Stephon Castle Impresses in Summer League Debut | Film School | San Antonio Spurs

Stephon Castle Impresses in Summer League Debut | Film School | San Antonio Spurs

too frequently with NBA Summer League we get caught up in the efficiency numbers and the counting stats and even the wins while those things are all great to have and they can show real progression for some players that’s not the whole point of Summer League the point of Summer League especially with rookies is to figure out if guys got it what else do they have in their game that they weren’t necessarily allowed to show in college or their previous setting do they have more is there extra stuff lurking beneath the surface and how do they react when they’re put into different situations with new teammates and kind of forced to fail or grow and that is exactly what the San Antonio Spurs are doing with their first round pick Stefan Castle coming into the draft all of the talks around in Castle was first a shot and also whether or not he was a point guard and honestly I don’t care I don’t care what position he is because none of that really matters in today’s NBA it does what I do care about is whether or not Castle is going to be put in position to be one of the primary decision makers and so far it’s looking like he he has that and then some at Yukon Castle was put in mostly an off-ball role um until later in the season as he kind of slowly progressed and gained more on ball responsibilities however in high school he was pretty much the lead lead initiator whether you want to call him a forward a point forward or a wing jumbo Wing Creator or just a point guard it doesn’t really matter to me because the point is that he had the ball a lot and was making most of the decisions for his teams that changed a lot in college and Castle had to adapt his game to be on a contending team and a repeat back-to-back NCAA champion and he did and all credit to him for continuously showing his Supreme versatility on both ends of the floor and his ability to contribute to winning basketball but if you’re going to be a top five pick if you’re going to be one of the franchise kind of building blocks alongside Victor wanyama you have to be more than that and the Spurs are really stress testing him and trying to figure out whether or not he has that upside to be a primary decision maker it’s looking good so far now I know I know I know it’s it’s NBA Summer League and we’re not drawing wild conclusions off of it but they are breadcrumbs for us to take into the season and even going forward now the big thing with Castle was and you know one of the main things when it comes to being that lead ball handler to being a primary or secondary decision maker is just pick and roll volume it is one of the simplest sets to run or actions to run and also one of the most common during his time um with Atlanta Express in aaou Castle was a pick and roll ball handler on 23.5% of his possessions with his high school team the Newton Rams in Georgia that number was 24.7% with Yukon we saw a substantial drop off as he only ran or only 18.6% of his possessions came as the pick and roll ball handler now I know it’s only two games but we’ve seen that number number essentially double as he is running the pick and roll 37.8% of his possessions again small sample but the intent by the Spurs here is very clear that 37.8% frequency is more than double his next most frequent possession type the Spurs are looking to see is Castle a point guard can he be that lead decision maker can can he initiate the offense can he be consistently getting the offense into the spots that they need to get to set up teammates get to his own spots and get efficient looks and so far it’s been really really promising now Castle’s counting stats have been solid as he’s been in double figure scoring both games and has a total of eight assists in just two turnovers solid it’s really encouraging stuff but as we’re going to see in the film a little lat later the three assists that he had against Charlotte kind of do a disservice to some of the passing stuff the five assists he had against team China really impressive stuff additionally it’ll be a little later in the video and not entirely the focus of it but the shooting numbers are bad they’re bad poor efficiency effective field goal rate under 42% in both games and he’s only two for 10 from three so the shooting concerns are still there but they’re supposed to be if you expected him to completely overhaul his shot and turn into this highly efficient shooter in the two weeks since the draft then I don’t know what to tell you but what is encouraging is the volume six attempts against China four attempts against Charlotte the fact that he’s willing to take them that many times a game is really promising and they’re they’ve been good looks for the most part it’ll get there but having that confidence as we’ll see changes everything so is Stephen Castle a point guard I don’t care but what the Spurs are continuously showing us is that they care if he’s if he can be a main decision maker and so far things are trending in the right direction it’s only summer league but the two games that we’ve gotten from Stefan Castle are really really encouraging for the type of player