Future Spur: Dylan Harper

[BatManu20]

[Ocotillo]

If Wesley is still around, maybe Harper can mentor him.

[Mr. Body]

If Wesley is still around, maybe Harper can mentor him.

"See, instead of missing all the time, you should make them, like this. Got it?"

[exstatic]

lets assume top 7 off the board were Flagg, Harper, VJ, Ace, Tre Johnson, Maluach, Queen, and Jaku.

would you have taken Fears there?

and of the next handful of prospects, how many of these guys would you have taken Fears over

Kon, CMB, Jase, Carter Bryant, Demin, Essengue, Sorber

Kon, CMB, Jase, Essengue, Sorber.

[spurraider21]

Kon, CMB, Jase, Essengue, Sorber.

arite so is he even top 8 on your board?

[exstatic]

i wouldnt call castle and elite dribble driver. he's good, but not elite. he's not super quick/fast like Fox nor is he as slippery as Harper. he does have good handles and isnt fazed by contact at all, so its not like he doesnt have anything going for him. but more notably, he didnt finish at the rim particularly efficiently and often has no real plan and just gets himself into the teeth of the defense. efficiency in the paint is something he needs to improve on. meanwhile harper's footwork and finishing ability is pretty impeccable

Are you ing kidding me? A rookie guard shoots .655 0-3 feet, and you don’t think that’s particularly efficient?

[exstatic]

arite so is he even top 8 on your board?

I said I liked him, not loved him. I think he could wind up being a surprise late lottery hit for someone,though.

[spurraider21]

I said I liked him, not loved him. I think he could wind up being a surprise late lottery hit for someone,though.

i asked if you wanted him at 8 and your response was that it depended on what the board looked like

but if he is not top 8 on your board, there is no scenario where he would be your pick at 8

[spurraider21]

Are you ing kidding me? A rookie guard shoots .655 0-3 feet, and you don’t think that’s particularly efficient?

it wasnt bad. but there is defnitely room for growth especially if attacking the rim is going to be his specialty. the FT numbers tie into it as well. i made a post about it some time ago

just some numbers about castle's interior scoring (within 3 feet). these are rough numbers that i can pull from bballref

he had 307 FGA, and converted 65.5% of those looks (201 FGM)

they also credit him with having 69 dunks on the year. if you exclude made dunks, he made 55.5% of the rest of his looks at the rim. im not sure how useful this analysis is, as i dont see why you would exclude dunks. for a non-dunking, below the rim point guard, these dunks would typically be replaced with very high% layups, for the most part. but for people who do that analysis, those are the numbers.

this also doesnt include fouls drawn, which was a big part of his game. he drew 176 shooting fouls on the year, and most of those would have been on drives.


if you compare to some other guards known for their interior finishing...

Ant Edwards converted 67.8% of his looks within 3 feet (and only had 54 dunks on the year). he also generally got to the rim less this year... only about 18% of his FGA came within 3 feet, compared to 31% for Castle. a lot of this is probably due to Wolves loss of spacing this year forcing Edwards to be much more of a perimeter scorer (which he has excelled at). he drew 233 shooting fouls despite not getting to the rim as often as the other guys here.

SGA converted 74.2% of his looks within 3 feet (20% of his FGA came within that distance). he only had 46 dunks on the year. and of course, he drew 280 fouls this year, though his playstyle has him drawing those from further out than 3 feet quite a bit. still, remarkable efficiency

Ja made 69% of his shots from within 3 feet (nice), and 23.3% of his FGA came within that distance. he threw down only 17 dunks, and drew 154 shooting fouls on the year.

as far as another rookie... Collier was another phyiscal point guard who had efficiecny questions. he also got over 20% of his FGA within 3 feet. he scored on 70% of those looks while only having 15 dunks.



in sum, castle did great at getting to the rim. im sure i could dig around more, but 31% of his FGA coming from within 3 feet is either at or near the tops in the league among guards. but his finishing there, including dunks, still leaves room for growth if you look at other rim-oriented players. not to mention, while he was pretty damn good at drawing fouls for a rookie, he only made 72% of his FTs which hurts.

he needs to improve his efficiency and its not as simple as his 3pt shooting. his rim efficiency (which for all intents in purposes should include FTs) is lacking. he also only made 37% of his shots between 3 and 10 feet, 37% between 10 and 16 feet, and 33% between 16ft and the 3pt line. the shooting between 10ft and 3pt line is less relevant for him, as those ranges combined accounted for 14% of his FGA.

[R. DeMurre]

Nico wasn't lucky. He was saved by the league because he was about to drive the entire fan base away with his stupidity. It was damage control

In this type of conspiracy theory, do the other owners know about the NBA "fixing" the draft, assuming the previous owners who've benefitted from the rigging are aware of it? And they're cool with it, even after their own teams just tanked a season away?

