UConn in the NBA Feb ‘25

[superjohn]

I think the Fox trade was a bad sign. The team wants to accelerate his development. His shooting now becomes critical. He was still +3 tonight but not starting and playing 20 minutes……I think the organization got impatient.

That's a hell of a take.

 

[RuffRuff]

Um, they have the next big thing in Wemby and are cresting to start winning in a conference full of great teams. They needed to make a move to put some real players around Wemby, has nothing to do with impatience with Castle. He’s a rookie, they’re allowing him to develop at a pace that makes sense in a first season.

Beyond Wemby and Castle their roster was full of meh.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[aceboon]

The difference between Pat and Cam

 

[Mr. French]

Fox had 24 points and 11 assists. So much for him playing off ball. Lol

I don’t think they got impatient. You just don’t turn down a talent like Fox. It’s unfortunate they won’t move Steph so he can have the room to develop into the player he can be too.

Him running the show with Lavine, Demar, Murray, and Sabonis would’ve been really fun to watch.

You guys are way off. He’s perfect WITH Fox. CP3 is ancient and mentoring him. Him and Fox are perfect as a combo backcourt with Wemby and 2 shooters.

That’s what they’re building. Fox wanted to be with Steph too. No one on earth had them including Castle in this trade.

He’s a part of their big 3 future, and you guys are bemoaning the trade?!?!

This last 12 months has fallen for him more perfect than one could dream.

I can’t fathom you thinking Castle being in Sacramento with Lavine is a better option than in San Antonio with Fox and Wemby creating the scariest force in the NBA the next 10 years.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

You guys are way off. He’s perfect WITH Fox. CP3 is ancient and mentoring him. Him and Fox are perfect as a combo backcourt with Wemby and 2 shooters.

That’s what they’re building. Fox wanted to be with Steph too. No one on earth had them including Castle in this trade.

He’s a part of their big 3 future, and you guys are bemoaning the trade?!?!

This last 12 months has fallen for him more perfect than one could dream.

I can’t fathom you thinking Castle being in Sacramento with Lavine is a better option than in San Antonio with Fox and Wemby creating the scariest force in the NBA the next 10 years.

Multiple things can be true at once and this is a perspective thing for sure.

Castle will 100% be a part of a winning team and future overall.

Simply talking from the perspective of him being the best player he can possibly be in his best role. And one he specifically asked to be in the draft process.

Maybe he can still turn into a superstar playing next to Fox. We’ll see. The road isn’t as clear though.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Multiple things can be true at once and this is a perspective thing for sure.

Castle will 100% be a part of a winning team and future overall.

Simply talking from the perspective of him being the best player he can possibly be in his best role. And one he specifically asked to be in the draft process.

Maybe he can still turn into a superstar playing next to Fox. We’ll see. The road isn’t as clear though.

Fox isn’t ball dominant, great teams have multiple lead guards. You’re being far too UConn-pilled about this. They want to win and got a great player, their job isn’t to baby Steph into whatever he wants.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Fox isn’t ball dominant, great teams have multiple lead guards. You’re being far too UConn-pilled about this. They want to win and got a great player, their job isn’t to baby Steph into whatever he wants.

I’ve said the Spurs are fully right into doing what they did.

Just sad for Steph because it may naturally limit him and keep him from doing what he wanted to do to eventually be the franchise lead guard.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Seems like DC may be in and out of the lineup since the Blazers kept Robert Williams. He hasn’t been too impactful lately and is fouling a ton. Hopefully he can turn it around.

 

[Mr. French]

Multiple things can be true at once and this is a perspective thing for sure.

Castle will 100% be a part of a winning team and future overall.

Simply talking from the perspective of him being the best player he can possibly be in his best role. And one he specifically asked to be in the draft process.

Maybe he can still turn into a superstar playing next to Fox. We’ll see. The road isn’t as clear though.

The Spurs think as highly of him as we do, they’re not going to limit his development.

They were always going to add more pieces, especially wing scorers, throughout his career.

Castle won’t even be in his prime for another 5-6 years. This is great for him, actually. Jmo, of course.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

The Spurs think as highly of him as we do, they’re not going to limit his development.