that he can continue to grow into especially around guys like Victor wanyama and Devon Vel let’s dive in take a look at how mainly in that first game against Charlotte of how he navigated the pick and roll created for others and then even got his own shot I’m Tyler mchf welcome to film School let’s dive in all right the main focus of this video um and the bulk of it and especially the next you know handful of minutes are going to be on Castle’s pick and roll progression it’s not all going to be good but I want to chronologically here to see how he develops and adjusts and improves throughout this first game so right off the bat here uh this I believe this was their first possession Castle get you know runs off the screen and this is how we can kind of Envision him being used as a secondary Creator where he starts off ball runs off some action um and Chris Paul then circles out or Devon vasel circles out and now he’s running in this pick and rooll with Victor wanyama it it’s a little different when you substitute you know some of the the NBA guys in but you get the point um so right off the bat here first possession of the game Castle comes out aggressive comes tight off the screen and immediately reads that the drop Defender is very deep in the drop something Castle’s used to seeing given his historical shooting struggles as Castle kind of now gets into this all of this space Nick Smith Jr has been taken completely out of the play and they’re in a 2V1 situation so he’s just reading the drop Defender here as he continues to as Castle continues to attack help Defenders stay home he stays home uh drop defenders in the paint roller gets a pretty aggressive tag from the now weak side Defender um and Castle doesn’t really have anywhere in terms of playmaking and he just kind of accelerates absorbs the contact throws up a shot it’s not great it’s it’s not a good look it’s rushed it’s impatient um but you know at least he’s willing to be physical he’s not scared of the contact you know he’s looking to draw a foul there um so intentions are okay they’re fine but the execution here is really poor because he feels rushed and first possession of you know his first game wearing a Spurs jersey understandable but starting out this way you know heavily contested shot at The Rim um not a great way to get things going thankfully Castle kind of adjusts and slows down mentally pretty quickly here um so again we see him kind of set up in an off ball roll and it’d be great if he let that fly but he’s just going to flow into a little pick and roll here and create a wide open look for his teammate now this isn’t anything crazy or any major manipulation going on by Castle here but it’s a testament to his decision- making and just kind of quick processing speed so again as he sets up over here imagine Devon vasel Victor wanyama Chris Paul Kellin Johnson initiating on the wing over here and then having Castle as that secondary Creator decision maker on the weak side um so Ball’s going to get flared out to him it’d be great if he just let this fly but that hesitation um that we talked all season with him at Yukon in terms of shooting it popped up again earlier in this video we’ll see it again uh to a a worse degree um but eventually the shot has to go up but alas he backs it out calls for the screen again solid screen dribbles off it his Defender now out of the play since Castle was so aggressive at getting downhill in that previous clip just a few possessions before the help Defender is a little more aggressive at kind of playing The Gap here trying to disrupt Castle’s Drive trying to help out his drop Defender a little more so he’s not facing a purely 2V1 situation additionally not an awesome shooter out here on the wing but Castle continues to probe and gets the help Defender to fully commit here gets him to overcommit leaves his feet and just makes the right read just makes a simple quick pass out to his teammate on the wing NBA Shooters are going to let that fly immediately all day long that should be a wide open look shooter hesitates fakes the pass he has no confidence now shot doesn’t go in but everything Castle does here you know aside from passing up the open three is correct it’s simple it’s playing within himself and making life easier for his teammates by getting them wide open looks again Castle shows off that ability to collapse the defense and just counter their secondary and help rotations because of his aggressiveness and passing Vision so castle castle didn’t directly lead to this open shot but again he’s bringing initiating the offense here gets a pick a high screen solid screen he dribbles off it tightly his man is now out of the play castle has all the space to attack downhill and we see him attack with a little bit more craft and patience than in that first clip where he just barreled into the drop Defender instead as Castle gets downhill little change of pace changes Direction a little bit still hasn’t created any space but that change of Direction back towards the right side of the lane has now also attracted an aggressive help from the corner Defender who is now sagging off really aggressively that corner shooter Castle obviously knows that the drop Defender is contesting a shot he obviously sees