Stephon Castle’s rookie season should excite Spurs fans. Victor Wembanyama took the league by storm in his rookie season, and he’s already an absolute superstar. He’s already completely altered the timeline of what was supposed to be a long-term rebuild process. While living up to Wembanyama’s rookie season is unreasonable, Castle should also help kickstart the Spurs’ immediate success.
Let’s take a look at Castle’s rookie preview for this upcoming season.
NBA Rookie Preview: Stephon Castle
Prospect Profile
Castle was a blue-chip recruit out of high school and chose to play for the reigning national champion UConn Huskies. He, alongside Donovan Clingan, would help secure back-to-back national championships for UConn in his freshman season. His success on the court would confirm what many thought of his ability to be a one-and-done player.
Castle is a tall lead guard at six-foot-six. His physical tools allow him to be either a point guard with good size or a wing with good ball-handling ability. Castle’s defensive excellence in college was also well noted. He was consistently tasked with shutting down the opposition’s best guard or wing. His size and defensive versatility are always desirable traits in today’s ‘position-less’ NBA.
In terms of weaknesses, Castle’s improvement areas start with his perimeter shooting. He only took 2.2 attempts per game from three, finishing at 26.7 percent on the season. His mid-range shooting ability has been a plus throughout his career though, so there is optimism. Lastly, Castle was often the lead guard for the Huskies, but he’s never been a dedicated point guard. His pick-and-roll play and ability to lead an offense will be monitored throughout the season. However, the Spurs roster may be perfect for his development.
Team Fit
For the Spurs, Castle was the perfect blend of upside and talent combined with team fit. Castle notably made waves before the NBA draft when he decided he wouldn’t work out for teams with franchise point guards. This was controversial though as many thought Castle would need to develop as a point guard having never played the position full-time. However, the Spurs would be the best of both worlds for Castle in terms of role. Shortly after the draft, the Spurs would sign veteran Chris Paul, a future Hall of Famer slowly moving towards retirement. Clearly the Spurs’ biggest need was at the point guard position, and while Paul addresses that as a veteran, Castle addresses it in the future. Even in the present, Castle will get plenty of reps at the point guard position alongside or behind Paul, all while learning valuable lessons from the veteran.
Outside of the guard positions, the Spurs will have a lot of young talent to round out the roster. On the wing, Devin Vassell is an emerging two-way talent who has a lot of versatility. Jeremy Sochan, Harrison Barnes, and Keldon Johnson are three starting-caliber forwards. Outside of Zach Collins, they don’t have much help in the paint for superstar Wembanyama however. This can be addressed though by playing Wembanyama at center and then using their plethora of forwards on the floor at the same time. This will give their defense more versatility and allow them to be a faster team overall.
All in all, Castle fits the Spurs ‘versatile defender’ mold, and he also should help address point guard concerns for the future.
Predictions
Castle can be a hard prospect to predict, as his swing factors will drastically affect his statistics. If he proves he can run the show and be a primary playmaker, his opportunity and shot attempts will dramatically increase. Then again, what quality shot attempts will those be if his perimeter shooting doesn’t improve? Another factor when looking at season accolades will be how well the Spurs do this season. Wembanyama’s rise has given way to new expectations, and I wonder if they’re too high for a team that hasn’t won more than 35 games in five seasons.
For this reason, I don’t see Rookie of the Year in the future for Castle. However, anything’s possible, and his two-way impact should keep him in the conversation for both All-Rookie teams.
