Discussing the injury loss of San Antonio Spurs’ Stephon Castle

Discussing the injury loss of San Antonio Spurs’ Stephon Castle

The Spurs look to end their home stand with the win versus the Hawks. And what’s life going to be without Stefan Castle? You are Locked on Spurs, your daily San Antonio Spurs podcast, part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Hey, welcome back to Locked On Spurs on the Lock NBA network. I’m your host, Jeff Garcia, Spurs writer for Ken 5 San Antonio. Glad to have you back. You know, bringing the mic closer to you always helps out everybody. Little uh tip from me to you. As always, we thank y’all for making lockout spirits your first listen each and every day. Uh freedom availab YouTube. You know what to do. That is subscribe ASAP. Become an everyday dare. If you are an everydayer, thank you for being that everydayer that you are. Hey, Lockdown Sports Podcast Network, number one in the nation. Yay. Uh thanks uh to y’all for subscribing. Not just a locker, but the rest of the crew across the entire network. We definitely appreciate it. Today’s episode is going to be brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get 300 bucks in bonus. Best use across the app. Head to FanDuel right now to get started. What are we talking about today? We’re going to the last game of the home stand. Spurs Hawks tonight at the Frost. A quick game preview of that. Uh heads up though, it probably not going to be an easy cake. So, you hear what we have to say about that just a few seconds. Life without Stefan Castle. Yeah, not only are those first going to be without Wimi, they’re going to be without Stefan Castle. So, we’re going to talk about that. Pros. Yeah, if there any cons, probably a lot. And so much more. And time permitting. Time permitting. We’ll see what you guys have to say over at the YouTube page with some locked on Spurs fan comments. Yeah, I know. I read them already. A lot of Wimi talk. Uh but I I think the Spurs will be okay life without Wimi. But we got to talk about life without Castle. First, we got to check out Hawk Spurs tonight as mentioned at the Frost. So, I forgot to bring in a first time guest, but you know, his co-hosts are not that strangers. Silver Black Coffee Hour. You know, we have Tom Patrini here. We had the whole crew here, but we always missed the one guy, one guy from the Silver Black Coffee Hour. That is Aaron Blackerby. Let’s bring him on to the stage here. Mr. Aaron Blackerby with Silver and Black Coffee Hour. Finally, Aaron, we got you on here. We got the whole crew. Your co We finally got you on. Welcome to Lock on Spurs, man. Thanks for having me, Jeff. I am stoked to be here and uh I’ve really enjoyed getting to chop it up with you at games on Pre and uh look forward to doing it more this whole season, man. So, thanks for having me today. No, anytime. Yeah. Not only do Eron and I chop it up about Spurs, we do a little anime talk whenever we meet up as well. Even Spurs staff talked to us about anime. I’m not kidding. Not kidding. Yeah, they actually talked to us about anime. They hear us talking. They probably Oh, what are y’all talking about? Huh? And then we dive completely in. But y’all here not to nerd it up. Y’all here to talk about the silver and black. Aaron, let’s go and get things going here. Uh you know what? Let’s let’s talk about the game tonight. Spurs Hawks. The final game of the home stand. Spurs are on a two-game winning streak. Both games without Victor Wimbeyama and one without one and a half, I guess, without Steph Castle. Uh but nevertheless, Hawks, Spurs, we know where the Spurs situation is. We’ll get to them in a few seconds. Start off with Atlanta. First of all, Spurs better lose. I mean, better win. You got to have that Hawks got to get that draft pick get high up there, Aaron. So, we we definitely got to get a a Hawks uh a loss tonight. So, go Spurs, go. But the Hawks come in nine and six and they’re playing well without Trey Young. And let’s dive into that. Why do you think this Hawks team is is humming right now without their main player? Well, I think this is kind of the controversy around having like a heliocentric player like Trey Young be on the team. And I actually heard like a com like a quote from Kevin Herder who used to be on the Atlanta Hawks and you know now he’s he’s kind of balling out for the the Bulls and people are asking him like we didn’t know you could do that because you know within that heliocentric offense that he was with Trey Young it’s basically like hey Kevin Herder you just stand in the corner and you shoot when you’re ready and they’ve looks like they’re going more to this kind of five out more sure democratic approach on offense especially actually uh they’re one of the league leaders in assists right now um as well. And then Jaylen Johnson who’s kind of been very young star who is already coming on uh for the Hawks. And then they got Dyson Daniels, the great barrier thief on Oh yeah, dudes are long and they’re moving the ball and they shoot the lights out from three, which is