If castles 3 game proves to be hit or miss, do you think Sochan and Castle together limit our offensive spacing too much to justify the defensive upside?
I think it just depends. I think sometimes people get so obsessed with three-point shooting in the modern game that we have a tendency to oversimplify what it means to be or not be a floor spacer
There’s a big difference between someone whose job is to be a solely off-ball player, or a solely on ball player, who can’t space the floor, and someone who can fill a lot of roles, working on and off ball, and in low usage, who doesn’t necessarily have a consistent jump shot.
I think there’s still rolls, important ones, to be had in the modern-day MBA for players who aren’t necessarily three-point shooters. As long as like I mentioned above, you can find ways to create massive amounts of versatility on both ends while you’re on the court and do so without needing plays. Run for you or high amounts of usage and touches with the ball
In theory, let’s say you wanted to run Castle and Jeremy at the same time In lineup set featured some combination of Chris Paul/ Harrison Barnes/ Devin vassell/ Victor/ Johnson.
If Castle and Jeremy are both being utilized as guys whose job is to spot up in the corner then yeah… Things can get a little tight in some of those combinations
However, I’m a big believer in both of these guys as having huge upside as slashers, cutters, and secondary playmakers and that’s where I think there could be a situation where they could both coexist together in the short-term even before their jump shots come together
A two-man game of Victor and Devin, with one designated shooter on the floor at all times, and two versatile players in Jeremy/castle who are almost always going to have either a height or speed advantage on their matchups, constantly putting pressure on the room as offball cutters and slashers, could really open up a whole lot of things on the perimeter as well as causing chaos for unprepared defenses.
I’m also excited to see what Jeremy can do on the glass this year with a more simplified and minimized offensive role. I’m a big believer in his ability to be a real pest on the offensive glass, but he frankly just hasn’t had a lot of consistent opportunities to focus on being a glass crasher. First and foremost. Castle definitely is someone who can cause issues there.
Then again you look at the fact that both of those guys show the ability to be plus passers, and guys who can move the ball quickly, at their positions, and you can start to see the blueprint for San Antonio utilizing them as Swiss army knife connective pieces who keep the offense humming, relocate without the ball, and just cause a lot of discomfort with their size, athleticism, energy, and ability to move well off ball that will help minimize the lack of spacing their bad jumpshot spraying.
Of course, in a perfect world, one or both of them will become the league average. Three-point shooters and we won’t have to think about this as much, but I’m optimistic it’ll still work out regardless
More or less, yes. If Sochan and Castle are both going to get 25+ minutes a game, and we want a top-10 offense (basically a must for title contention), then eventually one at least one of them is going to have to be a real threat from 3 (5+ attempts per 36, 36%+). For some context, last season Jeremy attempted 3.7 3s per 36 at 30.8%. He improved from his rookie season but still has a long way to go. I’d say based on their mechanics Stephon has a better chance right now to become a real threat, but both are young and a lot could change.
But if neither Castle nor Sochan are real threats from 3, then even though we can finangle lineups and drum up actions for them to use their cutting skills to get to maybe the #13 offense (assuming expected development from Wemby and Devin), getting to top-10 will be an issue. Look at the top-10 offenses in the NBA and their lineups are filled with shooters. And really if we want to be a true contender that Victor will expect us to be in his prime, then we need to be a top-5 offense, and then shooting is even more vital.
Big picture, it also makes roster construction difficult to build around two guys who aren’t threats from 3, since basically everyone else on the roster will have to be a threat from 3, and there’s only so many guys available who can both be a threat from 3 and defend at a title-contending level.
Sure, even if Sochan and Castle don’t become threats from 3, maybe we could be like the Timberwolves last season (#1 defense by far, #16 offense). That’s a good 56-win team. But again, Victor has bigger aspirations than that.
It’ll be interesting to track their progress this season. Jeremy especially, since he’s 11 months away from extension talks, and right now there’s a huge range of outcomes for where those could go.
22dias
Man it’s been very quiet on the Castle front with Wemby and the Olympics.
I forgot we drafted him!
moonshadow50
I think in a lineup with CP3, Devin and Wemby – you can get away with Castle and Sochan being non-shooters – as long as both are active off the ball, screening/cutting etc. Devin is our best 3pt shooter, and will hopefully final get some credit if he’s getting a lot of great catch-and-shoot 3’s playing off Paul, and there’s not really another big man in the league that requires as much attention on the perimeter as Wemby. As long as Chris Paul is out there, I think there will be something wrong if we can’t make that work. And I also think that, depending on how quickly Castle adjusts, a lineup with him, Sochan and Wemby is our best bet to get to a great defence.
But that lineup will struggle with Jones, or someone else at the point. I think it will be “ok”, if Castle is running the point, but sharing playmaking with Wemby and Devin, but the 5th guys needs to be a proper 3pt threat. Barnes should be “fine”, and maybe Branham if he gets back into some amount of shooting form, but it’s hard to see that being a positive lineup until Castle gets really comfortable as a PG in the NBA.
iro3
Lol sochan stroke will dictate castle role. At the end of the day sochan is our most versatile player outside of wemby.udont scrafrice w.e u develop with sochan just to let a shiny new toy to play
6 Comments
I think it just depends. I think sometimes people get so obsessed with three-point shooting in the modern game that we have a tendency to oversimplify what it means to be or not be a floor spacer
There’s a big difference between someone whose job is to be a solely off-ball player, or a solely on ball player, who can’t space the floor, and someone who can fill a lot of roles, working on and off ball, and in low usage, who doesn’t necessarily have a consistent jump shot.
