Spurs Select Stephon Castle 4th Overall in the 2024 NBA Draft

[LeBowen]

The most important thing will be to see what's the plan for him early on.

As I said, I don't think they've given up on a big point guard experiment just because Jeremy couldn't do it.
Castle will surely do better in that role, we'll see if he can do good enough.

We'll have Tre as an insurance, but I think Castle starts the season at point.

Biggest concern roster wise is his fit with Jeremy. Even though I wanted Castle, I always said two of them can't share the floor. At least not early on.
Jeremy's skillset is more suited for a sixth man role, anyway.

Devin will also need to take more playmaking responsiblities and we all seem to forget about Wemby's playmaking.
His turnovers were high, but he averaged 4 assists as a clueless rookie on a team with horrible roster.

As I said after the draft, Bucks 2.0 could actually work because Wemby will surely be a better playmaker than Giannis, even if Castle isn't a pure point guard like Jrue.

What we do need asap if we're to make this roster functional are wing shooters.
While I can understand not wanting another project in the lottery, I don't agree with not trading down to get a proven shooter.
Season will be monumental failure if Jeremy, Keldon and Champ are our main wings.
I know PATFO very rarely makes aggressive moves, but they better have some trades up their sleeve.
Can't develop young players if the team isn't functional.

[John B]

Ninja Sean, Bruce, Danny/Kawhi and now Castle. Spurs always had the premier perimeter defender to lockdown the opponents POA and best perimeter guy. DJ, White all big defensive guards, so I wasn’t surprised. I’m so happy with this pick.

I would’ve liked Dilly very much. He’s so much like TP on how he breaks defenses with his array of putting up scores, so fast and has range. I still don’t know the rationale on trading him for a selection in 7 years from now. Watching RC smiling, giddy like a kid before Wright made the call, I thought he liked the pick so much. I’m still hoping there’s more, just building assets for a big trade ahead - someone like Markkanen I hope.

[r0drig0lac]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iK4RdA8tO64

Wemby is a ing leader

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

Love this pick. At the very least Castle will be a solid NBA player for a good while. At his best he can be a multi time all star. in this draft that's solid value.

[LeBowen]

Really worth a watch.
His percentages are worse than his mechanics and that's the most encouranging thing.
He's no Jeremy who still has a fundamentally broken shot.

[Dejounte]

Really worth a watch.
His percentages are worse than his mechanics and that's the most encouranging thing.
He's no Jeremy who still has a fundamentally broken shot.

He’s no Jeremy with his handles either. He can go left and right. That alone is huge for his onball opportunities.

[barakz21]

Ninja Sean, Bruce, Danny/Kawhi and now Castle. Spurs always had the premier perimeter defender to lockdown the opponents POA and best perimeter guy. DJ, White all big defensive guards, so I wasn’t surprised. I’m so happy with this pick.

I would’ve liked Dilly very much. He’s so much like TP on how he breaks defenses with his array of putting up scores, so fast and has range. I still don’t know the rationale on trading him for a selection in 7 years from now. Watching RC smiling, giddy like a kid before Wright made the call, I thought he liked the pick so much. I’m still hoping there’s more, just building assets for a big trade ahead - someone like Markkanen I hope.

I didn’t become a Spurs fan until 01, so I’d appreciate the history lesson. Was Sean a good defender? I only ever knew Sean as the #2 man on those DRob led Spurs teams. When I became a fan, I figure Sean was like a 15-18ppg scorer who would’ve been a #3 man on a legit contender. Again, I’d appreciate the history lesson!

[LeBowen]

He’s no Jeremy with his handles either. He can go left and right. That alone is huge for his onball opportunities.

I see no reason to believe he's not a future point guard project.
As I said in the previous post, we're underestimating Wemby's playmaking and we know PATFO are all in on sharing the ball.

Both his shot and handles look way more ready than what DJ had in his rookie year.
As the guy in that video said, if he could become a Fox level shooter, he's got some serious potential.
For reference, Fox shot 32% from deep on 3.8 attempts per game in his first 6 seasons and jumped to 37% on 8 attempts this season.

