Transaction merchants drove Spurs fans crazy all offseason long with their criticisms of Stephon Castle. Everyone nowadays wants trades, trades, trades, and after they landed the number two overall pick, the consensus seemed to be that San Antonio had a problem on their hands that they needed to fix. The solution to this perceived problem was to trade Steph because they had too many similarly styled guards.
“None of their guards can shoot the ball,” they said. But Castle is going to prove them wrong. In the first quarter, he drained a mid-range pull-up and followed that up by knocking down a three. He scored seven points in the opening quarter and looks fantastic, minus a few missed free throws, of course. It’s only the first game, but it’s the start of the rise of Steph, which actually sounds ridiculous for one reason.
They seem to forget that Castle is only in his second year
This is a Rookie of the Year winner. Not many of those guys end up as detriments to their teams. The Dylan Harper addition is only going to make this team that much better. Imagine if both players find a reliable shot. The star potential is there for them, and it’s pretty much undeniable at this point. The Spurs would be the laughingstock of the league, just like the Sacramento Kings.
You can liken it back to when the least of the California teams had De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton on their team. They traded Hali to the Pacers for Domantas Sabonis because they thought that there was too much overlap between their two guards, but they should have just realized that having two dynamic ballhandlers on the floor at one time is a problem for defenses.
When there is only one reliable player on the floor who can make plays for others, it’s easier to make that guy the focus of your defensive game plan. The opposing team also can’t just put their best defender on your initiator, hoping to stymie the entire offensive attack by disrupting the head of the snake.
I’m also going to remind everyone that the Pacers just went to the NBA Finals running lineups with Haliburton, Aaron Nesmith, and Andrew Nembhard. It’s an even smaller guard lineup with fewer dynamic players. Good players, but Harper and Castle have a higher ceiling than Nembhard and Nesmith, and it’s not particularly close.
If they can figure it out, this group can. They have the benefit of an alien in the middle of the floor to make life easier for everyone. He’s the ultimate equalizer. But don’t sleep on the other half of Area 51. He’s got a lot left to show you.
