Do We HAVE a CASTLE ISSUE!?
Stephon Castle has been dealing with a thumb injury since late December, and some Spurs fans are starting to wonder if it’s impacting his play. From shooting consistency to ball handling and finishing at the rim, a thumb injury can quietly affect a guard’s game in ways that don’t always show up on the injury report.
In this video, I’ll break down Castle’s recent performances and whether the thumb issue could explain the ups and downs. Is this just a normal sophmore stretch, or is the injury still lingering more than the Spurs are letting on?
Let me know what you think — is the thumb injury affecting Stephon Castle, or is this just part of the learning curve?
#spurs #sanantoniospurs #wemby
Twitter: https://x.com/TSRsports50
TSR Sports is a YouTube Channel that covers the San Antonio Spurs live as well as the latest news, trades and rumors. TSR features all our favorite Spurs: Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Carter Bryant, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan and Luke Kornet! GO SPURS GO!
TSR Sports
PO Box 8031
Manchester, CT 06040
28 Comments
Do you think Castle's thumb is affecting his play or is something else going on? Hope he heals up soon and let's beat OKC again tomorrow night! Thanks for watching and GO SPURS GO!
I think jeremy should take some of castles minutes. Share the defensive assessment on the other teams best guard or wing
No not worried yet just because we are still overachieving. Let’s not kid ourselves. We know we can get to the playoffs this year but not like this. If we are being realistic, it’s more so the playin path or 6 seed at best. But looky here. Surprise surprise.
These problems have been present all season. The reason why it has been overly exposed now is because we are freezingly cold from 3. It allows the opponent to just sit in the paint and take away our guard’s strengths. Are we not getting the same looks we did before? We are. The only thing is we are bricking them.
Notice a trend? Castle Harper Fox. All same play style. Attack attack attack. All struggling at the same time. Not a coincidence at all. Fox to a lesser degree i guess. Why? Bec he is the only one who has a middy. But still struggling for the most part.
This is on the coaches though. 9-10 games now and they have not figured out how to adjust..
And also to be fair with Castle. He is not getting the same respect as other players from the refs with whistles. Both on offense or defense. The way he attacks the rim he should be one of the leading freethrow takers. And he is not allowed to be as aggressive as say Dort Caruso Brooks on defense. Gets called for a lot of ticky-tack fouls.
But then again, trying to keep in touch with reality. We are ahead of schedule so really what’s the worry. We have time to be patient and wait.
I’m worried with how Dylan has been playing
Well as of right now, we have a guard issue.
Steph and Dylan have been wildly inefficient for a while.
And a Max Contract PG isn't playing up to par either.
i'm not worried but he has been playing like shi these couple of games
He’s got a lot of room to grow, I think some of his fundamentals can be a little lazy sometimes especially with passes and dribbling, he has to stop trying to foul bait when he’s in the pain and just focus on hitting a shot. That being said, he’s in his second year, whereas a guy like Fox was brought in to stabilize the team and he’s chucking the dumbest three-point shots I’ve ever seen, a complete traffic cone on defense when he’s not locked in, which is frequent, he plays this prissy sort of basketball that really gets on my nerves at times. And he has the worst tunnel vision I’ve ever seen. He is not a point guard, he should be off ball 90% of the time so he can just make a quick move instead of having to think about anything.
Is a sprained left thumb affecting his game? Come on man, be realistic. He's also just his second year, not a 7-year veteran.
Spurs played 3 sets of back to backs in a row and for this they are rewarded with a road game against the OKC Thunder. Thanks Adam Silver. Why not go for 5 B2B's in a row next time.
He’s playing bad as of late. But these fans saying trade Castle are just stupid. Castle was just being talked as untouchable and wouldn’t trade for Giannis and now they’re saying trade him? We need him for the Thunder and the bigger problem is our shooting. We desperately need Vassel back.
I blame partially on Mitch. Of course, some could say "it is not Mitch who is shooting the ball." Castle shooting is an issue that only Castle can solve but amount of 3s he is taking and amount of TO he is creating is something Mitch can fix. For some reason, Castle is given too much trust on the court to the point, he is not being pulled out or even being benched when he needs to. The ball movement should start with Fox or even with Harper rather than Castle as his assists numbers are quite inflated due to last mins passes. Castle needs to figure out shooting side and stop trying to do too much to be "the guy." Mitch needs to curtail his mins a bit and have Fox run the point. Look at how we won against Celtics. Mitch sat Steph! I always think Steph as off-ball / combo guards that CAN run PG but not a main facilitator. Both Mitch and Castle need to figure out the best of us Castle.
Que deje de perden balones pelotudos
Simple answer: Other teams already scouted him and devised a defensive strategy to slow him down, Castle is a slasher with no three point shot so it is easier for them.
He just need to rest , he is young and just need a much needed rest , i mean look at him play defense , from end to end. That sochan was supposed to do , castle is good we are good GOOD SPURS GO , #chuckie😂
Fox should be running the offense more imho
My Ortho doc called in FOOSH as in Fall On Outstretched Hand. Mine was from tripping while backpedaling on D'. I learned my lesson: No More Defense!
SPURS & CASTLE SHOOTING % : Spurs season 3pt is 35% (20th in NBA), but in the last three games is 25% (28th ranked). So this isn't just Castle. And we COULD wring our hands, except for two things…. FIRST: Guess which two teams are shooting WORSE than the Spurs in these last three games? Houston and OKC! Yup, as bad as we're shooting, the league's best team is shooting worse right now. SECOND: We're in 2nd place in the league, ahead of the Nuggets who are the best 3pt shooting team (over 40%). LESSONS: 3pt shooting is overrated as a measure of likely success. The league is launching them at ridiculous rates, but their correlation with wins is tenuous. So, Castle, like the Spurs, should focus more on what they do well — hit that paint, get double the free throw attempts as their opponents, and lock down on D. Shooting, weirdly, need not be a fatal weakness if we play to our strengths and limit the long-ball attempts.
Castle isn't good enough at ball handling to be the starting point,it's only working because he's a very good defender
What makes no sense is how did Castle get 34 minutes last night and Harper only got 11 minutes. Why is Castle allowed to make as many mistakes as he want Mitch never bench him while Harper once he make a mistake he gets benched. Got to love it how Mitch is priortizing Castle development over Harper when Harper is the one who their is a much clearer path to be a star/superstar than Castle.
If its bothering him, its really best to take time to heal.. its better to address it earlier than having biggrer problems come playoffs time. Go Spurs Go!
He turns the damn ball over too much!!
I agree. He has lost his touch at the basket. That has to be related to injury. We need his defense and hustle but need to make sure he gets healed. I think the Spurs should rest him while at home. Let's get Vassel back tonight and take out OKC one more time!
5 Games rest for Castle
5 Games Play for D! J! G!
He’s being fouled
I think he might be gambling 🎰 🤦♂️
The Spurs should've kept Chip Engelland as their shooting coach. That was dumb to let him go.
The issue is simple: Castle is not playing his position. He is a natural SG and the Spurs are running the offense around him. De'Aaron Fox is supposed to be the guy running the offense, not him. They're putting Fox in the corner and not maximizing his abilities. Fox operates at his best when he is the one handling the PG duties. I don't understand why Mitch isn't adjusting
I agree he hasn't looked the same. My fantasy team is taking a hit from it too😂 But in all seriousness, I think he'll bounce back after the all star break!