When it comes to second-year player Stephon Castle, he feels like he is only scratching the surface. His talent is obvious, but so are his flaws. The only question for the San Antonio Spurs is which side will win out.
Castle’s consistency has come and gone at various points this season, with him occasionally struggling to get to the rim. His jumper has also been too streaky to rely on, at least until recently.
From a bird’s-eye view, Castle is having another poor shooting season, but he’s actually made significant progress. In fact, over his last eight games, he’s shooting 40% from three on 2.5 attempts per game.
Equally as encouraging is the fact that he’s shooting 44.5% on 3.0 mid-range jumpers per game, with many of those being pull-ups. If you squint hard enough, you can see that he is beginning to turn the corner as a shooter. He’s gone from being awful to being far more respectable.
Stephon Castle should be untouchable for the Spurs
Coming out of UConn, shooting was the big question mark surrounding his game. Thus far, Castle’s shot has been wildly inconsistent.
He’ll take plenty of threes, but it’s not uncommon for him to go 0 for in a game. On the other hand, he will randomly get hot and hit three or four threes and look like a legit all-star caliber player. What gives?
As with many players, he appears to shoot better on spot-ups rather than threes off-the-dribble. Of course, he is playing much more with the ball in his hands this season, making it a catch-22.
Stephon Castle has untapped potential as a shooter
When De’Aaron Fox or Dylan Harper handles the ball and Castle is spotting up, he has better looks and often shoots much better. He seems partial to the right corner, where he’s shooting 40% from three, granted, on low volume. Castle is also shooting much better on below-the-break threes of late.
That’s a long-winded way of saying that he is better as a spot-up shooter and at scoring in the mid-range.
That gives him a path to stardom, with him being able to follow the Tony Parker blueprint. Getting to the rim at will, knocking down pull-ups when he can’t, and hitting open threes when playing off-ball served Parker well.
It could serve Castle well, too. Combine that with him averaging nearly six free throw attempts per game and strong defense, and Castle could join Fox and Victor Wembanyama at the All-Star Game next season.