that the help Defender is rotated on him and he feels his initial Defender has caught up to him so he knows that he’s in the middle of the paint with three Defenders on him and that his teammate is over here in the corner little off balance accuracy isn’t ideal but he gets it out to him in time and again NBA shooter is letting that fly that’s a wideopen corner three look in an ba setting shot doesn’t go up shot fake he attacks a close out teammate is cutting into his drive not ideal spacing here but this is what happens in the first Summer League game with guys who haven’t really played together um but if he would have stayed out here on the wing he would have had an even more wide openen three and all of that is generated by Castle’s ability to generate space right off the bat dribbling off the screen collapsing the defense and then finding teammates in those off ball roles good process unfortunately poor result now a common theme I’m sure that you may have started noticing is how aggressively deep this drop Defender is going and how often they’re leaving this floater range kind of open and available to Castle um now he didn’t take a ton of them at Yukon but on the ones he did take Castle ranked in the 67th percentile on floaters um so he has a decent kind of in between game option uh to go along with his physicality at The Rim in the playmaking and these are the types of looks he has to kind of continue to look for um especially if defenses are going to be this aggressive in their drop coverage again Castle comes off the screen help Defenders kind of digging in a little bit more but not fully committing like we saw uh two clips ago where Castle sprayed it out instead he stunts at him Castle’s really patient maintains his dribble keeps probing that that space um just little Peak over his shoulder let me back up little Peak over his shoulder here sees that his man is yet again completely taken out by this screen uh another common theme in these clips refocuses his attention back on this drop Defender sees that he’s back by the restricted area again he knows help Defenders staying home help defend is staying home or you know close enough where close out is easy for him and his teammate won’t have an open shot so he takes what the defense gives him and gets off an open look now it’s not the cleanest of makes but it’s a make and it it’s a testament to his soft touch and his ability to kind of score um in that in between range and just process so many of his different options out of the pick and roll so far we we’ve mostly seen Castle just reading and reacting and just kind of playing within himself and taking what the defense gives him but this one we get a little better um example of his understanding of the situation mismatches and then manipulation of uh weak side Defenders um so right off the start here Castle sees that his teammate has the opposing point guard uh I believe that’s Xavier Simpson um on him so he knows that’s a mismatch Castle wants that mismatch so he he calls for the screen and as the screen comes Charlotte doesn’t properly switch this Simpson was looking for a switch and one doesn’t come so now he has to Scamper up in um in recovery to get back in the play castle immediately comes off the screen now attacking the opposing point guard who is now in drop coverage as he gets that switch Simpson’s done a good job of kind of catching up and getting to relatively the level and Castle Slams on the brakes to put uh Nick Smith in jail here as he does so he has the strength to hold Nick Smith off which gives his his teammate a little more space to roll while also attracting the switch of Xavier Simpson the key here is how does Castle get rid of the help Defender and the paint to free up his teammate rolling to the rim as he pivots back Castle is going to look out to the the to his teammate on the wing and it moves this help Defender just enough he just catches him leaning before delivering this pass over over Simpson he has the size advantage on Simpson so he can see over and deliver this pass but that little lookoff right there just gets that help Defender leaning out towards the perimeter and creates enough of a window for Castle to deliver this pass to his teammate rolling to the rim this should be a dunk or a layup recovering Defender does a decent job of kind of breaking it up a little bit delaying the shot and the help Defender gets back in into the play but the passing accuracy here and just some of the subtle manipulation um and patience from Castle to move that help Defender is really really impressive stuff for someone who we’re not totally sure is a point guard but can he be a second decision maker and facilitator stuff like this suggests yes so we’ve seen Castle driveing kick and get to his floater get to the rim and even pass from the perimeter to his roller um but on this one we see him attack aggressively and show off some of his interior passing skills so as Castle kind of pushes here he he goes early he goes really early in the clock here and it’s because he sees something that he likes as he’s bringing the ball up he sees that Nick Smith continuously is peing over his right shoulder he’s looking for a screen from this direction and Castle knows that they’re about to