us. His vision and decision making are already at a high level.
There are people who wanted to draft 2 non shooters in the top 10
Buzelis, Topic, etc
Spurs need to do whatever it takes to bring Chip back tbh. If he wants to be head coach, let him imo.
Oh we know you don't care. You're an idiot.
Shot doesn't look that broken tbh. It's not as bad as somebody like Amen's or even Sochan's IMO. I think it eventually comes around.
But the handles, court vision and PG skills all look better than advertised. Pretty pumped for the kid tbh.
We've got some morons in our FO who can't draft worth a but i'd be willing to give Castle some time to work on that jumper. Maybe he can reach Avery Johnson level and hit open jumpers...it's gotta be wide open.
Really excited at the Castle pick after seeing his 2 summer league games. Glides across the floor, handle is better than I thought so far, not shy of contact, doesn't let the ball stick. I kinda rolled my eyes when I heard his agent putting it out there before the draft that he wants to be a pg...seems way more reasonable now. His shooting will be a work in progress as we knew, interesting to note he was missing short a lot. His form is solid, if not slow. We don't need him to be Curry or anything (it'd be nice ofc), just try to be at least league average-ish (around 37%) and teams will at least have to respect him. For a 19 year old, I am optimistic about the talent he has shown.
I brought it up before and I have to believe the new shooting coach/staff was part of the reason for the change to Wemby's guide hand. That gives me confidence in the work they are doing with Sochan and the inevitable work with Castle.
This was from a practice in June '23 where his guide hand was much higher on ball (same problem Antetokounmpo has).
Here is a photo from the open practice - October '23 of the new lowered guide hand placement.
His defense looks legit. It's just that shot man. It's tge main reason I wanted someone else. If he's able to get it though, he's a STEAL at 4.
Narrator: Seldom do they find it.
I'm surprised the Spurs didn't trade for Giddey considering how obsessed they are with player that can't shoot. I think Castle's work ethic should help him figure things out but he really needs to work on that jumpshot. There's enough players for Vic to pass it to that already clank their open shots.
You know he wouldn't be saying the same thing he was on another team.
I think Castle has plenty of time to improve his shot. I'm not 100% sold on perfect form fixing player's shots, don't get me wrong, we all want to see Curry like form, but consistency of form alone will help Castle. There have been many really good shooters that had far from ideal form...Kevin Martin had very ugly shooting mechanics but was a very solid shooter.
I see a lot of the Dillies Fan Boys in here today
Not being able to shoot will eventually create a negative feedback loop where the team can't afford to give a player developmental minutes because they struggle to not have an overall negative impact on their team. It might not matter this year. But if it does, it'll be something like Sochan no longer being in closing lineups because Barnes is a reliable shooter and Paul, Vassell, Johnson and Wemby need that more than they need Jeremy's defensive versatility or driving. For Castle, he may not get as many wing minutes if he can't space the floor. Some people might think that's a good thing, but Paul and Jones are still going to get minutes. This would only limit Castle's ability to play with them during some of those minutes. But as time goes on, if those guys aren't able to play those positions in crunch time, then the Spurs have to continue to bring in players which can mean drafting Traore, trading for Garland, etc. Then because they guys are no longer "the future", they won't have the same pull for minutes if they aren't helping their teams.
That's why it's really hard to feel okay with a "We know, but" response to worries about Castle's or Sochan's shooting. For better or worse, players are going to start getting less and less runway, and a player coming in with a broken a shot is basically like a plane having faulty engines. It's going to become harder and harder for them to actually take off.
He's had a couple travels, a 8 second violation, and a play where he mishandled the ball and it went flying out of bounds instead of a lob. So I think he has more than two, but my point is these aren't really big problems. His handle is really tight for his size and age. He places his passes very well (and seems to know when defenders aren't looking), and his body control looks very good - I don't see a lot of charges in his future.
It's really promising. Those travels come from indecision in a new environment. I'd want him to get moving in the backcourt much faster; that's easy to do. Otherwise, he looks really efficient with the ball.
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