This is a BIG opportunity for the Spurs...

This is a big opportunity for the san antonio spurs Our rookie of the year stefan castles entering year two in the nba and an article is highlighting the Expectations and some of the predictions for stefan castle for him to take the next step on the san antonio spurs roster And we are going to discuss it here on spurs digest with your host kenan warner and guys We are on the road to 10k Prior to the season. So if you guys haven't yet, make sure you hit that free subscribe button down below so you don't miss any of the great content that me josh and brian have coming for you, but Real quick. Have you ever wanted to break into sports media as a writer or content creator? Digest media has a bunch of openings across all four major sports in north america to join our growing content team We're looking for passionate fans creators and storytellers who live and breathe sports Head over to digestmedia.ca Slash join us to apply today You'll find also find the link in the description and in the pinned comment. We can't wait to see What you got i've been working with digest media here for over a year now It's been great and it really just started from me Just wanting to talk sports guys. And if you're one person who just loves sports like I do come join the team, but let's talk about stefan castle here setting expectations and making predictions ahead of stefan castle sequel and We obviously saw last year We're going to highlight some of the more advanced numbers for stefan castle and where he can really develop But we obviously saw stefan castle, especially towards that back half of the season last year Really take a step and that's where he truly made that push for rookie of the year. Jared mccain Unfortunately went down that would have been nice to see the battle between those two But stefan castle deserved it and we have seen many videos come out of castle training this off season We've even covered a couple of them seeing the shooting He really wants to elevate as a shooter because last year though. He was a very pivotal He was a very good defender. He was very good getting downhill He was good in transition and he was becoming a very good playmaker towards the back half of the season his 42.8 from the floor and that almost 29 a little under 29 from three 35 from the corners a little under not going to get it done at a consistent rate Especially if you're going to be one of the top players in the league where you because he has true the potential To be a borderline 2025 top player around that kind of realm and I know that kind of sounds like well, of course he could be There's just so many good players in the league where you're top 20 to 25 That's really getting down there like devon booker's going to be towards the back half of that 20 He's going to really be in the 15 to 18 range So when you have guys like that, like stefan castle has like that kind of capabilities what you saw jalen williams do For the thunder last year in a different way being able to be maybe The tertiary option rather than being the secondary scorer for them And then really get and really provide a lot of defensive prowess for the san antonio spurs going forward obviously, we'll see what his role is going to be like next to fox next to harper and so on but love the fact that he Has been working on his game, but stef's pull-up game is going to help him take off. It truly will I think that A lot of people forget about the mid-range and i'm going to compare it a little bit to wmba I know i'm not sure how many people watch the wmba here But page beckers is somebody who has been taking the wmba by storm. She's one of the best college women's college She was one of the best women's college basketball players in her time throughout the college obviously True freshman winning the most outstanding player and then now she's in the wmba The thing that she's been able to do is really get to that mid-range shay gilgis alexander taking to the wmba now Really being able to kill within that mid-range like it's just such a it's such a place that is like oh, it's not good because analytically it's not good, but Just because it's not a layup and just because it's not a three doesn't mean it's not good You can get to that mid-range keep the defense honest, especially with people expecting castle to get such downhill One dribble pull up right into a jump shot could be so lethal for him And I think that's something that he needs to incorporate in his game But stefan so far bulk of his shots either at the three-point line or in the paint Aggressive ball of the drive understands. He needs to stretch the floor despite the low shooting percentage. We already highlighted the 28.5 percent roughly Seeing the videos of him working on that. Hopefully that translates but really it's going to eat in the pull-up mid-range game I mean you even saw people like tyrese haliburton last year using that pull-up midi So, uh, steph curry's not even afraid to shoot the midi Obviously, we know he's a three-point marksman. He really can get to the basket, but for him too. It's not just the midi It's the floater too that 12 to 15 foot floater works