something we know that uh is going to be a problem for the Spurs on that perimeter defense. So yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Speed of threes. The Hawks as of this recording ranked 10th in the NBA in three-point makes. In case you’re wondering where your Spurs stand on that category, they’re 18. So they’re kind of middle of the pack. So defending the three line would definitely be key for the silver and black tonight at the Frost. Uh you know the again Atlanta, you cannot sleep on this team if you’re the Spurs or even you Spurs fans. Seven wins on the road this season so far. They’re seven and two on the road. So whether it’s in Atlanta or away, they play pretty well. That’s actually tied for the second most wins by any NBA team this season. The most by any Eastern Conference club. So yeah, should be a tough out. Uh you’re kind of wondering, okay, well, you know, with Trey Young out, you know, who’s stepping up? I mean, literally, and you kind of hinted towards it, pretty much a little bit of everybody from Jaylen Johnson who’s averaging 22 points per game this season to Ona Okongu 16.1 this season. Male Alexander Walker, the former Minnesota player there, 18.3 points per game. This is going to be a tough test for the Wimbyless Castleless Spurs. I I’m expecting a dog fight tonight. What do you think? I think there’s a good chance of a dog fight here. And and part of this is uh Mitch Johnson, I think, implemented this after or during the second Warriors game last week. And I’ve definitely seen it as a trend on defense, which this is a good situation for the Spurs and and getting a win or at least vying for a win is they’re switching everything on defense. um with not having an offensive hub that you are concentrating or trying to funnel your defense towards, everybody on the perimeter is uh switching with one another. And I think that’s also up the communication um out there. But the Hawks, to your point, we and the H the Spurs and the Hawks have a very similar in that we don’t put up a lot of shots, but very efficient in our shots. Sure. Um and so yeah, I mean I we’ll definitely need to see some more um scoring from Luke Cornett on this game. Um but I don’t think it’s I I’m going to be a positive Pete here. I don’t think we’re like you know this is a guaranteed loss. I there is a a path as uh um who is the guy from Dune said he like he like sees a path. I I think we have one there for from Paul Trades. Yeah, exactly. I’m expecting a very fast-paced game at the Frost tonight. Uh these teams are going to want to go up and down on that court. And by the way, speaking of that road record for the the Hawks series mentioned, 7-2. Uh they’re actually 4-0 on the road versus Western Conference teams. They have not lost to one single West team. Spurs don’t be that team tonight. Please do not be that team tonight. Uh and get the fifth win for the Hawks. So Spurs be the first team to give the Hawks the first Western Conference road loss. Hey, real quick. Nail Alexander Walker could be a problem for the Spurs tonight. He has scored 20 or more points in five well five times this season. So cleaning two straight. So he’s definitely bringing his agame since leaving Minnesota. All right, let’s shift to this first. Two game winning streak without Castle, without Wimby. Well, well Castle is he played a little bit of Sacramento, but you get I’m getting everybody. Uh more on him in a bit, but nevertheless beat Sacramento. you know, toughed it out in the last game uh at the Frost there uh against the Grizzlies. I want them to close out this home stand on a win. I believe they’re going to get a win. You hit on the head about Cornet. He needs to produce more and that’s true, but I think he did a good job at least trying to keep the big boys of Memphis, uh Triple J and Edy at bay. I think he did a wonderful job at that. But another thing I’m going to throw out there, I need to see a little bit more out of Deon Vel. He had 10 points in the last game. I need to see a little bit more tonight. I think they’re going to need his scoring uh input because I’m expecting a track meet tonight. What do you think? Devin Vel and De’arren Fox, I’m gonna steal a stat from uh my fellow co-host Tom Patrini uh from the Grizzlies game. Two of 13 in the first half uh in that game. To your point, Jeff, especially if this is going to be a track meet, everybody needs to get on the board quick. Oh, yeah. um you know and Devin I think has been in a little bit of a shooting slump uh the last few games and I’m hoping that between him and Fox that with the lack of options from Wimi and um Castle not being there that this helps them understand the aggression that they have to make. And to your point with Cornet um look he’s not having to deal with like 7 foot4 Zack Edy and Jiren Jackson Jr. on the block. These are long dudes, but they’re not necessarily big. Actually, on right small or big, so we shouldn’t see as much of the rebound discrepancy as we did in that Grizzlies game. Yeah, exactly. And and overall, the Spurs are showing their