Stephon Castle’s production will be one of the most important components of a sustained playoff run for San Antonio. As the youngest and most unproven player in the starting lineup, opponents will back off the reigning Rookie of the Year, going under screens and daring him to shoot the three. It’s an obvious strategy based on shooting percentages, but there’s only one problem.
The Spurs have been so dominant that, as teams have tried to figure out ways to stop them, they’ve already been using this strategy, giving Castle and the coaching staff some early practice. Houston started that basketball game by putting Alperen Sengun on the bully-ball-playing sophomore.
Now, to be fair to them, Steph only had 3 points in the first quarter, but he was still a +4, so they still didn’t win those minutes. He finished the game with 23 points and 5 assists. The strategy failed miserably. He won’t always go 3/4 from deep, but this team has already proved that he doesn’t have to.
Castle’s contribution goes well beyond 3-point shooting
When the younger half of Area 51 shoots the ball well, it’s a hell of a bonus for the Spurs, but they’ve won games all season without that being a significant asset. For example, he only had 11 points against the, at the time, league-leading Detroit Pistons, but he racked up 12 assists, played stellar defense, and wound up with a +20 to end the night.
Castle put up an uninspiring 2 points in a 28-point blowout win over the Lakers on February 10. He was a +8. The former Huskey will always find a way to contribute because he’s a winning player. He understands that there are more than a couple of ways to impact the game, so he spreads his fingerprints all over the place like an inexperienced cat burglar.
Steals and deflections, blocks, rebounds, assists, getting to the free-throw line, etc. Steph will do it all. His game right now is almost a direct representation of San Antonio’s season. They’re better than you think, and they’ll lock you down. When they catch fire, you have no shot. When they don’t catch fire, you still don’t really have a shot because they do so many other things well.
So far, the best shot playoff opponents have to slow down the Spurs will be to play with physicality and dare Castle and even Dylan Harper to beat them from outside—they’re too good everywhere else. But Mitch Johnson will be prepared for those things. The Silver and Black have seen them plenty already and found different ways to win. It won’t work.