Unspoken truth about Castle makes Spurs job easier than you realize

Stephon Castle is the third star this franchise needs to reach the top again. Pundits league-wide have been singing the praises of Castle of late, and rightfully so. The Spurs rookie’s stellar season has earned him the heaping compliments he’s been receiving recently.

Castle was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year on April 29, and that marks two years in a row that a Spurs freshman has won the award.

The 6’6” guard from UConn dazzled all season, averaging 14.7 points per game to go along with 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per contest. He led NBA rookies in several categories, including points per game, total points, steals, and free throws made.

Castle won rookie of the month honors twice this season and also won the MVP of the Rising Stars game at All-Star weekend. With more playing time after the All-Star break, he excelled, routinely becoming the team’s first or second option in games. With his ability to penetrate and get to the rim, it’s obvious why.

With the Spurs moving forward in this rebuild and moving towards building a contender, they are looking for homegrown players to take the next step and rapidly excel. They’ve already got a star tag team of Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox, but need a third cog to help them out.

Stephon Castle has all the tools to reach greatness

For a team to be successful, it needs contributions from across its roster. They also need to be effective at each level on the floor and ensure that defenses have to prepare for all aspects.

With the ascension of Castle, the Spurs now have a more viable threat on the wing. It provides them options to effectively run their offense through the perimeter with Fox, on the wing with Castle, or anywhere on the floor with wunderkind Wembanyama.

An underrated aspect of having a successful team in this age NBA is the ability to shut down other teams. Castle is the best perimeter defender the team has. He averaged just under 1 steal per game this season (0.9).

His defensive win shares, an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to defense, were 1.0 this season. As his total win shares were 1.1, it’s clear he impacted the team on the defensive end. He also played quality defense without fouling, averaging only 2.0 personal fouls per game.

The Spurs culture has been one built on defense, with contributions coming from all aspects of offense. It’s clear they continue to strive to keep that culture. With a player like Stephon Castle, the Spurs have once again found a building block through the draft they can lean on for years to come.

Importantly, hitting on a pick like Steph gives even more leeway to Spurs brass with the draft capital they own. The necessity to have to trade to obtain that third piece to help the big two is no longer, and now the tinkering and fine-tuning of the roster can come into play.

It’s a good position to be in and it’s clear Silver and Black nation have a lot to look forward to over the next several years.