Spurs Film Study: Stephon Castle Shines in Summer League Debut

Spurs Film Study: Stephon Castle Shines in Summer League Debut

Stefan Castle finished with 12 points six rebounds and three assists on four of 12 shooting in his summer leag debut as the San Antonio Spurs fell to the Charlotte Hornets by 32 points on Saturday night so let’s go ahead and dive into the film dissect his performance on both ends and keep in mind that this fast-paced exhibition setting doesn’t necessarily tend to lend itself to more methodical players like him San Antonio opened things up with the horns out set to get castle into an angle pick and roll and one of the first things you’ll notice is how deep he takes off from inside the paint which only makes things tougher when he initiates contact with the big on this double clutch layup that hits nothing but the backboard his self- creation ability was questioned quite a bit leading up to the 2024 NBA draft and you can sort of see why on this possession as he struggles to generate separation from an undersized Defender like Nick Smith Jr and ends up settling for a difficult one-legged fadeaway near the end of the shot clock just not an ideal look here but one thing I really loved is how Poise plays out of ball screens takes his time getting to the nail draws help with the opposing big and drop coverage and just makes the simple read one man away to a wide openen City sissoko who unfortunately bricks the triple point of attack defense is definitely Castle’s most translatable skill entering the NBA watch as he navigates this pin down fills out the incoming ball screen Hound Smith Jr understands where help is coming from and uses a smart angle in a 69 wingspan to notch a deflection that ultimately leads to a Jamari buer steel and a fast break bucket for San Antonio you have to appreciate how under control Castle is snaking this ball screen out of a spread pick and roll but because the Scouting Report says he isn’t a threat off the bounce the big sags off when he rises into an elbow jumper and adding that to his Arsenal would unlock so much upside we won’t Linger on this clip of him curling this wide pin down but here’s another example of how taking off from too far out hurt his Rim finishing against Charlotte Castle showed his motor and pinent for making winning plays coming down with an offensive board in a crowd using his handle and physicality to walk his Defender into the paint and firing this Bullet to the corner through traffic for a clean Tyson ward 3 the rookie also displayed some rebound and run potential corralling the ball surveying the floor flowing into this shallow middle pick and roll and using a hang dribble to freeze the big man so he could get off this soft free throw line floater Castle was a hesitant longrange shooter at Yukon and his first open opportunity from Deep resulted in a turnover after he traveled being indecisive between driving or firing away but he made up for that mistake later on though Charlotte bringing two to the ball forces Castle to kill his dribble he shifts the defense with his eyes to open up this passing window to Nathan Minah and while the big man has his layup erased you have to imagine Victor wanyama punctuates this play with a slam Castle looked comfortable able with the ball in his hands getting downhill on this Horn’s action before delivering a gorgeous midair wraparound dime to Mah for an uncontested dunk though his defense was mostly sound throughout the contest Castle gambles for a steal in the passing lanes and leaves his feet on a pump fake which puts him out of position a misstep that is only Amplified by swiping down and conceding an an one to Leaky black the reigning NCAA Champion may have been tenative shooting from three earlier in the game but apparently a quick discussion with head coach Kenny trino on the sidelines was all he needed to let it fly off the catch from the logo and let’s take another look at that shot everything starts with the left to right footwork where he demonstrates great balance and generates pristine rotation on the ball with his follow through how about this suffocating pressure from Castle recovers after the initial contact with the screener flips his hips to stay attached on the spin move and gets in a solid contest despite Smith Jr nailing the floater perhaps nothing offered Spurs fans more optimism about his scoring Outlook than this sequence where Castle strung together some tween crosses before nailing a pullup three with a hand in his face for as many bright moments as he had on defense Castle had a few blunders including here where he tripped over his man got lost in recovery and left his feet in the corner which led to a wide open layup for Jake Stevens but the fourth quarter is where Castle truly shined I love how he went between the legs to lead his Defender into this ball screen dragged out his dribble to take the rim protector out of the paint force a low low man tag and then made this jump pass to Jamari buer for a wide open three here’s an excellent example of castle using change of pace to put his man in jail on his back hip to get off a runner inside the paint and while it doesn’t fall the process is often more important than the results when it comes to summer league basketball the thing that most stood out to me was his consistent Poise as a lead playmaker Castle showed an aptitude for expertly snaking ball screens like he does here and the tight crossover to avoid the Dig only serves to highlight his handle this pocket pass to mina could have been better but most of his feeds were precise against the Hornets Castle isn’t the flashiest passer but he frequently made the right decision so let’s freeze notice how he waits for Caleb McConnell to commit to helping on a potential middle drive before he dishes it to City Soko and as we unpause the French forward can rip off the catch with his man out of position for for this and one layup off the glass Stefan is also an intelligent Team Defender who understands when and where to make rotations when sasoko slides over to provide weak side Rim protection he peels off his man to close out to the corner and shout out to City for executing this textbook X out to get a highand contest on rayquan Battle great stuff from both of the youngsters of course honest coverage means looking at the not so pretty moments from Castle and after shooting a flat three ball that falls short and result in a long rebound and transition opportunity for Charlotte he then gets caught flat footed backpedaling and gives up an easy layup to Matt Morgan but Castle puts an exclamation mark on his unofficial debut with this beautiful bump Spin and off-hand finish through contact for an N1 that puts his sturdy frame in body control on full display so what can we take away from this tilt well Castle is exactly as advertised on the defensive end and he probably deserves more credit for his point guard capabilities than I gave him in the pre-draft process now this is only one outing but the future looks bright for San Antonio in their fourth overall pick

A closer look at how Stephon Castle performed for the San Antonio Spurs at the California Classic in his unofficial NBA debut.

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