Stephon Castle - 2024 NBA Draft Prospect

[BackHome]

Good post.
Bold part is the bit I think should be the priority.

Regardless of how the rest of the rotation is built, we ideally want a volume shooter with size at the other forward position.
Someone who's at least a neutral defender, can average 7 to 8 rebounds per game and can shoot lights out.
Doesn't need to do much else. Just rebound, shoot whenever he gets the ball and cut.

I've said many times that we shouldn't deal with Ainge and his ridiculous demands, but Markkanen would be so good next to Wemby.
His role is basically 7ft Klay.
There's also MPJ. He's obviously a tier below Markkanen, but he'd be fairly easy to get if Denver decides to get rid of him due to their salary issues.

Ideal scenario would be Castle developing his skillset like DJ did, Devin taking the next step as a playmaker and then two lights out volume shooters that never stop moving.

While if we get Dillingham a lot of resources go into hiding him on defense.

Just trade our 8th pick to New York for there 24th & 25th pick and pick up:
1. Johnny Furphy - 3p% .352
2. Kyshawn George - 3p% .408
3. Baylor Scheierman - 3p% .381

[exstatic]

Just trade our 8th pick to New York for there 24th & 25th pick and pick up:
1. Johnny Furphy - 3p% .352
2. Kyshawn George - 3p% .408
3. Baylor Scheierman - 3p% .381

Spurs tanked hard to stay below Toronto to increase the chances of getting their pick, so I really don’t see them trading back. That’s actually a horrible trade, too. The pick values aren’t even close. Spurs and Knicks also don’t transact much, if at all. The Knicks accused us of tampering with Porzingas when he was there. They’ve done like Marcus Morris since, so I doubt that PATFO would be down with sending them a #8 pick, for two ty late FRPs. You can get those kinds of players in the second if you want to make all of our picks, and you aren’t on the hook for two MORE guaranteed contracts, plus you keep #8.

[rankingtear]

It is funny that his low end comp is Winslow. Winslow is also one of the guys demanding to play the point and destroyed any value he had in the process.

[Mr. Body]

It is funny that his low end comp is Winslow. Winslow is also one of the guys demanding to play the point and destroyed any value he had in the process.

It seems that Winslow didn't care a ton about basketball and had injury problems. In some regards similar to Josh Jackson, who also had really great college stats.

An object of interest is Winslow and Jackson's shooting percentage in college:

Josh Jackson .378 from three, .566 from the line
Justice Winslow, .418 from three, .641 from the line

Stephon Castle, .267 from three, .755 from the line

Someone pointed out if Castle made three of his missed 3-pointers, he'd jump up to .307 percent for the year. I don't know if there's an answer here, but it suggests that Jackson and Winslow were never the shooters they were made out to be.

Also, Justice Winslow is a trailer park name. Stephon Castle is a god-tier name.

[Vienna]

The mental fit is excellent. The fact that he transformed his game in order to help his team, as a freshman, is astounding. He doesn't get enough credit for this. The maturity and BBIQ here is off the scale.

that's why I would be pretty sure, that he will improve his shooting. he will practise his shot as much as possible and he won't lose confidence and piss himself after two missed tries.

and I'm sure he will adjust his role to what is best for the team success.

so maybe his floor is Iguodala? from the physical aspects they are very similar and so are their skill sets.
Iggy was a horrible shooter in his first college year and he still was a bad one in his second.
yes, he never developed an above average shot, but good enough to survive.
he wasn't good enough to be the franchise player, therefore he would have needed to shoot better, but perfect in his role with a dynasty, because he had the mind set.
do you take prime Iggy to play alongside Wemby? I would.

[DAF86]

that's why I would be pretty sure, that he will improve his shooting. he will practise his shot as much as possible and he won't lose confidence and piss himself after two missed tries.

and I'm sure he will adjust his role to what is best for the team success.

so maybe his floor is Iguodala? from the physical aspects they are very similar and so are their skill sets.
Iggy was a horrible shooter in his first college year and he still was a bad one in his second.
yes, he never developed an above average shot, but good enough to survive.
he wasn't good enough to be the franchise player, therefore he would have needed to shoot better, but perfect in his role with a dynasty, because he had the mind set.
do you take prime Iggy to play alongside Wemby? I would.

Iggy is close to Castle's ceiling, it is not his ing floor, tbh.

[TD 21]

The difference is, Iguodala was an elite athlete the same way the Thompson twins are and to a lesser extent Suggs is. Castle doesn't have that going for him either.

At the Warriors being a dynasty.

[Mr. Body]

I thought Iguodala would have Castle beat in advanced stats coming out of college, especially as a sop re. That's not the case.

