How was the All-Star Weekend? As per\u00a0always, I watched none of it. The only thing I really saw was an in-game dunk by Jaxson Hayes during the Slam Dunk Contest.\u00a0 Admittedly, I kind of loved that this was the moment that went viral. In a way, it exposed the shallowness of what the All-Star Weekend is: a marketing event.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s really only one thing I hope for each All-Star Weekend: If any Spur takes part \u2014 or rather, has to take part \u2014 please let him return uninjured. On the other hand, I kinda like the All-Star break. Because after a full week without watching basketball, I\u2019m hungry to watch some real basketball again.<\/p>\n
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So without further ado, let\u2019s get into the Spurs\u2019 win over the Phoenix Suns last night:<\/p>\n
Takeawaways<\/p>\n
One and a half years ago, Stephon Castle was the fourth pick in what many labeled a role-player draft, supposedly void of tier-one or tier-two prospects. Eighteen months later, he\u2019s becoming the bedrock of a team that wins more than twice as many games as it loses.<\/p>\n
This is Victor Wembanyama\u2019s team \u2013 there\u2019s no doubt about that. But Castle increasingly feels like its engine. He brings the ball up with that low, controlled dribble; his decision-making keeps improving to the point where I currently trust him more than both Wemby and Fox with the ball; and defensively, he\u2019s constantly engaged.<\/p>\n
One sequence in the middle of the first quarter captured the full Castle experience: He attacked from the top of the key into the waiting arms of 7\u20191\u201d Mark Williams, upfaked three times, rose up, and scored over him. Seconds later, he picked up Devin Booker at half court and defended him well. He went from expertly running the point of attack to expertly defending it \u2014 within the same possession cycle.<\/p>\n
Yes, he\u2019s still flawed. Sometimes the three isn\u2019t falling. Sometimes the turnovers pile up. Neither was an issue last night, but he did pick up five fouls. The encouraging part? These are areas players typically improve in. Present-day Castle is already very good. The trajectory is what makes it exciting. And by that I also mean: Please let him return from all the future All-Star Games he probably will take part in.<\/p>\n
The Spurs have one of the better second units in the league: Keldon Johnson had an unremarkable game, but he\u2019s having an excellent season overall and didn\u2019t need to force anything last night. Meanwhile, Luke Kornet might be every head coach\u2019s dream backup center: protect the paint, clean up, convert putbacks, avoid mistakes. He embodies that role perfectly \u2013 and he even has a clever pass in him.<\/p>\n
The star of the second unit, though, was Dylan Harper. There will come a point \u2013 and it won\u2019t be far off \u2013 when it feels unfair that he\u2019s coming off the bench. Unfair in the way it once felt unfair for opponents when Manu Gin\u00f3bili came off the bench: things didn\u2019t get easier; they got harder.<\/p>\n
Harper already has that effect. No one on the roster can match his driving game \u2013 not even De\u2019Aaron Fox. Harper attacking the lane sometimes looks like a slalom skier carving through gates (yes, I\u2019ve been watching winter sports lately) \u2013 the ease with which he changes direction is a thing of beauty.<\/p>\n
Harper\u2019s three-point shot? Not quite as beautiful, but not completely ugly either. The release point is still worryingly low, but otherwise the mechanics look okay to me. And it doesn\u2019t take him too long to get his shot off.<\/p>\n
The question about Harper is this: When will the point come at which he can no longer be kept on the bench? It\u2019s a good thing the Spurs have De\u2019Aaron Fox. His willingness not to be the clear-cut primary ballhandler in the starting five deserves praise \u2014 just as much as his ability to slide into the number-one option role when needed. Still, Harper won\u2019t be a bench player for the duration of Fox\u2019s next contract.<\/p>\n
As mentioned, the only skin I have in the All-Star Game is that Spurs players return uninjured \u2013 Fox did, Wemby did. And frankly, after what Dillon Brooks recently had to say about him defending Wemby, maybe the best thing about last night\u2019s game was that Brooks was out, suspended. I didn\u2019t miss him. Instead, on the way to the Spurs first playoff participation since 2019 (GSG!!!), I enjoyed a game with highlights that only Wemby can produce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How was the All-Star Weekend? As per\u00a0always, I watched none of it. The only thing I really saw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,1314,2292,1195,226,32,2850,4996,1537,1011,6,472,969,474,4075,4074,81439,534,930,2594,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-615394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-deaaron-fox","10":"tag-devin-booker","11":"tag-dillon-brooks","12":"tag-dylan-harper","13":"tag-jaxson-hayes","14":"tag-keldon-johnson","15":"tag-luke-kornet","16":"tag-manu-ginobili","17":"tag-mark-williams","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-phoenix-suns","20":"tag-san-antonio","21":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","22":"tag-sanantonio","23":"tag-sanantoniospurs","24":"tag-scott-wachter-imagn","25":"tag-spurs","26":"tag-stephon-castle","27":"tag-the-spurs","28":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116107609601190558","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}