I'd say his absolute best case scenario would be somewhere between Jrue and Jimmy.
Both of them get to the rim by bullying defenders, not just missmatches.
First step should be developing a reliable mid-range, FT line pull up would go a long way when the defense has to focus on Wemby.

[TrainOfThought5]

I wonder if drafting Castle opens up an avenue to put Keldon back in the starting lineup and resurrect his value.

Wemby - Collins
Sochan - Cissoko
Keldon - Champ
Vassell - Branham
Castle - Tre - Wesley

that’s an absolutely depressing bench.

[kobyz]

Branham have to start now next to Castle instead of Jones

[LeBowen]

that’s an absolutely depressing bench.

We'll see how things go today.

We need a veteran for cheap or in free agency. Barnes, Harris, Batum, you get the point.
Then get a another reliable wing in a trade. Cam Johnson would be ideal.
And another shooter with #35 today.

Castle-Devin-Cam-Barnes-Wemby would look way better, have good spacing and defense. Something to build on.
Tre-Branham-Champ-Jeremy would be decent enough of a bench. (I don't want to see Collins ever again, get a backup big.)

West is brutal and we're not making the playoffs.
But there are also way too many teams that are going to blatantly tank, so we're not getting into top5 odds with Wemby averaging 25/12/5 or something.
We need to start building back the winning culture and give young players an optimal envoriment to develop. Which is actually competing.

[Ice009]

I didn’t become a Spurs fan until 01, so I’d appreciate the history lesson. Was Sean a good defender? I only ever knew Sean as the #2 man on those DRob led Spurs teams. When I became a fan, I figure Sean was like a 15-18ppg scorer who would’ve been a #3 man on a legit contender. Again, I’d appreciate the history lesson!

Sean had the defensive potential. It wasn't until Pop got a hold of him that he really started playing great defense.

I'm not sure how correctly I am remembering it as I was very young then, but he was very good in the 1999 season, and in the 1999 playoffs, Sean spent time guarding KG (can't remember who else was in the Timberwolves back then as to who his primary assignment was), Kobe in round 2, Portland's loaded stack of guards and forwards in round 3, and then Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell (I loved both of these guys as I always wanted them both on the Spurs) in the finals. He went through a gauntlet of great players he had to guard during that playoff run, and did a pretty good job on all of them. All of this while playing with a failing kidney.

I think if Pop was able to coach him earlier in his career, he would have been known as a great defender as he didn't really start playing great defense until Pop was his coach.

[CGD]

a Castle+Vassell back court means, that there needs to be more shooting from the forward spots. none of the current players will provide this. Tobias Harris would make even more sense in this situation.

Yup, I think he’s the target on FA. Him and Gary Trent Jr who shot 40% from 3.

[Truckules]

I see no reason to believe he's not a future point guard project.
As I said in the previous post, we're underestimating Wemby's playmaking and we know PATFO are all in on sharing the ball.

Both his shot and handles look way more ready than what DJ had in his rookie year.
As the guy in that video said, if he could become a Fox level shooter, he's got some serious potential.
For reference, Fox shot 32% from deep on 3.8 attempts per game in his first 6 seasons and jumped to 37% on 8 attempts this season.

I'd say his absolute best case scenario would be somewhere between Jrue and Jimmy.
Both of them get to the rim by bullying defenders, not just missmatches.
First step should be developing a reliable mid-range, FT line pull up would go a long way when the defense has to focus on Wemby.

I actually see a lot of Demar in his offensive game with how good his footwork is and how he likes to play off two feet around the basket. Demar on offense and Jrue on defense would be like a top 15% outcome for him IMO. If he can be an average 3pt shooter on top of that, he'd clearly be the second star next to Wemby.

[Davidicus]

Dejounte Murray 6’5” 180lb
Stephon Castle 6’6” 215lb

Damn, I didn’t realize Castle had an inch and 35lb on DJM. Who knows exact measurements, but I just assumed Castle was 6’4”ish based on the way he moves on defense. We’re in for a treat!