So you have guys like Justice Winslow and Josh Jackson blowing them out of the water in advanced stats and Iguodala was far better in the pros.

[ulosturedge]

Originally I was excited seeing Castle's highlights, but after getting into the scouting report I just don't see how he is a fit. Can't really be a combo guard if you can't shoot. And supposedly he stated that he only wants to be drafted by a Team that will take him seriously playing the Point. But nothing he has done thus far shows that he even has the ability to be a good point guard. He isn't a guy who can destroy you at the rim with his penetration. Isn't shooting a hard thing to teach if you don't already got it? There are no obvious choices here, but I think Reed Sheppard would be a better fit with what he brings with his skillset. Stephon is in no mans land to me. He is not a point guard nor is he a shooting guard. So what do you do with him?

[rankingtear]

Originally I was excited seeing Castle's highlights, but after getting into the scouting report I just don't see how he is a fit. Can't really be a combo guard if you can't shoot. And supposedly he stated that he only wants to be drafted by a Team that will take him seriously playing the Point. But nothing he has done thus far shows that he even has the ability to be a good point guard. He isn't a guy who can destroy you at the rim with his penetration. Isn't shooting a hard thing to teach if you don't already got it? There are no obvious choices here, but I think Reed Sheppard would be a better fit with what he brings with his skillset. Stephon is in no mans land to me. He is not a point guard nor is he a shooting guard. So what do you do with him?

He looks average on full games. He plays so slow. I am thinking at PG that he would ran off the clock with that Harden pace.

[DPG21920]

Man there seems to be no consensus on Castle. Im seeing a lot of tier rankings that have Castle as a late first, early 2nd type player. Now, that’s probably not consensus and its not necessarily from the most famous draft people, but it’s stood out to me as I’ve navigated a bunch of different draft tier rankings how many are low on Castle.

[onechance87]

my fear is castle trying to be a pg can end up being like sochan at pg.Do we really want to go that route again?We held wemby back by not giving
him real pg at the start of the season.We saw wemby blossom with tre jones and even granham running pg.

[CGD]

Man there seems to be no consensus on Castle. Im seeing a lot of tier rankings that have Castle as a late first, early 2nd type player. Now, that’s probably not consensus and its not necessarily from the most famous draft people, but it’s stood out to me as I’ve navigated a bunch of different draft tier rankings how many are low on Castle.

All the big gossip rags have him falling no further than 6. And, the fit is actually pretty damn good between Melo and Miller. I bet his camp saw that a mile away and encouraged him to do the “only PG” stuff bc CHA is seen as a crappy situation.

If the Spurs want him they’ll need to take him at 4 or trade up to 5 (8 + multiple SRPs).

[DAF86]

All the big gossip rags have him falling no further than 6. And, the fit is actually pretty damn good between Melo and Miller. I bet his camp saw that a mile away and encouraged him to do the “only PG” stuff bc CHA is seen as a crappy situation.

If the Spurs want him they’ll need to take him at 4 or trade up to 5 (8 + multiple SRPs).

Well, they did do the whole "only PG" thing, so there's a high chance the Hornets don't take him because of it. Same thing with the Blazers and Pistons. There's a high chance Castle is there at 8. I wouldn't draft him at 4, tbh.

[objective]

There's a Ben Pfeifer YouTube scouting video going over whether he's a point guard.

Spoiler: at least to Pfeifer, the answer is 'no' and there's video comparisons with other tall point guards in high school and Castle didn't come out well.. The actual comp for Castle that Pfeifer had with video believe it or not was Jarrett Culver.

Just his opinion. He seems low on everyone though.

[Ariel]

Castle is just about the exact same size as Jaime Jaquez and Jimmy Butler:

So far he projects to be more of a secondary playmaker than a true PG, but as long as he learns too shoot it he'd be really valuable PG or not PG

[Mr. Body]

All the big gossip rags have him falling no further than 6. And, the fit is actually pretty damn good between Melo and Miller. I bet his camp saw that a mile away and encouraged him to do the “only PG” stuff bc CHA is seen as a crappy situation.

If the Spurs want him they’ll need to take him at 4 or trade up to 5 (8 + multiple SRPs).

Some draft gurus sniffed out the comment as anti-targeting certain teams, which seems to be Charlotte. After playing for UConn, I'd try to steer clear from there if at all possible. I don't put much stock in his need to play as a ball-dominant PG. Vecenie doesn't read it that way and I don't think any rational person reads it that way. But it wouldn't be draft season without people freaking out over the littlest of things.

I do think he values the ability to make decisions and be involved in offense, which he wouldn't do for the Hornets. People gnawing their fingernails to the bone about his abilities don't need to: He'll be fine making all kinds of actions. He sets great screens, can see passes, cuts extremely well. Who's imagining him being a 30% usage guy? Nobody. Not even him. Most important, what you're getting is the defense.