run a horn set and that his teammate over here on the right side is already set up to initiate this screen so Castle just goes he sees that Nick Smith is leaning the other way he’s trying to force Castle to his left he’s looking this direction and Castle’s like nope I’m going where I want to go and you’re occupied with something that you shouldn’t be so I’m going to make you pay for it so he attacks quickly gets downhill and Smith does an okay job of kind of getting over the screen but since the drop is so aggressive and Castle is attacking with space he has all of this room to kind of continue to attack and again Castle’s really really strong so even though Smith kind of gets back in the play here he doesn’t have the strength to get back rims side and really deter castle castle shrugs him off here and is is able to elevate and attack downhill by elevating here he gets the drop Defender to jump with him and it’s outside the restricted area at that same time he’s looking at this week side sees the weak side Defender not in the paint because he’s worried about this shooter Castle knows that he has both Defenders on him changes his release angle he has no intention of ever shooting this ball once he got to the free throw line his entire goal was to create for his teammate and that is what he’s done by attracting both Defenders changing his release point and dumping it off to his teammate for for a wide open Easy dunk and it’s all because Castle’s decisive patient and really creative and physical in the paint we’ll get back to Castle’s kind of pick and roll operation and playmaking stuff again in just a couple Clips but I wanted to make sure that we stay kind of chronological here so we can continue seeing some of the in-game developments and mentality shifts from Castle um and specifically with his shooting so we know that castle isn’t a good shooter right now but as I outlined in a previous video there aren’t any glaring mechanical issues it’s more of a confidence thing and we saw him pass up open threes a lot at Yukon and this one was really really irritating because it’s the same thing where offensive rebound really good job by his teammate to secure that rebound all five Defenders are below the free throw line gets kicked out this shot has to go up it’s a wideopen three top of the Ark this is routine stuff this is basically an empty gym jumper for Castle he should be at least taking this if not knocking this down every every single time unfortunately he hesitates and passes it up he doesn’t take the shot and that’s the biggest concern for me when it comes to his shooting is this lack of confidence and just not taking these open shots so he hesitates shot fakes Defender does a really good job here of closing out short he knows The Scouting Report he knows the castle is a hesitant shooter so he doesn’t have to fly by the threat of that shot fake by Castle here is non-existent because Defenders know that they don’t have to fly by they don’t have to heavily contest because he’s already in his head about it and it’s exacerbated by traveling the hesitation leads into not only passing up a wideopen three but it creates a turnover now I like the intention here of trying to kick out to his teammate who’s wide open in the corner that’s that’s solid but I only like that kickout if this Defender is flying by and really closing out on him and Castle has a legitimate opportunity to attack the close out here he doesn’t instead he hesitates he travels he drives directly into a Defender and he makes the right read but the opportunity is already passed and that’s the really kind of concerning stuff when it comes to Castle’s shooting projection thankfully that mentality didn’t really persist with Castle throughout this game um he ended up two of four from three on this game and 0 six against team China 0 of six not great but I love that six number I love him taking six attempts even though none of them went in couple of them were kind of last second heaves grenades that he got thrown but taking a averaging five three-point attempts in these first two games for him that’s what we want to see and the hesitation that we saw in the previous clip doesn’t even come close to this clip so again Castle’s in an offall role he’s in a role that he typically was in at Yukon and will probably be in a lot as a rookie with the Spurs um and his questionable shooting also his led to this help Defender being really aggressive and sinking below the free throw line because he’s not really that worried about castle um that’s probably going to be the case a lot in his rookie year because teams are going to that he’s not a quote unquote shooter and that he’s hesitant so when Victor when Bama rolls to the rim they can really help aggressively on that because they they know or they’re at least going to treat him as a non-threat until he makes them do otherwise point guard here just makes the right read kicks it out to Castle this is deep that’s an NBA line he’s at the logo no hesitation clack is running a little low but there’s still 8 seconds left 7even eight seconds left left that’s a lot of time to do something else instead Castle confidently Rises into a shot and knocks it down this is the type of stuff that we want to see from him