Figured I'd throw it here since the last thread got buried a bit...
This game Castle came back down to earth shooting the ball. Managed to get it done with toughness at the rim and drawing fouls. Really advanced working around the rim--much better than a year ago. Footwork is creative and he's strong vs smaller guards. Shot was off tonight. His defense was still pretty terrible. His team lost in OT, and I don't think it would have been close in regulation if he put in the effort on defense. Turning the ball over when he's dribbling is a problem. Great passer (no TOs passing that I recall in either game). I think he could easily be a 12/4/3 kind of player next year and go in the lottery. I expected him to struggle shooting it a bit and take some time to learn his new role. Defense will come around by January is Hurley has anything to say about it.
28 PTS
10 REB (2 off)
5 AST (8 potential)
4 TO
STL
1 BLK
7/10 2FG
1/8 3FG
11/16 FT
- Defended a 1v1 post-up very well early in the 1st quarter.
- Missed his first pull-up 3, but was in rhythm and just slightly back rimmed it. Not a bad miss
- Too many multi-dribble pull-up 2s. It is just bad basketball.
- NBA frame. Easily could end up 6’6 215 and plying PG.
- Too upright on defense, plays with his hands almost exclusively. Bad fundamentals. Like I said before… his defense is incredibly bad. But that’s true for a lot of kids coming out of high school–I’m not really concerned. Hurley can coach anyone up on defense. It was true for most of the kids on our team. Pretty much everyone but Hawkins was bad at D in high school. Andre was terrible in high school at defense, for example.
- Drive and kick ability is an NBA-level skill IMO
- Like his ability to draw fouls. Very NEwton-esque. Plays STRONG going to the rim. He’s a bully, but has finesse too.
- Not in love with the amount of iso he plays, but that’s more on the coach than anything.
- He looks SO GOOD in situations where the offense has ccutters, movement, etc. His vision and awareness are 10/10.
- 1:38 in the first quarter… stupidly smooth spin move in the lane. It seems like the kid has added another move to his bag every game I see him.
- Worth mentioning that Norcross is NOT a bad team. At least a few D1 players on this squad.
- Still not thrilled with these TOs while he’s dribbling.
- Great hit ahead passer
- These announcers are 50x better than any college announcer I’ve heard all season.
- He makes some really, really tough jumpers.
- Very natural and smooth upper body when he shoots. 1-2 step is solid footwork dribbling with right hand especially.. Haven’t ever seen him catching off a hop-step or anything.
- He is pretty good at drawing fouls when he’s facing pressure. Has that James Harden arm rake thing in his bag.
- Honestly, if he plays better defense, this is a 10 point win for his team.
- He’s one of those players (like Karaban) who have a knack for feeding the post–being able to drop the ball at a steep angle over a defendres hands it tough.
- He might just be elite finishing at the rim. And that was not a strength 12 months ago. He wouldn’t have missed a single 2 point shot this entire game except for the crappy multi-dribble long 2s. Went ⅓ on those. The two spin moves were NBA moves. NBA start moves.
- No TOs passing the ball–all dribbling.
- Game back down to earth this game shooting the rock.
- Trying to do WAY too much in the end of regulation and early OT. Bad shot and TO on back-to-back possessions.
- Free throw shooting was disappointing tonight.
- AWFUL shot to try to win it in OT. Disappointing.