The same thing as that pull up mid-range jump shot keeps the defense honest and makes it so you are a multi-faceted Score you can score from all three levels rather than just being a two level or a one level score But the scouting report tells defenses when he drives cut him off at the rim Overcommit to stephane castile. They'll counter pop jumper if he makes that primary part of his game The sophomore combo guard becomes headaches as a three-level scorer to defend i'd also expect to see the third most shots on the team He needs to become confident as a shooter and confident as a score. I completely agree I think that he's gonna range between three and four depending on how many shots dylan harper is going to get up But wemby's clearly going to be one fox really should be two and castle should be three I would love to see him take 12 to 14 shots a game about 12 to 14 per game from this guy and really Really get himself involved in the offense on a day-to-day on a game-to-game basis because I think he He is the guy that's the x-factor that can unlock the spurs and make them Instantly a kind of contending player because you have wemby obviously to do it all everything You have fox who is a very lethal offensive player and a solid defender We've got a good bench unit. Harrison barns is a super good shooter. Jeremy. Sohan's at slice army knife If stephane castle is just the defender who is super athletic who can kind of score Strictly that's going to make this team good and someone that no one wants to see But it's not going to head them at their pinnacle for the 2025-26 season If castle can shoot 46-ish percent from the floor 35 from three and truly get to a pull-up midi game The spurs are going to be A force to be reckoned with and there are some numbers that I really wanted to get into with stephane castle Sorry, if this is hard to see but his per 36 last year 20 points Five rebounds five and a half assists a game So he was a 25 and five 20.5 rebounds five assists kind of guy last year When playing 36 minutes and we called for him to start more often There was many games where his minutes were down and that was something that we were kind of confused about with mitch johnson But when he was playing 36 minutes a game averaging on the season 20.5 rebounds five assists for rookies doing that lebron luca mike Tyreek evans, obviously, he didn't do that for in full. He obviously averaged a 14, but If that's the pace and that was the kind of like level of play That stephane castle was really getting to and I want to take a look at these advanced numbers here This is percentage by distance on points on the floor When it comes to that field goal percentage by distance when you look at that He was a 28.5 from the three-point line from 10 to 16 only 37.3 He's got to be more effective in that area from zero to three He was 65 and a half. That's what you obviously would want three to ten only 37 so from three to 16 Within from foul line in essentially He's a 37 percent shooter That is such an Opportunity for stephane castle to grow if he can just take that next step Get to the understanding Okay, i'm so athletic I am so such a problem to guard. I have such good downhill speed That I can just I can stop on a dime leave no change and get you a floater get you a pull-up jumper A guy he can learn from honestly is dearon fox Fox has a nice floater in the mid in the little mid-range game watching a little bit of prime westbrook Westbrook did have that pull-up midi that he liked to go to was he always consistent with it? No, because westbrook wasn't the most efficient player, but westbrook had that pull-up midi that he at least had to respect So when he was able to get downhill you could you could actually get by defenders because people had to worry about that Pull-up mid-range. You need to just make people respect it the same thing with your three-point shot make people respect it Stephane castle is the piece that could unlock the spurs It's a big opportunity for the san antonio spurs to unlock stephane castle because he's got such untapped potential To take this team to the next level he is really going to be the piece that I think could either push the spurs to like Fringe contender fringe contender and keep going or really just skyrocket them We know what wemby is going to be. We know what we have in fox. We assume we know in harper He's another guy who you just need to see him go along Carter bryant's another guy who if you can kind of accelerate his time process That's going to be something but stephane castle is the guy who if he can get you 17 four and five next year Playing elite level defense and shooting 35 from the three-point line 44 45 percent from the floor and shooting around 47 ish percent from at least 15 and in We've got ourselves a 48 win team, but let me know in the comments what you feel about stephane castle Do you think he has the potential to do that? Or do you think stephane castle is going to take some time to grow into his offensive game? Let me know in the comments, but this has been spurs digest with your host keenan warner I appreciate all of you guys and I hope to see all of you guys again very soon