I’ve said it before, but I’m just not seeing it with Castle. He looks like a solid rotational player, but I’m just not seeing the upside. Harper hasn’t really been that impressive for the most part, either, though he is super young. I mean, whenever Wemby sits, it feels like the wheels come off for the Spurs. If he plays well, they win. If he plays poorly, they lose. I think pretty much all their players are overrated because they play next to Wemby.
Since the ASB, including 16 playoff games, he’s shooting 40% (39% in the playoffs). That’s 40 games and 159 attempts, more than double the attempts Sengun shot in his 2nd year “bump”. rest assured, had Amen done that with Castle’s smoother shot mechanics, this board would be claiming a real trend. And I’m sure Spurs fans are for Castle. The only reason we dismiss that is either we didn’t know or as Rockets fans we need to dismiss it in hopes it is a fluke. Sengun 2nd yr “bump” was on a 57 attempts. That’s not a bump, so much as it was a small sample size.
Ah this brings back memories of when people would make small sample cases that Jalen Green wasn't dogshit. New scrub to defend, same tactics.
Of course it's a kind of coping for us Rockets fans. If Castle was a Rocket, we'd all be excited. But it's still a bit of a small sample size. Look at how Tari was shooting at the beginning of the season on fairly high volume, and then how he dropped like a rock ending the season average back to his career number. It's possible for a guy to have a long hot streak, even a whole season, but is not really sustainable.
The difference is Bobby, Castle (a true defensive demon) doesn’t have to shoot 40% anymore than Amen does, Green did. As for “small sample”, go ahead and dismiss 39% in 16 playoffs games when the real games are played But I’m definitely counting them for the season … so, Castle is shooting nearly 35% for the whole year. Go ahead and say he’ll never sustain 35 or 36% from three. I hope you’re right. I hate the Spurs. But it certainly doesn’t look that way … if you use objective facts, like a whole year, lulz. And, as an aside, if you don’t think he isn’t already an excellent to elite finisher with varying speeds, … well
I wasn’t so much making a point about Castle’s post ASB + playoffs, I was more trying to make a point that Sengun’s “bump” wasn’t close to being enough attempts to comment on…so I showed what over two times more attempts looks like,,,to say there’s never been a Sengun “bump” covering that many attempts.
Dude, you are so right! I hear the same things about Reed Sheppard all the time! He has a stretch of 3-4 good games and people start pushing for him to start, then he comes back down to earth and we can't find a ROF no where! You've been on this board a minute, so I know you know about hyping players.
Castle is not the only one who’s done this. Amen has blocked and stolen the ball from SGA. Reed has stolen the ball from SGA. This could have been in the game thread but instead every time Castle does something well you guys post in one of the Reed threads just to crap on him. Yes, he hasn’t had the same opportunities as Castle and isn’t as far along, but you guys should be lifting him up instead of tearing him down every chance you get. Castle is not a Rocket, GET OVER IT. Support your own players instead of sucking off on other players.
If you’ve read any of my posts in the game threads or elsewhere throughout this season and last season, I’ve been one of the biggest Sheppard supporters and hope he ends up being amazing for us. But it should also be ok to talk about others and potentials and what ifs because we’re also basketball fans.
Harper gets a bit more slack for being a rookie, but I agree, he hasn't impressed. Castle is a very good player, maybe even an all-star at some point, but he will never be a #1 option. If Wemby goes the way of Ralph Sampson the Spurs might be in trouble.
I disagree on Harper. His defense has been good and he is really good at creating his shot in the lane. He is also just 20 and has good form on his 3 pt shot. I think his ceiling is perennial all-star. Castle’s 3 pt ascension puts him in the same category to me. Both have NBA bodies which is a huge differential between them and Sheppard. Of course, losing Wemby would instantly move SA from championship contenders to playoff contenders, but they would still have a solid core and lots of draft capital and potential to build upon. If Wemby does become an injury problem, they might still get some years when he is available in the playoffs and still have a huge impact or they might find a team that will do a Anthony Davis type trade for him to chase a championship. Vassel is also seriously underrated.
Reed fans get so defensive … and blameful This thread is literally a Reed vs Castle comparison thread. And it isn’t special to Reed … Green vs Mobley was a thing too, bc they were taken one after another, as well. And I bet Portland fans have a Scoot vs Amen thread, too. see the pattern? Risacher vs Sarr. Sarr vs Castle, too.
For now, Castle is a more complete player than Reed. I will give Reed another chance next year. My biggest concern is him staying in front of his man and not letting them just pass him by... Not worried about his shooting...just defense
Reed Sheppard is not a PG…so what we have is an undersized SG with streaky shooting that can’t defend Reed Sheppard was the “analytics” pick…high efficiency on limited usage and attempts coming off the bench in college we also heard a lot about his amazing defense because of all the blocks and steals he generated…come to find out he has quick hands, but can’t stay in front of anyone or defend with any sort of physicality
This thread is full of cope. I hate the Spurs as much as the next Rockets fan but I can objectively see all 3 of the young Spurs are studs. Heck, they're going against OKC and keeping it competitive. Also it doesn't matter that Castle is playing next to Wemby and supposedly that boosts his stats, no one outside of the Rockets fanbase thinks Reed is better than Castle and last time I checked, the majority of the NBA media votes don't belong to Rockets fans. That means Castle will get more all-star nominations and maybe even all-nba votes whereas Reed will not even sniff that.
Don't forget while bringing up small sample size for Castle, he simultaneously was willing to draft Reed because he shot 52% from three in college on only 144 attempts. That's less than the sample size of Castle shooting 40% from downtown in the regular season + playoffs (159 attempts).