depth in a time where they’re just going to hit with the injury bug. Uh, you know, obviously the big boys that being Wim and Castle, but nevertheless, you know, the the Spurs I’ve been I was a little worried about that Memphis game. I I thought that might be an L for them, but they proved me wrong. Thank goodness. But one thing I got to see from this team, though, is and you’ve been in that room with me in that conference room. You’ve heard him say this this word before, and Mitch Johnson said it again over in the last game versus Memphis. What did he say? Discipline. He said, “Sometimes this team doesn’t have discipline.” He said they had discipline in the second half against Memphis. Great. But he really focused on that first half. He said the lack of defense. I’m sorry, discipline. in certain areas of the game. Uh, you know, there’s some think the sport is kind of feeling themselves. You know, you need to like, hey, hey, hey, hey, chill, chill, chill, guys. You know, you’re good, but you’re listen I get ahead of ourselves, but I needed you can maybe get away with a lack of discipline versus the Memphis. I was coming in with just four wins the other night against the Atlanta Hawks. You may have to play and and you’re down. You’re down guys. You’re down. There’s men overboard. You almost have to play like from jump to end versus the Atlanta team. So I’m going to see effort. You can’t let like for example an old Golden State team beat you to 5050 balls that we saw a few days ago. You got to have energy. You got to bring that defensive focus. And as great as Fox and Harrison Barnes did in that fourth fourth frame versus Memphis, I I need to I you cannot rely on the veterans. I got to see some a lot more input from the younger older guys if that makes sense. I need to see all hands on deck tonight. This is a dangerous Atlanta team. Uh your thoughts, Eric? Completely agree. Uh full 48 is necessary on this. We saw the Spurs team, you know, in previous years when they were younger like, oh, we could play 45, you know, and then they let that go. And and to that point, the Hawks last week had uh a really strange game against the Utah Jazz. Then they decided to go scorched earth mode from three in it and blew them out I think by 20 plus points. Oh yeah. And regardless of what you think of the Jazz or not, it’s an it’s a professional NBA team that they were grinding it out with. And that’s the thing when you have a team that’s like one of the league leaders in assist moving the ball and efficient shot creation. To your point, Jeff, like you have to be dialed in with your discipline. You have to be dialed in with the communication, especially on the defensive end. So, we’ve we’ve seen this team talk about from media day to now about focus on the details. So, we’re we’re looking at the 3Ds, right? Defense, details, discipline. All of those should kind of like go hand in hand together. But, this is one of those times, especially without Wimi on that back end to really help solidify, you know, closer to the rim. Sure. Like, like this is good reps. Uh I I would love to see like a big kind of we’re probably we’re not going to be favored in this game against this team, right? As currently constructed, but we do during this time period need to see like okay you Jeremy Sohan you’re getting more run again. Carter Bryant you are playing like Lindy Waters you kind of he came out pretty hot from three at the beginning of the season like and and Mitch is going with the hot hand too. So that that is one thing with him to your point even back on Devin Vel like Devin you got to go in like you will be fed. So um yeah full 48 from this team because this is a hard team to play. It is. It is. It really is. Uh but the good news for his fans is this. The Hawks are on a twoame losing skid versus your silver and black. So hopefully that’ll continue tonight at the Frost. All right. There you have it. Quick uh game preview. Tonight’s Spurs game. Spurs Hawks. And yeah, coming up next, we’re going to be look talking about life without castle. 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And I I do pride myself on, you know, being responsive, but I I know you hit me up earlier in the week and I was like like I it got stuck in drafts and I’m very sorry about that, Jeff. I’m like always like a I’m an inbox zero kind of guy, you know? No big deal. We got you. That’s all that matters. Uh what are we talking about? We’re talking about your silver and black and life without Castle. Let’s get into that. Uh y’all know what happened recently. uh Castle uh well Spurs announced he’s going to be out with an injury and he’ll be out about two weeksish. I think that’s kind of the projection. The point is they’re going to be without their one of their main weapons for a few games. Hopefully not a lot of games. Uh we kind of got a glimpse of it already uh in that Sacramento game and then of course during the Memphis game. Uh looks like Jiren Fox is getting the bulk of the minutes. Yay. Go Spurs, go Fox, continue doing what you did versus Memphis. Uh, but