They were always going to add more pieces, especially wing scorers, throughout his career.

Castle won’t even be in his prime for another 5-6 years. This is great for him, actually. Jmo, of course.

More pieces is fine. But they didn’t bring in a weapons for him to feed but a guy that will move him off his natural position.

He’ll be fine because he’s talented enough to adjust. He’ll probably look like the Thompson twins who are in similar situations making it work.

I was just happy to see him grow in his natural position before the trade. He was really coming into his own.

 

[Mr. French]

More pieces is fine. But they didn’t bring in a weapons for him to feed but a guy that will move him off his natural position.

He’ll be fine because he’s talented enough to adjust. He’ll probably look like the Thompson twins who are in similar situations making it work.

I was just happy to see him grow in his natural position before the trade. He was really coming into his own.

Your take is understandable but too dramatic. You didn’t ask my advice, but I’d say that’s where you get into arguments here.

Bringing in Fox isn’t “moving him off” his natural position. They’re doing the same thing they would have done anyways, which is have multiple facilitators including him while he grows. He’s developing as a lead guard. Fox or not, that’s up to him.

Fox is someone who can score or play lead, but the NBA isn’t Stockton and Isaiah anymore. You have multiple lead guards and offense initiators. Fox will increase his ability to get better in his role, not inhibit it.

 

[ctbro1999]

Your take is understandable but too dramatic. You didn’t ask my advice, but I’d say that’s where you get into arguments here.

Bringing in Fox isn’t “moving him off” his natural position. They’re doing the same thing they would have done anyways, which is have multiple facilitators including him while he grows. He’s developing as a lead guard. Fox or not, that’s up to him.

Fox is someone who can score or play lead, but the NBA isn’t Stockton and Isaiah anymore. You have multiple lead guards and offense initiators. Fox will increase his ability to get better in his role, not inhibit it.

And also, Chris Paul is not gonna be on the Spurs for that much longer. Once Paul either retires or signs with another team (and assuming the Spurs extend Fox) a Fox/Castle backcourt is something to look forward to.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Fox is someone who can score or play lead, but the NBA isn’t Stockton and Isaiah anymore. You have multiple lead guards and offense initiators. Fox will increase his ability to get better in his role, not inhibit it.

The new basketball theory is way overblown. There is still a difference between a true table setting PG and the combo guard or the SG who plays PG out of necessity.

Cavs have Garland and Mitchell, a table setter and the true bucket getter.

Knicks have Brunson and Hart, the star and the role player who plays off him.

Pacers have Halliburton and Nembhard (which is probably what the Fox Castle dynamic would be, P.S. Haliburton wanted out of the Kings and Fox for this EXACT reason)

Trae Young and Murray didn’t work for this reason too, two more dominant PG types.

He can literally not develop as a lead guard with one of the best lead guards in the NBA who will need and deserve to have the ball in his hands.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

He also doesn’t really need 5-6 years of development. He was already on a stretch where he was getting 20 a game on a nightly basis. He wasn’t far from being a star in this league. It can still happen again, he just will naturally have a more diminished role playing next to a star like Fox that does a lot of what he does.

 

[gtcam]

Um, they have the next big thing in Wemby and are cresting to start winning in a conference full of great teams. They needed to make a move to put some real players around Wemby, has nothing to do with impatience with Castle. He’s a rookie, they’re allowing him to develop at a pace that makes sense in a first season.

Beyond Wemby and Castle their roster was full of meh.

I'll take a meh Fox everyday

 

[CardiacAndre7]

The new basketball theory is way overblown. There is still a difference between a true table setting PG and the combo guard or the SG who plays PG out of necessity.

Cavs have Garland and Mitchell, a table setter and the true bucket getter.

Knicks have Brunson and Hart, the star and the role player who plays off him.

Pacers have Halliburton and Nembhard (which is probably what the Fox Castle dynamic would be, P.S. Haliburton wanted out of the Kings and Fox for this EXACT reason)

Trae Young and Murray didn’t work for this reason too, two more dominant PG types.

He can literally not develop as a lead guard with one of the best lead guards in the NBA who will need and deserve to have the ball in his hands.