[Mr. Body]

Man, I'm pumped as to get Castle. He has one of the highest ceilings in the draft, or one of them, he has a very solid floor. The complexity of what we can run on offense went up, our defense is set to greatly improve.

What I keep enjoying right now is the fact that he lead UConn in scoring during the Final Four. It was a combined attack, and Newton beat him one game, but he was the workhorse. Not only was he the key exterior defender, he was getting it done on the other end.

[BatManu20]

Man, I'm pumped as to get Castle. He has one of the highest ceilings in the draft, or one of them, he has a very solid floor. The complexity of what we can run on offense went up, our defense is set to greatly improve.

What I keep enjoying right now is the fact that he lead UConn in scoring during the Final Four. It was a combined attack, and Newton beat him one game, but he was the workhorse. Not only was he the key exterior defender, he was getting it done on the other end.

Seconded. He’s been my guy in this draft for months now. Super glad he’s a Spur tbh. Think we look back at this pick in 5 years once he’s developed his shot and wonder how he fell to us at 4 tbh.

[BatManu20]

Wemby seems to like the pick.

“I am very happy about this pick. (Stephon Castle) is one of the most NBA Ready players in this Draft and a very good person too. We have been paying a lot of attention to him at the Spurs” — Wemby during a press conference at the Federation of French Basketball in Paris. @TrashTalk_fr

[BSfromTX]

Parker and KL didn't have great jumpers when drafted. I bet this kid develops his jumper. He definitely can defend and is big and strong for a PG.

[Russ]

Parker and KL didn't have great jumpers when drafted. I bet this kid develops his jumper. He definitely can defend and is big and strong for a PG.

He's comfortable playing under hard coaching and his teams win -- that's huge.

But his HEB commercials will be cringeworthy.

[z0sa]

Wembanyama sounded super excited talking to Castle on the Phone after the pick! Can’t help but think he knew exactly what the spurs would do at 4 and signed off on it.

Castle is still exciting. Great pick, all things considered.

It's just much, much less exciting since it's obvious we will be throwing 24-25 away already. Boring, losing season ahead where watching the guys grow won't even be that entertaining since we don't even have our "core" yet, again, most likely.

[spurraider21]

Castle wasnt in my top tier of prospects, but he was atop tier 2. said all along id be content with getting him at 4, and that hasnt changed. its pretty remarkable just how many things he is good at. its been said before, but the shooting will make or break him. taking him at 4 is absolutely reliant on him improving his shot, and he's pretty far away. not just as far as his accuracy, but even his confidence and willingness to take them

[Russ]

Castle wasnt in my top tier of prospects, but he was atop tier 2. said all along id be content with getting him at 4, and that hasnt changed. its pretty remarkable just how many things he is good at. its been said before, but the shooting will make or break him. taking him at 4 is absolutely reliant on him improving his shot, and he's pretty far away. not just as far as his accuracy, but even his confidence and willingness to take them

Castle seems more confident and willing to take threes in bigger games -- that might be a good sign.

In the first four games of the NCAA tournament, Castle took only 8 three attempts and hit -- horrifically -- only one. 1 of 8.

In the last two (Final Four games), he took ten and hit three. Not great but better.

At least it indicates he's not scared of the moment.

[DAF86]

So what's his schedule? Does he take a vacation now, does hit the gym immediately? When is Summer League happening? He better be taking a thousand shots per day, tbh. I want to see him take spot ups and pullup shots without hesitation, tbh.

[Obstructed_View]

I didn’t become a Spurs fan until 01, so I’d appreciate the history lesson. Was Sean a good defender? I only ever knew Sean as the #2 man on those DRob led Spurs teams. When I became a fan, I figure Sean was like a 15-18ppg scorer who would’ve been a #3 man on a legit contender. Again, I’d appreciate the history lesson!

Sean was an elite defender. He was one of the best players in the country when he was in college. The prediction when he and Robinson were paired was that the Spurs would win 50 games a year for the next decade.

Sean was a great defender, a great teammate and a great citizen of San Antonio, where I lived at the time. He was never consistently aggressive as an offensive player, and was unable to relieve pressure from Robinson in the playoffs.