And yes, anybody who says defense doesn't matter needs to be laughed at. Heartily.

[T Park]

Tyler Rucker of No Cielings in a spaces on Sunday afternoon pretty much said "If I were a Spurs fan, id get comfortable with Castle at 4, with what im hearing"


the tea leaves have been reading that way for a while now, and Id personally be shocked, if Castle isn't the pick at 4

[Mr. Body]

Tyler Rucker of No Cielings in a spaces on Sunday afternoon pretty much said "If I were a Spurs fan, id get comfortable with Castle at 4, with what im hearing"


the tea leaves have been reading that way for a while now, and Id personally be shocked, if Castle isn't the pick at 4

Pretty much. Washington could go Castle but I don't think that's the right pick.

And I would not be surprised for even a second if the Spurs pick Castle over Risacher. Castle is 100% the player you want here.

[benefactor]

If Castle is the pick at 4 then so be it. I feel like Shepperd is the better pick because the Spurs badly need shooting, but both of them provide things that the team needs.

[scott]

Fun thread to get caught up on. As I was reading it, my mind went to Shawn Marion. .299 3P% in college with .730 FT%. He only ended up a .331 career 3P% in the NBA (and .810 FT%), but the league was different then and his career averages are really hampered by some straight garbage 3P performances late in his career after he left Phoenix. For his 9 seasons with the Suns he was a .342 3P%, but his 4th season in the league he got up to .387 on 4.5 attempts per game, which was also his career high in terms of volume.

This is an imperfect comparison because he wasn't really known as a 3P threat and it was a different time in the league... but here was a guy with atrocious shooting form who still was serviceable and I think would be a nice player in today's game if he could sustain those year 4 numbers. Really good defender, and he definitely seemed to show up big against us.

Just thought of him as a different kind of player comp for Castle.

[rankingtear]

Tyler Rucker of No Cielings in a spaces on Sunday afternoon pretty much said "If I were a Spurs fan, id get comfortable with Castle at 4, with what im hearing"


the tea leaves have been reading that way for a while now, and Id personally be shocked, if Castle isn't the pick at 4

Don't forget it is smokescreen time of year. More likely he is not the guy if it is too loud before workouts are finished, cause more likely it is agent driven.

[exstatic]

Pretty much. Washington could go Castle but I don't think that's the right pick.

And I would not be surprised for even a second if the Spurs pick Castle over Risacher. Castle is 100% the player you want here.

Isn’t he redundant to and a smaller version of Avdija?

[Knoxxx]

If Castle is the pick at 4 then so be it. I feel like Shepperd is the better pick because the Spurs badly need shooting, but both of them provide things that the team needs.

I think there are things to consider such as team offense, defense, and the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. That said, Castle played well in a complex system at the highest level of his league (NCAA) as a freshman. And, I think regardless of his 3 PT and jump shooting percentage, Castle looks to me like a player who can outplay his matchup. In other words, outscore or otherwise just beat the person he is matched up against. For example, maybe he doesn't outscore an SGA, but he disrupts the OKC offense enough when guarding him that he is easily a net positive in the matchup.

However, I thought the clear mock order was Sheppard then Castle. If true for the Rockets and Spurs, that is the reason we are taking Castle not Sheppard, the latter is not expected to be there. If Sheppard is there at 4, I think the Spurs take him but of course we are all just guessing until draft night.

[TD 21]

Fun thread to get caught up on. As I was reading it, my mind went to Shawn Marion. .299 3P% in college with .730 FT%. He only ended up a .331 career 3P% in the NBA (and .810 FT%), but the league was different then and his career averages are really hampered by some straight garbage 3P performances late in his career after he left Phoenix. For his 9 seasons with the Suns he was a .342 3P%, but his 4th season in the league he got up to .387 on 4.5 attempts per game, which was also his career high in terms of volume.

This is an imperfect comparison because he wasn't really known as a 3P threat and it was a different time in the league... but here was a guy with atrocious shooting form who still was serviceable and I think would be a nice player in today's game if he could sustain those year 4 numbers. Really good defender, and he definitely seemed to show up big against us.

Just thought of him as a different kind of player comp for Castle.

Poor comp. Marion was a freak athlete with the body of a SF, but block and rebound rates of a big, which allowed him to transition to (and arguably create) small ball PF.

As you said, his mediocre - poor 3-point shooting also wasn't as big of a deal in his era.

Castle is the same player the Spurs almost always draft in one way or another. No natural position/role on offense, no dynamic physical tools, analytics and prior history of archetype that indicates a high bust rate, etc. They never learn though and why should they when there's never any accountability.