I think there’s still rolls, important ones, to be had in the modern-day MBA for players who aren’t necessarily three-point shooters. As long as like I mentioned above, you can find ways to create massive amounts of versatility on both ends while you’re on the court and do so without needing plays. Run for you or high amounts of usage and touches with the ball
In theory, let’s say you wanted to run Castle and Jeremy at the same time In lineup set featured some combination of Chris Paul/ Harrison Barnes/ Devin vassell/ Victor/ Johnson.
If Castle and Jeremy are both being utilized as guys whose job is to spot up in the corner then yeah… Things can get a little tight in some of those combinations
However, I’m a big believer in both of these guys as having huge upside as slashers, cutters, and secondary playmakers and that’s where I think there could be a situation where they could both coexist together in the short-term even before their jump shots come together
A two-man game of Victor and Devin, with one designated shooter on the floor at all times, and two versatile players in Jeremy/castle who are almost always going to have either a height or speed advantage on their matchups, constantly putting pressure on the room as offball cutters and slashers, could really open up a whole lot of things on the perimeter as well as causing chaos for unprepared defenses.
I’m also excited to see what Jeremy can do on the glass this year with a more simplified and minimized offensive role. I’m a big believer in his ability to be a real pest on the offensive glass, but he frankly just hasn’t had a lot of consistent opportunities to focus on being a glass crasher. First and foremost. Castle definitely is someone who can cause issues there.
Then again you look at the fact that both of those guys show the ability to be plus passers, and guys who can move the ball quickly, at their positions, and you can start to see the blueprint for San Antonio utilizing them as Swiss army knife connective pieces who keep the offense humming, relocate without the ball, and just cause a lot of discomfort with their size, athleticism, energy, and ability to move well off ball that will help minimize the lack of spacing their bad jumpshot spraying.
Of course, in a perfect world, one or both of them will become the league average. Three-point shooters and we won’t have to think about this as much, but I’m optimistic it’ll still work out regardless
https://i.redd.it/dbo1fqobyjid1.gif
More or less, yes. If Sochan and Castle are both going to get 25+ minutes a game, and we want a top-10 offense (basically a must for title contention), then eventually one at least one of them is going to have to be a real threat from 3 (5+ attempts per 36, 36%+). For some context, last season Jeremy attempted 3.7 3s per 36 at 30.8%. He improved from his rookie season but still has a long way to go. I’d say based on their mechanics Stephon has a better chance right now to become a real threat, but both are young and a lot could change.
But if neither Castle nor Sochan are real threats from 3, then even though we can finangle lineups and drum up actions for them to use their cutting skills to get to maybe the #13 offense (assuming expected development from Wemby and Devin), getting to top-10 will be an issue. Look at the top-10 offenses in the NBA and their lineups are filled with shooters. And really if we want to be a true contender that Victor will expect us to be in his prime, then we need to be a top-5 offense, and then shooting is even more vital.
Big picture, it also makes roster construction difficult to build around two guys who aren’t threats from 3, since basically everyone else on the roster will have to be a threat from 3, and there’s only so many guys available who can both be a threat from 3 and defend at a title-contending level.
Sure, even if Sochan and Castle don’t become threats from 3, maybe we could be like the Timberwolves last season (#1 defense by far, #16 offense). That’s a good 56-win team. But again, Victor has bigger aspirations than that.
It’ll be interesting to track their progress this season. Jeremy especially, since he’s 11 months away from extension talks, and right now there’s a huge range of outcomes for where those could go.
Man it’s been very quiet on the Castle front with Wemby and the Olympics.
I forgot we drafted him!
I think in a lineup with CP3, Devin and Wemby – you can get away with Castle and Sochan being non-shooters – as long as both are active off the ball, screening/cutting etc. Devin is our best 3pt shooter, and will hopefully final get some credit if he’s getting a lot of great catch-and-shoot 3’s playing off Paul, and there’s not really another big man in the league that requires as much attention on the perimeter as Wemby. As long as Chris Paul is out there, I think there will be something wrong if we can’t make that work. And I also think that, depending on how quickly Castle adjusts, a lineup with him, Sochan and Wemby is our best bet to get to a great defence.
But that lineup will struggle with Jones, or someone else at the point. I think it will be “ok”, if Castle is running the point, but sharing playmaking with Wemby and Devin, but the 5th guys needs to be a proper 3pt threat. Barnes should be “fine”, and maybe Branham if he gets back into some amount of shooting form, but it’s hard to see that being a positive lineup until Castle gets really comfortable as a PG in the NBA.
Lol sochan stroke will dictate castle role. At the end of the day sochan is our most versatile player outside of wemby.udont scrafrice w.e u develop with sochan just to let a shiny new toy to play