there’s going to be other ripple effects. You’re starting to see that. You mentioned one guy’s name already, uh, David Jones Garcia. He got some burn. Young Carter Bryant. He got a little burn versus Memphis. How do you think Spurs are going to manage without Castle? You think that is an injury blow that they can probably handle better than maybe losing Wimby right now? I don’t know. Castle has really come on this year. um especially recently when he was leading the league in turnovers, you know, before De’Arren Fox came on, but he then kicked up his assist to to double digits in multiple games. And he was creating so much pressure on the rim and just making the easy pass that uh I’m definitely very concerned about the spacing here. We I mean I think this has been kind of a constant conversation with the shooting. Um like David Jones Garcia and Lindy Waters are two dudes who can become flamethrowers if they’re hot. We’ve seen Devin Bell go insane. Ox is fast enough to get a shot off anywhere. But to what we talked about earlier in the Hawks preview, he’s got to get it going earlier because getting it going earlier for him will open up the offense for everyone else. And we know that the Spurs love to kick it out to Champini and Barnes in the corners. Yep. Um so just taking less pressure off of them, but hey, losing Castle uh for any amount of time. I I feel like and I I said this recently on our on the silver and black coffee hour is I think Kellen is is the heart of the team, but Stfan Castle is the soul. um the amount of responsibility he plays with and effort uh it’s not I don’t think typically something you see especially for like a secondyear player like him and I I think he really dictates a lot of time the physicality um for rest of the team that they’re going to play with. So yeah, he’s it’s a big blow to lose him. Yeah, it really is. Now during uh your talk right now, I looked up some of the numbers here. Uh this is via data baller. Uh, with Castle in the lineup, the Spurs are a net plus 5.6. So that’s good everybody. With him off the court, not on there, they’re still a plus 3.7. So there’s a little bit of a drop off, not terrible. Uh, and so that onoff net rating for those two is a plus 2.0. So they do suffer somewhat, but I think at his position and why we don’t see a dramatic difference in net uh when he’s on off is because the Spurs have other players that are switchable at that position. And then and for this case, I guess the two spot right now. You Kelan can bring up the ball. We saw I mean I I wonder if Sohan got PTSD versus Memphis when he uh came up with the ball and being the point guard for a few minutes. Uh obviously you know Fox is there. He can do it. The list goes on and on. Even Deon did Deon Barnes bring up the ball too in the last which was like oh we’re doing that now. Okay. Absolutely. Um but I I think were you uh you see the biggest difference is in the defensive uh ratings. So we look at that now uh with Castle on the floor 109.6 six defensive rating uh when he’s off the court. Yikes. 116.6 it jumps. I think that’s where you might see the big difference. What do you think? Yeah, the dude has been a demon on the perimeter uh for this team. And you know, Coach Mitch is like telling these guys even when they get in foul trouble like we’re not worried about foul trouble. Like create physicality to them. And once again, that’s what Steph Castle does, especially on that defensive end. Um he was a a bit of a menace that first half against the Warriors in the first last Wednesday and then he started getting some fouls called on him in the second when Steph started you know heating up but needless to say his impact on the defensive end the communication he brings over there uh I mean it’s I I didn’t know that number about his onoff on defense but that’s kind of a wild drop uh from when he’s off. It is. It is. It’s is it’s a significant drop and that’s where you’re going to feel the biggest impact. You know, you hit it on the head earlier, the turnovers uh that’s kind of been plaguing him, not just this year, everybody, even during his rookie season. You kind of give him a pass his rookie season. Uh so, I forget he was just thrown to the fire late in the season when Fox got hurt and he was the starting guy, which I thought it would bode well for him and it did. Uh but you’re still seeing that panner comes out and the good news is he’s aware of it. This is nothing new. He he totally understands. I think it was last year, Aaron, I don’t know if you were in the conference room with me or maybe earlier this year where he had a great game when but he kept on harping about how many turnovers he had. He couldn’t let that go. So, I think hopefully he’ll get to clean that up, maybe just think about it, maybe try to work with the staff and going over video, you know, and I get it. The ball is on in his hand a little more often than not than maybe other players on the roster. that’s going to come with the territory, but I would love to see him cut down on some turnovers. But Aaron, is it it’s not out of the limb for me to say the Spurs are going to be okay without Castle versus maybe ah they might have some issues without Wimi. I just feel they have other guys by committee that can at least hold the fort down better with Castle being out versus Wimby. What do you think? I guess you’re gonna get off you’re gonna get offense from Fox. He’s going to up his offensive numbers. