Stephon Castle clears Bleacher Report's bar for top 30 defender but was snubbed anyway

I know I shouldn't get upset over a top-30 defender ranking that places second-team All-Defender Bam Adebayo at 25, but Bleacher Report omitting Stephon Castle entirely is just outrageous. Their NBA staff put Victor Wembanyama atop the mountain, but that doesn't negate the misfire on the younger half of Area 51.

Per B/R's own article in June, the ex-UConn champion received the most votes of any player who didn't make either of the two All-Defensive teams. That feels important here. You can disagree over whether Castle should be considered the 11th-best defender in the league, but that's a far cry from not being a top-30 guy. What?

SGA and Luka couldn't shake Stephon Castle

San Antonio had the third-best defensive rating in the NBA last season (110.4). Wemby is a transcendent defender, but he had help. Anyone who watched the Spurs knows how important Castle was, as the stingy 21-year-old defended all of the league's best perimeter players.

Back-to-back MVP winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was held to 6/19 (31.6%) in direct matchups during the regular season. Castle logged 43-plus minutes as SGA's primary defender in their seven-game Western Conference Finals series and held him to 20/44, with nine turnovers and 25% from three.

Luka Doncic is one of the greatest offensive players we've ever seen. The Slovenian savant struggled in his matchups with Steph, shooting 8/21 with the Silver and Black bulldog on his hip.

The Spurs deserve more than one defender if the Thunder get five

There's a fair argument to be made that it helps to have Wemby behind you. The Alien warps the game in absurd ways. But my response would be: look at the list again. There are five Oklahoma City players on it, including Chet Holmgren, who finished second in DPOY voting and is widely considered the second-best rim protector in the league.

Obviously, Chet isn't Wembanyama, but five players are a lot for a top-30 ranking. Certainly, the Spurs are worthy of two.

Here's the part that should settle it. Bleacher Report's staff grades every player on this list by Defensive Swing Rating. Castle's was minus-3.8 last season, per Cleaning the Glass, 82nd percentile, and better than 13 of the 30 guys they ranked. It's identical to Scottie Barnes, who they slotted sixth. Ausar Thompson sits second at minus-1.2. Amen Thompson is fifth at plus-1.3.

Castle's number is right there in front of them, and they're ignoring it. Nobody is asking them to place him at the top of the list. But can you at least follow your own logic and put respect on the name of the kid who spent a conference final making life hell for the MVP? That'd be great.

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