After years spent rebuilding, the San Antonio Spurs are hoping that Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox will lead them back to the playoffs. They will also need several of their young players to step up, specifically, Stephon Castle.
Castle has all of the tools to be the Spurs' third star but may have to first settle into a new role this season. The Spurs already have a plethora of ball-handlers with Fox and Dylan Harper, which means that they will need Castle to play more off-ball.
The Spurs need Stephon Castle to thrive playing off-ball
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For that to happen, he will need to show improvement as a shooter, and he did go an encouraging 2-4 from outside [in his preseason debut](https://airalamo.com/stephon-castle-emphatically-silences-spurs-critics-preseason-win-over-pacers). He isn't shy about taking them, but the results tend to vary widely.
Castle has flashed the potential to be an above-average shooter, with him even having a 12-game stretch last season in which he shot 41% from deep on 3.9 attempts per game. Nevertheless, he shot just 27% from three on the season.
That is unusual, to say the least. Bad 3-point shooters don't tend to take as many shots as he does, nor do they have strong shooting stretches like he had last season. Still, some of his misses are way off the mark, and while that is necessarily cause for concern, good shooters tend to miss in the same ways.
The goal for this season should be for him to attempt at least four threes per game and shoot 35% from outside. If he can accomplish that feat, then he could thrive playing off-ball and could even serve as a secondary playmaker.
Stephon Castle's long-term role will be as a secondary playmaker
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While Castle's strengths as an offensive player largely come from having the ball in hand, Fox is going to be the primary playmaker for the Spurs, as well he should. Additionally, Harper seems poised to be an elite passer who can get to the rim at will and finish.
Therefore, Castle playing with the ball won't be something he will be able to do as often, forcing him to alter his game. Being able to spot up and reliably hit shots would unlock more opportunities for him to attack closeouts.
Doing so would allow him to use his craft and athleticism to finish in the paint or use his ability to draw contact to earn trips to the line. That's not to say that he won't be able to create with the ball in his hands, just perhaps less than expected. Fox needs the ball more to thrive, and Castle has more versatility.
Having him play more off-ball would pave the way for lineups that include Fox, Harper, and Castle, with Castle all but guaranteed to play small forward in those scenarios. Castle is clearly the linchpin to those plans, with San Antonio desperately needing him to make strides as a shooter to unlock both his and the Spurs' full potential.