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I I believe so. And I guess like kind of the parallel to that though is like Wimby clearly is like such a unicorn. There is not a there’s not a making it up like making it up be as there there are other ways that you can I guess I’m using this term a lot today but like there’s a lot of other ways you can democratize the impact of castle um on the team you know I I think what what is hard here um to your point currently and I mean this is a name we haven’t said yet is Jordan Mclofflin right kind of our other point guard out with a hamstring injury so Mitch has been running this this lineup out there the last two games where it’s basically Sohan, Barnes, Champenni, Olen, and like Bryant or something like he he’ll put out a lineup there that’s like for six minutes that doesn’t have like a main ball handler. Um, right trying to figure things out or he’ll have like Devin Vel or something. And uh it’s um I I think part of this though is good, you know, like you need this trial by fire with these things. This is what makes this a a playoff team, you know, in the future in this season. I still think we’re not out of the playoff race by any means. Yeah. Yeah. So, I’m going to throw up a picture on the screen here for you, Aaron. I want you to give me your thoughts on this. How much does life without Castle get a lot easier when this guy comes back? Dylan Harper. A lot. A lot easier. A lot easier. Yeah. I I think this is the key right here. I think Harper, he should be back soon. Uh, you know, very soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if they activate him for the uh the uh road trip they got coming up. Would not be surprised. Didn’t they say like maybe after Thanksgiving, which I believe that Friday is against the Nuggets. Yeah. Welcome back. That’s the hell of the beginning. Come back to to play. Welcome back. Yeah, I I think that changes things for the good. You get Harper back. Uh for the good if maybe Castle in his injury is not, you know, 100% yet and we know the Spurs are. So, yay. Uh and I think the Spurs will be okay. You know, again, you know, not trying to discount what Castle brings to the court by a mile. Not doing that at all. I’m just saying the Spurs seem to have more, you know, you know, soldiers, if you will, to support uh the spot right now that left the Spurs in a whole with Castle being out because of injury. You know, from Fox, uh, you know, to Kelvin to Devin, you know, the list goes on and on. They had that. If we’re going to name guys, we got to drop Kelly Olen. He had some money making Yeah. spots in against Memphis. And and and you know what? Even even a guy like you mentioned him earlier too, David Jones Garcia, he got a lot of love from Mitch Johnson postgame versus Memphis saying that, you know, you’re not going to see all the stats pop up on all the highlight shows from David Jones, but you know, he, you know, this guy could be a bucket. He could be a bucket if he gets going. So, another weapon they can throw out there, but life without Castle will be difficult as Aaron and I are talking about more on the defensive side. I think that’s where you’re going to see a lot of impact. So, when you see a, you know, fill in the blank player, and again, just making this up right in there, let’s just say they’re playing, let’s just say Trey Young is playing tomorrow night, all right, or tonight, excuse me. Um, and Trey Young goes ballistic. Okay. Well, yeah, you know, you you know, they’ll try to slow him down, but you know, Castle’s a different level. You know, it it happens, injuries happen, you’re just glad that it happened now versus, oh, we only have about two months left in the season and we’re hanging on to a four seed right now. then we’re in trouble. So that’s good. All in all, you want Castle back healthy. The Spurs are going to take that approach as we all know historically as they do. And when it comes back, he’ll be refreshed, rejuvenated, and healthy and ready to go. So, what do you all think about life without Castle? You can let me know. And I said, Jeff Gpurzone. Uh Aaron, you want to shout out your social media handle? Uh yeah, it’s just Aaron Blackerby um on uh Twitter or X the Everything app uh from what I’m told. Um or uh you know look for a silver and black coffee hour with that Zach and Tom and I rotate between who’s uh tweeting stuff out from there. Exactly. Now we’re going to talk about that uh show coming up next, but first we’re going to look at what you guys are talking about over the Lockdown Spurs YouTube page. When I found out Ski has making underwear for men, I have to admit I was pretty excited. I was I’ve been buying SKIMS now for a while and it’s you know I’m just raving about this comfort how easy it is you know just to feel so great in those SKIMS and well you know what I love it and I really really enjoy wearing SKIMS look you feel like you’re just in heaven you’re just comfortable with it the fabric is soft it’s it’s a winner everybody you know SKIMS came out with recently their cotton 5in boxer brief and honestly it puts other brands to shame they hit right in the thigh they stay there. That’s the key. They don’t move around. They don’t bag out. They don’t give you that 5:00 PM wedgie. If you’re a boxer brief guy like me, this is the one. You got to get SKIMS right now. Go and well, let me tell you something. 