I get that Stone is supposed to know better than us amateurs. But it's one thing to say that we didn't really know what was the better choice at the time and now we know. It's another thing to agree with him at that time to be the right choice and then with hindsight criticize him as if it was a clearly bad choice. Again, I'm no Stone apologist. I just find the hindsight "obvious" take to be a bit hypocritical. But it's pretty prevalent here. People would make claims as if they knew the future for certain when all they have are just guesses.
But like I said in my post...Reed and Castle are basically the same players they were 2 years ago. I don't see the logic in picking an undersized guard over Castle.
Why is Castle's first name pronounced 'Stef-ahn'. Sounds a little pretentious to me. Why not just Steve Castle. He's from Georgia not France. Reed, on the other hand, is a country boy. Blues and country music. Down to earth and blue collar, someone we can root for.
I’ve never criticized Stone for the Reed pick. He was the consensus pick of most people on this site, including me, and if you believe the media, SA was up on Reed as well. Anyone that has watched the 2 play basketball and still think Reed was the right pick is just one of those guy’s on this site that can’t admit ever being wrong. One, in particular, is still calling him a scrub. It’s ok to criticize or praise either player, but at least be honest about it and quit calling out those that disagree morons or casuals. I hope Reed can elevate his play and Castle sucks as long as he’s playing for another team, but I can certainly acknowledge that Castle has been special in many of the games in this year’s playoffs, and pretty sucky in a couple. Shutting Brunson down one on one is very rare indeed.
It's fine if you didn't believe in picking an undersized guard AT THAT TIME (although I don't think size is necessarily the only thing to consider when you evaluate talent). I am just talking about the hindsight geniuses. To be fair, I wouldn't call Stone a genius if Reed turned out to be a better player than Castle either. Most everyone here saw that too.
well said Castle is not only better, but he has star player confidence too SGA, Brunson, Ant…it doesn’t matter, he accepts the challenge Reed Sheppard would be scared sh*tless in a NBA Finals game
I think Reed will continue to improve on the offensive end but he will ALWAYS be targeted on the other side of the ball especially in the post on leak-outs. Those are like 4-6 points a game.
He is still a center, if you have a terrible coach you are more likely to ruin a Center's career by not developing them correctly than a guard, he brings the ball up but not every possession like a guard or point forward like Lebron was that can just create for themselves any time they want. Wemby had a lot of weaknesses his rookie year, he has made progress each year, he would not have been able to do that with the staff the Rockets have. There was a lot more than just a few sessions w Hakeem involved w his development. I was initially annoyed w his reaction to the Rockets not landing the pick, but 4 years later and we are facing reality, that he and his mentors were right. They told him you won't succeed if you end up there.
No, i just know the Rockets would not have successfully developed Wemby like the Spurs have. I also know the Spurs have like 4 guards that are better than any guard the Rockets have.
These are my beliefs and how I remember the situation back then - I could be mis-remembering : back when Castle was being drafted, he wanted to be a PG - he specifically said this pre-draft. Some said he said it to make sure the Spurs drafted him (no proof of that, of course), but they needed a PG. I'm guessing the Rockets hoped Amen (and now Reed, I guess) was their PG of the future while also having FVV as the main PG for now. Castle looked to be a duplicate of Amen's strengths and weaknesses generally speaking. The Rockets needed shooting. Reed was supposed to be an elite-shooting combo guard. I'm guessing we went with a non-duplicate potentially elite player with a desired need in Reed. By the time of the draft, most major outlets I had looked at had the Rockets picking Sheppard, but I recall a few saying the pick should be Castle in their mock drafts. Even early in his first season with the Spurs, there were a lot of Spurs fans saying he was a bust or would never be a PG.
Size is definitely a disadvantage on defense. However, small guards could be an effective defender. FVV is shorter than Reed but is regarded as a good defensive player. Reed's problem on defense in terms of physical trait is his lateral speed and strength. The latter can be improved by training and gaining weight. Lateral speed, like other kinds of athletic speed can only improve marginally. There are techniques that can improve his defense, e.g. angle, leverage, and positioning. These skills can be learned. His biggest tool is anticipation. That's how he gets tons of steals and blocks despite his lack of lateral speed and size. In my opinion, the biggest thing Reed needs to get is physicality on both ends. He seems to have the tendency of avoiding contact. That magnifies his physical weaknesses. The funny thing is, Udoka is THE physicality coach.
Probably why he got benched so often, Ime was getting pissed off by the lack of physical toughness. I don't think Ime is a defensive genius, I think he's moreso just a coach who prioritizes defense and is just decent at defensive schemes. But he is trying to get Reed to play more physical. We'll have to wait and see whether that works, since apparently we're not changing coaches this offseason.
I wish Ime would teach Reed to be physical on offense too. Maybe he did. IDK. If he played more physical on offense, he'd be able to get fouled more and would raise his scoring average by several points.
I never agreed with Stone. Im just a fan, an amateur, as you stated. And as I said in another thread, what did Reed show to be deserving of a Top Pick? He was highly inconsistent, small, a tweener, who could not play defense and who could not get his own shot. Nothing about that says a #3 pick. So, yes I blame Stone. Picking Reed was a poor judgment call that set us back. He call Reed the best player in that draft, can you believe that assessment?
Bad look tbh. I hate being one of those judgmental dudes but no dude with a killer instinct is doing that and posting on insta
This is mostly true. The big difference is that Castle had a substantial efficiency jump in year 2 under an excellent Spurs developmental team. Year one he was 2 points worse than every Jalen Green season here. This year, he's league average. He's basicaly already hit the optimistic projection for where he'd be at the end of his rookie deal. I suspect he goes number 1 if evaluators thought he'd get there this quick.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7343611/2026/06/10/spurs-knicks-wembanyama-popovich/ “I was just looking on the defensive side of things (in San Antonio), where being able to pair with Victor was definitely a plus in my eyes,” Castle told The Athletic recently. “I just thought it would have been a perfect fit, and I feel like it was.” While the UConn product saw himself as the best player in the draft, he was less focused on going No. 1 and more concerned with fit. At the time, there were reports that Castle’s choice not to conduct private workouts with several teams was driven by his desire to avoid teams that already had an established starting point guard. One of those teams was the Houston Rockets, who ultimately took Reed Sheppard out of Kentucky with the third pick. Per league sources, Rockets coach and former Spurs assistant Ime Udoka was a huge fan of Castle’s (which Castle said he was well aware of). But with veteran Fred VanVleet manning the point guard position and young Jalen Green at the two-guard spot, Castle and his camp sent the kinds of signals Houston’s way that eventually led to him landing in San Antonio. Just as he’d hoped. “I think being (in San Antonio) was always number one on my list,” said Castle, who won Rookie of the Year in 2025. “Internally, I always felt like I was the best player in that draft. (But) I didn’t know what could happen. My agent always told me, like, anything can happen in a draft. Like, you could not work out for a team, not have talked to a team, and they can still take you. So, I mean, I wasn’t really planning on playing in Houston. I didn’t really know how any of that worked. I was kind of hoping I could slide my way to San Antonio. It kind of worked out for me.” To say the least.