[Manu&Duncan fan]

In this type of conspiracy theory, do the other owners know about the NBA "fixing" the draft, assuming the previous owners who've benefitted from the rigging are aware of it?

You just need to ignore people's ignorance.

[LeBowen]

In this type of conspiracy theory, do the other owners know about the NBA "fixing" the draft, assuming the previous owners who've benefitted from the rigging are aware of it?

I'd like conspiracy theorists to explain why did the league allow Knicks to win just 1 playoff series from '01 to '23 and why did they allow the Lakers to be irrelevant for almost a decade?
The only "help" Bulls got was DRose lottery, MJ retired almost 30 years ago.

[R. DeMurre]

I'd like conspiracy theorists to explain why did the league allow Knicks to win just 1 playoff series from '01 to '23 and why did they allow the Lakers to be irrelevant for almost a decade?
The only "help" Bulls got was DRose lottery, MJ retired almost 30 years ago.

The wonderful thing about conspiracies is they don't require evidence, and often even conspiracies that contradict one another are more acceptable to some of the public over the idea that there's-- boringly-- not a conspiracy.

[LeBowen]

The wonderful thing about conspiracies is they don't require evidence, and often even conspiracies that contradict one another are more acceptable to some of the public over the idea that there's-- boringly-- not a conspiracy.

It's just hillarious how awful some of these rigged lottery takes are.
Lakers basically owe all of their success to Jerry West. From his playing days, to getting Magic, then signging Shaq and Kobe to gifting them Pau in a trade while he was at Memphis.
He also made Clippers and Warriors relevant again. Three big market teams that would be complete garbage without him.
Knicks have been garbage for decades upon decades.
Celtics won 1 ring from Bird's days up until last year and they've been garbage for most of those seasons.
Bulls are arguably the worst franchise in the league if we exclude MJ years.
Nets have been completely irrelevant since they moved to Brooklyn.
Sixers have also been garbage most of the time.
Heat are relevant only because of Riley.

But people don't actually follow the league, it's easier to scream about conspiracy theories.

[baseline bum]

I didn't read the entire thread.

The guy is going to be a rookie. He's not going to come in as an NBA level elite scorer or playmaker. He's probably going to have a huge growth potential and has solid skills to start. He's already a massive improvement to some of the trash this team has fielded in the past 2 years. He will get a better shot, shot selection and learn NBA spatial awareness, game speed and ball movement. He's going to be fun to watch. His ceiling imo is all over the place, no idea.

His expected value might be Cade man. Very similar college stats, similar build, and he said he patterns his game after Cade.

[Mnky]

[baseline bum]

Always wanted his dad on the team and was majorly pissed when the Lakers were able to get him instead of us in 99-00 so will be cool to have his son in the black and silver.

[baseline bum]

Not bad at all, right there with McNeeley. Coward has been killing at the combine too.

[scott]

i asked if you wanted him at 8 and your response was that it depended on what the board looked like

but if he is not top 8 on your board, there is no scenario where he would be your pick at 8

If we're allowed to take two guys with our pick at #2, I recommend we do that. Surprised more teams don't take advantage of this loophole.

[scott]

In this type of conspiracy theory, do the other owners know about the NBA "fixing" the draft, assuming the previous owners who've benefitted from the rigging are aware of it? And they're cool with it, even after their own teams just tanked a season away?

If we all want to play along with the conspiracy theory - each owner is a 1/30th owner of the entire league in addition to their individual franchise, so the theory would be that all the owners have implicitly agreed to be party to whatever is required to do the best for the league (sending Luka to LA, for which the compensation is Flagg, for example). So even though it is not what is best for their team, they are still okay with it because it is what is best for their 1/30th stake in the overall enterprise.

The Spurs got rewarded with the #2 pick for putting noted thorn-in-the-side of the machine, Gregg Popovich, out to pasture as "El Jefe". Illuminati style.

(Note: I don't believe this ... just playing along)

[scott]

I'd like conspiracy theorists to explain why did the league allow Knicks to win just 1 playoff series from '01 to '23 and why did they allow the Lakers to be irrelevant for almost a decade?
The only "help" Bulls got was DRose lottery, MJ retired almost 30 years ago.

You aren't thinking with a long enough lens. The Knicks drought is to set up a Red Sox-like redemption story. Knicks fans only have another 30 or so years of le drought and then they'll be rewarded with a handful of les. The legend hasn't grown large enough yet.

The Lakers were just Gregg Popovich going against the will of the Machine and foiling their grand plans. He's out of the way now.

[spurraider21]

stephon castle went 18-25 in this drill btw

[Mnky]

stephon castle went 18-25 in this drill btw

Not at all worried about Castle developing a shot. These types of drills are indicative of that active rhythm shooting. Good company in my opinion.

[cd98]

No one knows if Castle will be a good outside shooter, but we all know he will put in the work and that’s what matters. We really need Chip back.

[Leetonidas]

All of those players suck though