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Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first five bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com. Sign up right now. Play your game at FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. You know, I got to get a picture of you in a comic strip form, you know, during like and then have you bring us back into the show. Be awesome. I’d love that. AJK background. Get JJK. Oh man, it’s coming up. Calling Games part one. I’m looking forward to it. Heads up if you’re not a nerd like me and Aaron, that’s Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen. So, look it up everybody. It’d be well worth it. Just don’t ever eat the finger. Don’t eat. Well, I don’t know. I might I might eat the finger. I might. I mean, if you want to go sucin mode like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. All right. We are joined by Aaron Blackerby. He is with the Silver and Black Coffee Hour co-host there and making his first time debut here on Lock Spurs, but not for last try. And I’ve tried several times to get Aaron on. Just our schedules were just battling. And then finally they uh they uh did a peace treaty scheduled and said, “All right, y’all guys can meet up.” All right, we’re talking about your silver and black right here on Locked on Spurs. And it’s time, you know, we’re running out of time here, Aaron. So, let’s just pick one. Who’s going to be the lucky person to be highlighted here on Locked On Spurs and you guys are leaving a lot of comments. I wish Aaron and I had all the time in the world to get to each and every one of them, but yeah, just cannot. Also, I’m on a time constraint, everybody. You know, the network might get mad if I go push it push it too too long here. All right, let’s pick one out here. Who would it be? Who would it be? Okay, this is a good one here. This is from uh RMA Superfly. Uh he says, “Our Spurs depth is going to be making a huge difference.” Let’s talk about that, Aaron. Uh Spurs deps, Wimby and Castle. Of course, there’s Jordan Mclofflin as well. But is this time for the Spurs to flex that depth at the positions that are lost right now? And I think the Spurs can do it. I think they can survive without two of their players. Maybe not coming out swinging and beating the big boys like Denver or or or other teams, but even then, Aaron, I just feel I feel like I can breathe a little side of relief knowing the Spurs got some troops on the roster. What do you think? Look, absolutely, man. Like this is an 82 game season and we can talk about like the season how if that’s how long it should be, but look, the most successful teams from last season, the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder went deep. And part of that is just pace of play um across the league. You need 12 to 15 dudes out there, especially if you’re going to be in playoff contention. Well, look, the last few years uh I’ve been cheering on development across the team. This is not a year we’re cheering on development anymore. We are cheering on, you know, playoff to get playoff experience. Um, and the the roster, the way it’s constructed, knows that. That’s why you got like veterans still on the team like Barnes. You got someone like Darren Fox who’s hungry for more deeper playoff runs. You got a dude like Kelly Olen and Luke Cornet who have gone through some, you know, playoff runs with uh the Celtics in the past. Um, so there’s there’s more experience here to help keep the ship afloat and essentially just professionals that know what they’re doing out there. Um, so yeah, I’m I’m with you. I’m I’m not like I mean FYI, Spurs fans, we’re we’re one we were going to lose games this season anyway. We’re we’re probably gonna lose some right now even with Wim and Castle in roster on the roster. That probably will happen too. Yeah, absolutely. But I I think one of the things to this point of depth and where the way the Spurs is managing it, one I think the medical staff is doing an astounding job, there’s kind of sometimes I think with other sports organizations all types of politics in the background between not having a cohesion there. So I’m I’m glad to see that and that the team does seem to work look for the best interest of the player rather than throwing them out there. And we have this buffer right now of that