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This is completely wrong. Popovich was an assistant coach to Larry Brown for the first two years of Sean's career.
This is completely wrong. Popovich was an assistant coach to Larry Brown for the first two years of Sean's career.
Maybe I'm wrong with Pop working with him, but I don't recall Sean being a super defender until Pop became the head coach?
By the way, did Stephon have family at the draft? I didn't see any in the draft footage I watched.
Sean was always a top defender. Look at his advanced stats. Look at his best defensive seasons. Look at his all-defense votes. Those came before Pop was head coach. I lived in the city and watched all the games. I'm pretty sure I'm right about this.
I don't remember seeing his family either, now you mention it. Was he sitting at someone else's table? He had Hurley up there interviewing with him instead of family, right?
One thing about Castle is that he played a reduced role in college. There's tape of him making deep 3s and also shooting off the dribble. Is he good enough at it? Probably not, but the fact that his form looks good and that he can make those shots shows you the upside. They should start developing his midrange first if you ask me.
Pull ups are a different skill set, and not one easily mastered. You have to arrest your forward momentum while gauging the shot.
I’ll settle for 35-36% on catch and shoots year one.
the percentage is the percentage. in high school he was something around 30-31% from 3 as well iirc, and thats a shorter line
You are probably right, then. I wasn't able to watch the games like you were. I'm mostly going by what I remember, and that's probably based on the team defense and maybe lumping Sean into that. He may very well have been a great individual defender his whole career like you've mentioned.
I recall his nickname around '99 used to be ninja or something along those lines? If so, when did he get that, and what was it based on? What that anything to do with his defense?
Yeah, Dan Hurley went up with him, so I was wondering what is going on. I don't recall seeing any family members or even him mentioning any during the few interviews I saw. So I wanted to know what was going on there, or if maybe they just didn't show any on camera.
I think that’s referring to the draft combine, where he had one of the best shooting performances of all the prospects in attendance.
The non interviews of the night fit this mold exactly.
Ninja was used briefly, but it never really caught on and was abandoned pretty quickly as I recall. Jay Howard even used it during games a few times.
Well, we have like 50 draft picks in the next 5 to 7 yrs to upgrade our depth, so there's that.
Avery on CBS : "what i've been told projecting forward they actually think he could be another dejounte murray".
DeJruete Holiday
While I get what they're saying, I wish they'd stop with this comparison. Yeah, Murray is within the Spurs context. It's what fans understand and in shadow he sort of fits the mold. Maybe in the weeds, but they're pretty different players despite being 'defensive point guards.' Murray was a finesse guard with extraordinary length who took a while to get up to speed, kind of a playground basketballer who made good. Castle's play style is very different, even on defense. Dude is big and strong for the point position and isn't really finesse. His playing mold really is Jimmy Butler, Jrue Holiday like at least in style. Murray is a rapier, Castle is a war club.
Chunky and average speed like Jrue. A taller Tre Jones. Has the physicality of Jimmy Butler on offense.
What you’d hope with any pick drafted in the top 5 is that they’d have a ceiling of a player who eventually deserves a max contract. Castle’s got most of the tools, but let’s see if in the next couple years he gets the other ones.
There’s a lot to like in the tape. One would be fooled after watching it and think that he was a stat stuffer. He wasn’t, and that probably doesn’t matter. I hated him as a prospect in the beginning as much as I hated Risacher (sounds impossible, I know), but that changed after putting more focus into what I was seeing. His best attribute right now that makes me believe he has strong upside is his handle. It’s not stylish or anything like that, but when you factor in that he is strong in other areas while having that kind of ballhandling skill… that’s special.
Putting offensive spacing aside… how much will having Castle defending lead ball handlers make Sochan better defensively now that he can focus on forwards.
Dejounte picks with his length, often gambles for a steal. Castle body up his opponent, pushing, shoving smothering defense. I’d see more Kawhi than DJ. The moment LeSoft shooked his head seeing Kawhi back on court? Between Castle and Sochan, it’s going to be fun watching Luka whining to the officials
That’s not even remotely true. Two guys can both shoot 31%. One of them has a bad shot selection, and the other has MKG form. That not even remotely the same. There’s a lot more nuance than what the percentages are.
It's not even just about the shot selection or volume, but the kind of shots the defense allows.
31% while taking shots off the dribble and contested is better than 35% when you're left wide open and dared to shoot.
Castle's mechanics are solid, I expect him to at least have a reliable mid-range pull up in two years or so.
That's what I was thinking, the days of Sochan guarding SGA and Luka are not over at all, he just now has a competent rotation partner for that effort.Dejounte picks with his length, often gambles for a steal. Castle body up his opponent, pushing, shoving smothering defense. I’d see more Kawhi than DJ. The moment LeSoft shooked his head seeing Kawhi back on court? Between Castle and Sochan, it’s going to be fun watching Luka whining to the officials
Also which backcourt would you rather have, Castle/Vastle or White/Holiday? Maybe today you choose the latter and I don't ridicule you, but that won't be the case for long once Castle gets past his rookie learning curve.
Another niche piece I like is Barlow when I think of annoying defense. He had the length and mobility to bother the Durant jump shot as well as I've seen. The perfect roster has role players that can help save your bacon from game to game over the wide variety of matchups we have to be able to defend. Barlow also defended Giannis way better than Sochan, who was way outclassed as a big in that matchup. My anxiety level ed when I had to watch Sochan on Giannis for a stretch.
OK
Although I thought he'd be the pick, I'm less than enthusiastic. However would I have been enthusiastic about anyone form this class available at 4? I think that's the bigger question and part of why the Spurs traded out of 8.
Being picked top 5/10 is no guarantee of success with lots of flops out there. Add in a weak draft- I think statistically odds are not great that he becomes more than a role player.
I will admit I've watched very little of him.
Several areas of concern- he can't shoot.
Conference and NCAA tournament was 4-22 from 3. Yeah not a lot of shots per game but that's not great.
FT not bad at 19-25 76% not awesome.
Great defense so I heard- well as someone pointed out earlier- he' provides great physical D against college kids.
Fingers crossed
I look forward to seeing. With Castle potentially strong on POA and Wembanyama as anchor, Sochan can sort of rove, coming for doubles or acting as a safety at times, which I think is one of his stronger suits. When he can wreak havoc more aggressively.
You say 'several areas of concern' but list only one.
I get registering a worry about his shot. I'm not particularly worried. He'll be like Kawhi in being in the gym all the time working on it. College players have reduced amounts of time they can work with coaches. Often this time is used on sets, defense, other areas. Now, he's allowed to work with coaches constantly.
The rest of the package is all there. Gone underrated is his BBIQ. This was already great in high school, and he's followed with one of the best coaches and that coach's system we've seen in college for a while. The UConn system is brutal to guard, it has so many variations and reads that require attentive, smart players to know when to cut, ghost screens, drift, hit cutting players, etc., and not many guys can do this.
shooting is literally his only flaw and there have been some flashes. He's the most complete player in the entire draft.
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