going forward even if the percentages aren’t fantastic just being this confident and taking these threes are is going to open up so much else for his game so the missing piece and all of the pick and roll stuff that we that we’ve seen from Castle um in this game is just the lack of shooting we saw the playmaking we saw the interior boring but we haven’t seen the shooting until now and when we look at the clock this is him just continuing to build on that confidence and that processing and recognition out of the pick and roll and putting it all together The Confidence from that spot up three that logo three we just saw um at the end of the second quarter feeds into his ability to read the pick and roll to read the drop Defender to read what his what his Defender is doing against the screen piece it all together and just take what the defense gives him for a really high quality look so as Castle is kind of initiating the offense here they’re just going to run an extended horns so just two screeners pick and roll Castle gets to pick which direction he wants to go and then they just kind of go out of that um so Castle’s going to attack to his left he gets kind of Nick Smith turning quite a bit here early Smith is yet again kind of peeking over his shoulder being wary and concerned about the screens and Castle immediately recognizes it just attacks his high foot attacks against his momentum which causes Smith to be in a really poor spot um never good when you’re turning your back to the ball handler and coming off the screen Smith just kind of frantically goes way under like most Defenders will against castle and have and did throughout all of last season um but Smith kind of follows suit as he frantically looks to recover as Castle is coming off the screen he sees that the drop Defender is dropping below the free throw line before Castle is even hit the three-point line Acres of space here again another look that he’s going to see more often than not until he forces Defenders that to not guard him this way like we saw in that catch and shoot and every single pick and roll almost every single pick and roll clip before this Castle just takes what is given to him out of this action steps into the pullup three essentially wide open Smith gets kind of a late contest here but by the time he’s releasing the ball it doesn’t really matter the shots off it’s a clean look he steps into it confidently and knocks it down this is the type of stuff that is so important for Castle going forward because it’s going to shift how teams defend him so that was the bulk of the really impressive debut um from Castle is he showed off off his ability to adapt and grow and shift his mindset within the game in a myriad of ways um especially as the kind of primary decision maker um I just want to round this video out with a couple other clips from this game and the game against team China where we can see kind some of the effectiveness um from Castle playmaking out out of different areas and acting as that secondary or tertiary or just complimentary decision maker and passer so in this one again more of an off ball role it’s really important that castle continues to show his Effectiveness in this role because it improves his malleability um and just overall lineup versatility that the Spurs can run out there with so defense is completely ball watching looking for the rebound it’s summer league I get it uh they’re not worried about castle crashing for the offensive rebound here but he’s a fantastic rebounder he has positional size he’s a good athlete he’s incredibly strong so why not attack the open space reads it off the rim secures the rebound now he gets to reset now he’s shifted from being that kind of uh ancillary piece the outlet uh tertiary at best second side Creator type guy to now he’s running the show it’s time to reset reinitiate the offense and he attacks he knows that he has a strength Advantage so he just takes his Defender down to the Post gets physical as he gets down to the post he is as he pivots back he sees that uh Bryce MCW here is ball watching he has his back turned to his defensive assignment who is doing a really good job of relocating to the corner Castle is reading this he sees that he’s setting up for what should be a wide open three splits the defense mwan is clueless wide open three knocks it down just a really kind of fun um and simple example of how effortlessly Castle can transition between being that off ball role player into that on ball decision maker here against team China Castle really struggled shooting it was a poor efficiency in or poor scoring game in terms of efficiency but he was really really excellent at leveraging and maximizing the strength advantage that he had on ball when we think of Castle as an on-ball Creator um and primary decision maker that’s one of the areas that so frequently gets looked over is the strength advantage that he’ll have on most of the opposing point guards that would have to defend him so just standard pick and roll Defender goes under chases under uh drop Defender doing a better job than the previous clips of kind of not affording a ton of space that castle can just walk into uh Castle’s Defender does a really good job here of kind of getting back in the