first 5-0 start to help. We have a buffer at the bottom of the the Western Conference route. There are some garbage teams that are ready for the draft already and it’s November. So there there is a there is right now the flexibility to take some body blows with the schedule, get people truly healthy and be able to manage that health all the way hopefully into May, you know. So yeah. So yeah, these are good reps for everybody to have. Yeah, absolutely. And uh again in pick a position the Spurs are stacked. Uh center spot sure you Wimby that’s that’s that’s a huge blow to any team. Uh but you know you got Cornet you got Olen you know and if you have to you can you can go small big with Sohan and Bismac so they do have that depth there. Now we talked about it with Castle. Uh we feel the Spurs maybe can handle that ship a little easier than they can with Wimi. Why? Because the depth at guard. What was everybody crying about? Head of the season. They got too many covers. They got too many wing guys. What are they doing? That’s a good thing right now. Now it’s paying off. They got multiple guys that can handle the ball, uh, bring the ball up, even get the offense going. We saw Kell do it. Uh, Devin, and you mentioned the second segment, Harrison Barnes. So, you’re right. um you know the guy who left the comment there see is he RMA Superfly the depth is going to be a huge difference and it has already shown already at least in two games uh Sacramento and of course versus Memphis. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s going to pay dividends. Yeah. Forward. You’re going to see Luke Cornett only get better. You’re going to see even the David Jones Garcia get more run and contribute offensively. So even young Carter Bryant like go get some burn too. And I hope he by the way I hope I hope he gets a lot more burn. I I I feel like there’s he just waited for that one game to break out and just a tackler night. I I think I think both of these things kind of are in conjunction with one another. We have been without two of the stars for two games essentially, right? And they were been against some of the worerer teams in the west, but that still builds confidence that like this is capable to happen. And that’s kind of the same thing with Carter Bryant as he’s playing. I agree with you. I think that there will be this moment where things just break open for him because the dude is the most athletic player we have on the team. Yeah. And he is going to have something. He’s he’s going to be on House of Highlights incredibly soon with something just because that’s the type of guy he is. So, um I I wouldn’t be surprised to your point, Jeff, on like that depth at center that Mitch Johnson throws him in the fire of being like a backup five and going small ball five with kind of this like NASCAR package of like we’re going to get out and run people off the court and put him in there uh on that level. So, maybe I have no in information. I’m just saying like if I’m trying to get him out there and I’m trying to give some of my bigs a little bit more rest, like throw the young rook out there. Give give him some experience. Or they could throw Aaron Blackerby out there. Else you’re a nut. I mean, I’m 6’2, so uh I’m ready to take an elbow to the face. Small ball right there. He He is Aaron Blacker. Oh, by the way, thank you for that comment. Uh we definitely appreciate it. Once again, he is Aaron Blackerby with the Silver and Black Coffee Hour. Uh you need to brag about that show. Why should everybody be tuning in? man, I I work with two incredibly fantastic dudes and uh Tom Patrini and Zack Montana. And um look, I honestly I think we’re trying to come at um sports fandom from a more positive uh place and we want to build a community around that because I mean at the end of the day that’s what sports is about is being a part of something bigger than yourself and we’ve all grown up around this team, rooting for this team for basically my whole life. Uh so kind of just saw this as an opportunity to do that with two really great dudes. And um look, we on our show we we talk very openly. We cuss uh you know um but uh at the end of the day it’s it’s about having fun and uh covering this team that we really enjoy and that happens to have the tallest human in Texas on it. So uh so yeah. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. again. You want to search for them on social media, go to X, a search silver and black coffee or better yet, just follow Aaron on X. Aaron, you want to give out your um handle again? Yeah. Uh Aaron Blackerby um on X. Uh I I tweet some. My tweets are sometimes really weird because I put in a bunch of emojis, but uh I I don’t go on to to Twitter to be that serious about things. So that just that’s just a mythos on there. Yeah. PSA everybody is just X. It’s just Twitter. It’s not real life. So, don’t let things get to you. By the way, uh, real quick nerd moment here with you, Erin. I heard One Puncherman Man season 3 released a manga. What? That’s what I heard. Oh, man. I heard that sucks. Yeah, I saw like I saw this meme. Um, yeah, like some Winter Fans season one like big old happy smiley face cheering. Then season two was more like okay, happy, good. And then that season three like that distraught face. So is it just because he keeps living up to his name of of One Punch Man basically? Yeah. It’s kind of like solo leveling. Like you need these people to like have real stakes at at things. You can’t just be kicking, you know, butt the whole time. You think about it, it’s just pretty much rinse and repeat. It’s Oh no, big baddy. Okay, one punch, do your thing. Oh no, big batty. One punch, do your thing. Yeah, they need to I think the best thing for them to do on the soon is maybe get into the more of the background why he’s One Punch Man and don’t try to keep that a mystery. I I know what they’re trying to do. Like we don’t know where he got his powers from, but um that out there that needs Jeff Garcia as your anime story consultant. He is open uh here. I’m telling you now, Spurs staff, you can listen to me. Not kidding. Aaron is a witness. Aaron is We were We were chopping it up. uh before uh I think Julian Champenny came in the other day and we were talking about Danto Dan and Oh yeah, that’s right. That’s right. Yeah. I I had actually a nerd moment with Darren Fox last year and every time every time he comes on the the platform uh well I guess the table in the conference room, I so want to ask him a question, but I feel like everybody’s looking at me like what are you asking him? Cuz he will know. He gets it. I wanted I wanted to ask him last year when he had that introductory press conference in Austin. I thought that this was kind of like, okay, you’re in Austin. Maybe we can ask like weirder questions. Like I I still have been wanting to ask him like, dear, when do we know you’re going Super Saiyan? Like Yeah. See, it’s like that. Yeah. What What is the the hand signal you can give the Jackals to like, you know, do do the energy build up? Yeah. Like power up or whatever like Yeah. I I I in my back pocket. Erin, I think if that day comes, let’s make sure you and I are there together. You asked a question. That’s your question. And I’ll back you up. I’ll be like, and then follow up. OG Broly versus New Broly. Who do you got like that? I’m I’m OG on that one. I’m OG. Yeah. Yeah. I like OG Broly better. All right. There’s your old nerd moment right here on Locked on Spurs. Once again, Aaron Blackerby, thank you so much for joining us here on Locked on Spurs. We appreciate you taking out time out of your busy schedule to hop on here and talk all things silver and black. Once again, he’s with the silver and black coffee hour. Go check it out right now. It’s on YouTube. Zero simple. Just type in silver black coffee hour. And there you have it. And you subscribe. Everybody else, we thank you for getting locked off your first listen each and every day. Free and available for podcast, iTunes, Spotify, Kenspire Plus app, YouTube. You know what to do. Subscribe ASAP. Do that right now. We’ll be back tomorrow to talk all things silver and black. I believe we have uh Jared Weiss of the Athletic. He’ll be joining us tomorrow to wrap up the week right here on Locked On Spurs. Don’t forget Locked on Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in the nation. Thanks to y’all. We appreciate it. And while you’re at it on YouTube, check out Locked on NBA. Just search Lock on NBA and subscribe. You’re good to go. All right. So, for Aaron Blackerby, I am Jeff Garcia. We’re going to put a lock on this episode of Locked On Spurs. [Music]

Can the San Antonio Spurs’ survive without Stephon Castle due to injury?

Can the San Antonio Spurs’ depth and defensive discipline lead them to victory and keep Atlanta from notching another Western Conference road win?

Host Jeff Garcia and Silver and Black Coffee Hour’s Aaron Blackerby break down the potential impact of Stephon Castle’s absence due to injury, highlighting defensive challenges and key roles for Devin Vassell, Luke Kornet, and Kelly Olynyk. The discussion explores San Antonio’s roster flexibility, the importance of full 48-minute effort, and upcoming returns of key players like Dylan Harper.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Spurs vs. Hawks Preview
Episode kicks off with Host Jeff Garcia and Aaron Blackerby previewing the final game of the Spurs’ homestand against Atlanta. They discuss team momentum and Atlanta’s surprising success despite Trae Young’s absence.

10:16 – Life Without Stephon Castle
The conversation shifts to analyze the impact of Castle’s injury on the Spurs roster. Jeff Garcia and Aaron Blackerby break down who needs to step up and how the team’s depth will be tested over the next few weeks.

28:12 – Spurs Depth & Fan Comments
They dive into listener questions from YouTube, focusing on the Spurs’ depth and how secondary players will need to shine with multiple starters out. This segment also includes thoughts on future rotations and young players’ opportunities.

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