I like Castle a lot better than Risacher and think he has the potential to be Jimmy Butler-lite down the road. His jumper is a ways away obviously (27% from 3 this year on mostly open looks), but they're both tenacious defenders with similar measurables and Jimmy couldn't shoot it in college either. Castle is a solid FT shooter which suggests his 3-point shot will get there eventually. I personally would take Castle over Rishacher easily if I'm Washington, but I'm hoping they take Risacher #2 (and ultimately think they will) cause I don't want the Rockets to even be tempted to take him at 3. Then again, if Castle is still on the board at 4, Spurs will likely jump all over him, which would suck.
Well at least you gave your reasonings, which I respect. But I couldn’t disagree more. 1) It’s fresh idea to me that one cannot trust a player right before / in his prime in his mid, late 20s. He’s played his most prolific season in CAV, way better than his years in Utah. Context matters, both Utah and Cavs are incredibly flawed in terms of team construction. In the right set-up, he’s going to be one of the most impactful Dudes in the league (he arguably already is) 2) I don’t get the injury concerns, he has been solid in terms of attendance. He played when the team was ridden with injuries and carried the team. In the two seasons prior that he played ~70 games, one was a 72 game season. Most importantly, out of the top 15 - 20 players that are remotely available, who else doesn’t have injury concerns to some extent? Giannis? Embiid? Young? Heck how healthy is Luka Doncic? How often does a perfect player exist and is available? 3) The price. At JG plus multiple (>=3) picks, I get it. But JG plus ONE pick?! Come on guys. (Also zero chance any team can remotely get a top 20 player at that laughable of a price. Wake up.) 4) On his contract being the worst contract in a few years. I disagree wholeheartedly. He’s not Durant, PG, whom at age 35 generate diminishing returns and decreasing liquidity in terms of trade value as time goes by. He’s at age 27. If the experiment doesn’t work say in 3 years, he’s still only 30, still at his prime. There is no way his value will drop much and history tells us contract for such a player, is going to be of liquid and decent value. At the right price, I’d trade Mitchell in a heart beat. (I also firmly think he’s better than Trevor fake tough guy Booker).
Yeah, this is my thinking with all these dudes, Castle, Buzelis, Williams, Topic, Holland. We already have the better version with a higher ceiling at home. Get me the BPA who can shoot it or trade the pick if you'd have to drop to a lower tier on your board to get a shooter.
For sure. I didn't say the Rockets should take Castle, that would make no sense as we already have Amen. I was just saying that I like him much more as a prospect than I do Risacher, but that I hope Washington takes Risacher over Castle because I don't want our front office to be tempted to take Risacher. I think he's the most overrated player in the draft personally and he doesn't fit a need for us anyways.
Agreed and to be honest if it was Silas believing in Jalen's leap i would put less stock in that. I have 0 faith in Stone saying it. I believe in Udoka and his staff though. They come from excellent development backgrounds and Ime is not an optimistic person nor is he a people pleaser with compliments. Surely there's value in that. If Udoka can smile wide about it, there's something good there.
I’ll tell you someone I DON’T want with the #3 pick: Ron Holland. I was listening to the Ringers nba podcast and they were talking about this deep dive analytics someone did on Ron Holland’s shooting. And roughly 80% of his missed shots were either air balls, didn’t hit the rim, or hit the backboard first. 80%!!! so the shooting really bad. There are other bad shooters in this draft, but at least with a guy like Castle you are talking about position versatility, elite defense, and playmaking well above what Holland can do. I don’t see Holland as a top 10 pick let alone a consideration for #3.
I need help from fans of Castle. I watched a decent amount of more video on him last night, and I still don't think I see high PG upside. Also still not sure about his shot, and the more I look at it, I guess his athleticism is good but not great/amazing. He obviously deserves credit for competing at a high level and all that, and I can *kinda* see the Jimmy Butler comparisons (as a ceiling). But I'm also wondering if he's more like a Josh Giddey or Anthony Black. How would people compare Castle to those prospects? If Rockets drafted him, I'd definitely be excited to see him play defense and whatnot, but I'm just not sure I'm seeing some of the things others are seeing. edit: Oh and I think a lot of smart people *really* like Castle, so this is more of a genuine "what am I missing" than a "Castle sux!" post.
if we pretend that all players will reach their potential, my order of preference would be sarr, topic, sheppard.
it feels like these are the consensus top 2. Like last year, the draft probably begins with Houston’s pick. Would have to think Clingan and Sheppard get hard looks at #4. The one outlier is Topic. Not a fit with Houston, but definitely in the conversation for BPA. Very good chance San Antonio takes him at #4. Would the rockets take Topic if they think he’s BPA over better fits, Clingan or Sheppard? Would the rockets try to ransom Topic for a trade up team or to force San Antonio to offer up an asset to swap spots? I have confidence in our front office to draft well, but not necessarily work the draft well. I hope we won’t overlook opportunity to work the draft to our advantage. We’re actually in an interesting situation at #3
Hope it goes Sarr, Risacherre and Rockets have their choice of Reed, Clingan. Look, I don't really "get" the fit with Clingan, but I'm coming around to him being one of basically 2 options I'd be ok with. I prefer Reed first by a long-shot, since the fit is superb. But both Reed and Clingan: - Immediately provide a skillset SORELY lacking on this team - Dominate advanced analytics With Alpi and Adams... its hard to see Clingan getting that much time tbh, but in the event there's an injury, or for the next year when i guess you let Adams walk or trade him at deadline, then you have your 2 headed big-men. I still much prefer Reed... but i don't really like anyone else much and Clingan at least the bill as a draftable player that can contribute. Or to put another way, if the Rockets didn't have the guys they have, I'd be looking at Reed, Clingan and probably Castle, and be fine with any. Castle is the least needed fit wise. Reed is the most needed fit wise.
My thing with drafting Clingan (or any other big man, Edey for example) is that, unless he can play with Sengun or we plan to trade Sengun later, he’s stuck as a backup or injury insurance. For a #3 pick, I’m just not sure if we’re maximizing the value.
Good. Keep Risacher away from the Rockets. Sheppard makes the most sense for us by far in this scenario. Clingan would be a reach here imo. I understand why some would want him, but his fit next to Sengun doesn't make sense. That would just pull Sengun away from the basket, which is exactly what we don't want. Unless you're planning on trading Sengun (unlikely) or bringing Clingan off the bench, which again, it would be really dumb to use the 3rd Overall Pick on a bench player, I don't see how he would be the better, more beneficial pick over Sheppard, who is both BPA in this scenario, as well as fitting a need for us long-term.
Good! Reminds me so much of 2018 when Ayton and Bagley went 1-2 because of potential and measurements, and then so many true ballers got drafted later.
He's not a good shooter, but not as bad as missing 80% of his shots as airballs or bricks. Lol. Damn! The stat is that roughly 20% of missed 3pt. shots were bricks/airballs. It came from research done by @British_Buzz (James Plowright) and posted on Twitter.