mix and disrupting Castle but Castle’s too strong he just kind of lowers his shoulder shrugs off his primary Defender secures the ball through the help dig here and goes up like he’s going to take the shot but he’s just reading what the drop Defender is doing and he knows that since he Shrugged off his initial Defender and that the drop Defender is now committing to defending the shot his teammate is going to be left alone on the RO Castle just shifts shifts his release Point drops it off to his teammate easy dunk again on this one Castle is more of kind of that off ball role and just creat something out of nothing because of his strength Advantage his craft his footwork and just his patience so as the ball kind of swings to him middle of the shot clock he just attacks downhill he’s decisive they weren’t able to get anything going in their first look so he just goes he uses his size and strength Advantage plays some bully ball and forces his Defender into the middle of the lane what’s really impressive here is not just Castle’s strength but his footwork and his craft and patience uh once he gets to where he wants to be so as he pivots back middle nice little Up and Under move is able to get his Defender to somewhat bite on the fake allowing him to step through which then pulls over the help Defender once he elevates that gets both of these Defenders to commit and again Castle has no intentions of really shooting this ball unless both these Defenders just completely ignore him but he knows that the second they commit and leave the floor with him he’s just dropping this ball off to his teammate in the dunker spot or that kind of Baseline mid-range jumper because he’s wide open Castle’s entire goal here is to manipulate these two Defenders to jump with him so he can set up his teammate for an easy look it’s something we’ve seen him do over and over and over again throughout this video and it’s really encouraging for just kind of his mindset and willingness and sense of craft and creativity um going forward when we talk about him as a passer playmaker and just kind of decision maker Stephen Castle has had a really strong start to a summer league yes there are some issues and concerns with the scoring efficiency stuff but it’s nothing new from two weeks ago when the NBA draft was he’s not a great shooter right now the mechanics aren’t broken he doesn’t need to rework a shot just some minor tweaks here and there and a continue a continued growth in his confidence and he should be fine and when I say fine I don’t mean 40 plus per for his career but fine as long as we continue to get that volume and him confidently stepping into his shots and making Defenders at least think about contesting a shot that’s all that needs to happen if he continues to pass up open looks that leads to turnovers or bad shots that’s where things start to get concerning the big question with Castle aside from the shooting was does he have any on ball juice and the Spurs are desperate to find that out as well in these first two games Castle’s pick and roll frequency is more than double what it was last season it’s also more than double than his second most frequent Play Type in these two games the Spurs are putting him in pick and roll situations constantly to force him to grow adapt and adjust in the middle of the game they’re asking a lot of him they’re putting him in uncomfortable situations but the thing is it’s not an uncomfortable situation for castle castle ran a ton of pick and role in high school he was the primary decision maker he did play quote unquote point guard in high school is he a point guard in the NBA I don’t know I’ll let you decide that but I do know that castle is has a ton of upside as a primary or secondary decision maker we continue to see him adjust and play chess in the middle of a game and for a rookie to do that is really encouraging for what he’ll look like two months from now eight months from now two years from now and that’s what the draft is all about that’s what player development is is all about not what they’re going to look like in October November December of their rookie year but what they’re going to look like in year 2 3 4 5 six and on in their career the Spurs are constantly patient and put their players in positions to grow and expand their game to really maximize their entire skill set they’re doing the exact same thing with Stefan Castle early results will probably be mixed like they are for 90% of the rookies in NBA history but the early signs are incredibly encouraging for who Stefan Castle will be as a player will he be a superstar who knows maybe hopefully that’d be great for basketball if we get continue to get more allar Allstar and all NBA level players but at the very least the Spurs look to have a player who reads the game at a high level makes a simple play and elevates the play of those around him

Stephon Castle is off to a hot start in Summer League with the San Antonio Spurs. Castle continues to be aggressive, act as a lead ball handler, and show off his offensive versatility. Tyler Metcalf (@tmetcalf11) breaks down Castle’s strong start, where he’s still struggling, and how he’s improving in the middle of the game.

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