Before Devin Vassell’s return, NBA Rookie of the Year front runner Stephon Castle was starting, averaging 14.3 PPG and 4.4 APG. Since transitioning to a bench role, his production has dipped: 8 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 3.4 APG .

23 comments

  3. I mean he’s making rookie mistakes and can’t shoot. Devin can shoot but has been cold. You gotta work with what you got

  4. I think our focus is wrong. Castle should be getting Tre’s minutes too. Steph attacks basket and isn’t afraid to shoot (even if it’s not going) Tre just attacks and passes out, won’t shoot

  5. He was still inefficient, and he can’t coexist with sochan(just look at their numbers together). He also can’t run an nba level half court offense, of course his minutes are going to dip especially now that we have one of the hardest schedules left in the nba. Teams know all his tendencies.

  6. I love both keldon and vassel, but man they are both so inconsistent to the point they are potentially a liability on any given night. I know vassel has gone through a bunch of injuries so I feel bad for him, but when they are off they lose you the game.

  7. I mean to be fair before the season. Even the biggest Castle believers, I had him second on my big board, thought this was what his role in minutes were going to look like. Like. It was never supposed to be him getting 25 to 30. It always looked like him scratching out. 20 a night would be a challenge and if itself with the rosters makeup

    He was an unfortunate situation with the injuries, but now that everyone’s back, there are simply more proven guys ahead of him in the rotation. I will say I do think he deserves an opportunity to eat into Jones’s minutes if Jones can’t show something as a shooter because right now I’m just not so sure what he brings to the table that Castle can’t grow into as a season goes along

  9. He has been in the doghouse lately, getting benched for the rest of games after some mistakes

    Quite silly tbh, considering all the shit other players get away with on this team

  10. I’m thinking this is the first time in his life where he’s had to consistently come off the bench so he’s probably adapting to that, but it also seems like Mitch has a specific plan and doesn’t want to stray from that. Like the “makeshift” starting lineup of Barnes, Julian, Cp3, Wemby, and Steph had one of the best net ratings in the league and now those five have rarely shared the court because now they have the starting lineup they drew up before the season started. I’m not saying Mitch Johnson’s wrong I do think it’s interesting that they kinda just scrapped something that was performing well already.

  11. cas was cooking but they paid vas. they are working too so probably trying to see if they wanna keep the person they promised some stuff to and paid.

    i would have personally stuck with cas since they wanna focus on ratings. a rookie that makes some nice highlights consistently is rare and tasty to the fans. then instead of a personal nickname it became a tandem. area 51. they haven’t peaked yet or blundered but its on vacation now. in the nba store i went earlier, wemby jersey sold out and no cas jersey on sight. i would have remembered if cas was displayed and bought one for the holidays. btw do they sell role players jerseys at a lower price?

  12. He just can’t be on the floor with Sochan due to spacing. So now that he’s back he really doesn’t have a spot in the lineup. Devin, Barnes and Julian all make more sense as starters with Sochan on the floor

  16. Tho I do think IF we traded Vassell for a scoring PG like Trae Young or someone similar, Castle would work great next to them. Fox maybe too

  17. It could just be the result of teams actually paying attention to Castle’s scouting reports now. They leave him open at 3 pt and he couldn’t knock it down. It’s tough to be a PG who can’t shoot in this league and he’s learning the hard way now.

    I think the day of just handing the minutes to someone for the sake of development is over now. Listen to CP3 after the Christmas Day game. Everyone on this team is a pro and they want to win. You can’t just demote someone to the bench just because someone sucks coming off the bench. Castle has to earn minutes just like everybody else on the team.

  18. Steph was playing better than both of them put together. Tre is just an average point guard in my opinion and Vassell needs to return to form ASAP.

  19. I notice Stephon today took a very very long 3, ofcourse got bricked. Only Wemby got that license to shoot from afar in this team, or may be CP for executing 1 for 2. It’s the tough la learning curve for the rook

  21. I think the issue isn’t the benching, I think the issue is he’s not getting minutes as the only non-shooter (Wembanyama/Barnes/Champagnie/Paul).

  22. Your counting stats usually go down when you come off the bench. Shocking.

    What’s more important is his percentages.

    As a starter he was shooting 40% 31% from three 77% from the line

    As a reserve he shooting **34% 14% 55%** from the line

    55% from the FT line is crazy. There should be no dip there from starter to reserve. This says his overall dip in numbers has more to do with hitting the rookie wall. While he’s not playing a lot of minutes the travel does get to rookies. Lots of rookie have fallen off.

    There’s really no justification for starting him with those percentages. They were not good as starter. They are just worse now that he’s coming off the bench. People are just going to have to relax and let him develop. This idea that he needs to right start now, has no basis in reality.

  23. If Spurs Report is from that Spurs Reporter guy this is another example of him trying to stir up shit for engagement. Of course Castle’s minutes have gone down we had multiple rotation players just that are now back.

    And Castle was slumping before getting benched too. He was 35% from the field and 25% from the FT line in his last 6 games as a starter

    But this title/graphic make a good point that if you ignore Castle’s slow start to the season and his poor recent play then his numbers look okay

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