He literally can. He isn’t ready to be ball dominant anyways lol. This is a good situation for him to learn after a pretty similar player. Fox wasn’t a great shooter coming into the league but has developed into a very respectable shooter. He has never been an elite-tier facilitator, and I think that is a likely projection for Steph as well. If you watch the Cavs you see both Garland and Donovan initiate the offense. Who is the true PG for the Celtics? Same with the Rockets, Lakers, Mavs before the trade. You’re far too worried about Steph getting no time initiating when that just won’t be the case. Wemby is going to be the hun regardless anyways.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

He literally can. He isn’t ready to be ball dominant anyways lol. This is a good situation for him to learn after a pretty similar player. Fox wasn’t a great shooter coming into the league but has developed into a very respectable shooter. He has never been an elite-tier facilitator, and I think that is a likely projection for Steph as well. If you watch the Cavs you see both Garland and Donovan initiate the offense. Who is the true PG for the Celtics? Same with the Rockets, Lakers, Mavs before the trade. You’re far too worried about Steph getting no time initiating when that just won’t be the case. Wemby is going to be the hun regardless anyways.

FVV is the PG for the Rockets and Green is the scorer. It’s the same thing for the Cavs even if Mitchell and Green can come up and run the offense every now and then. But those are the very clear roles for those teams. Lakers and Mavs are situations with two high level scoring guards. That’s not the case in SAS as Steph is not a high level scorer currently. He's a way better facilitator.

And we literally saw this situation play out already with Fox and Haliburton and Haliburton can shoot. And you saw why Haliburton wanted out because he himself was an All-Star PG and wanted to run his own team. Now he’s an All-Star Olympian fresh off a ECF appearance all before 24.

Steph doesn’t need years of learning. He was going to be fine with the 1 year Chris Paul apprenticeship.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

BJ Armstrong shares similar concerns too.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

FVV is the PG for the Rockets and Green is the scorer. It’s the same thing for the Cavs even if Mitchell and Green can come up and run the offense every now and then. But those are the very clear roles for those teams. Lakers and Mavs are situations with two high level scoring guards. That’s not the case in SAS as Steph is not a high level scorer currently. He's a way better facilitator.

And we literally saw this situation play out already with Fox and Haliburton and Haliburton can shoot. And you saw why Haliburton wanted out because he himself was an All-Star PG and wanted to run his own team. Now he’s an All-Star Olympian fresh off a ECF appearance all before 24.

Steph doesn’t need years of learning. He was going to be fine with the 1 year Chris Paul apprenticeship.

You’re FAR too concerned with defined roles when this league has been and will comtinue to stray away from it. When Steph is on the court he will be the 1st or 2nd playmaking option a vast majority of the time, just as he was before Fox got there.

And I watch the Rockets quite often and have caught a good amount of Cavs games. Mitchell and Green/Thompson/Sengun run the offense pretty much whenever they want.

Playing off the ball a bit more will help Steph improve his scoring and secondary playmaking which the Spurs need if they want to compete.

 

[Mr. French]

FVV is the PG for the Rockets and Green is the scorer. It’s the same thing for the Cavs even if Mitchell and Green can come up and run the offense every now and then. But those are the very clear roles for those teams. Lakers and Mavs are situations with two high level scoring guards. That’s not the case in SAS as Steph is not a high level scorer currently. He's a way better facilitator.

And we literally saw this situation play out already with Fox and Haliburton and Haliburton can shoot. And you saw why Haliburton wanted out because he himself was an All-Star PG and wanted to run his own team. Now he’s an All-Star Olympian fresh off a ECF appearance all before 24.

Steph doesn’t need years of learning. He was going to be fine with the 1 year Chris Paul apprenticeship.

How about the Celtics, Luka’s team, OKC, any LeBron team, or any of the other dozens of examples of teams with multiple facilitators and point forwards?

Also, Castle is ready NOW to contribute, but he’s not ready to be THE lead guy. He may be, if not thrown into a crap situation, by the time he’s 24-25. That’s the goal.

YOUR goal for him is arguably easier for him this way. He’s not going to be given the keys, nor should he. You genuinely think him being LaMelo on a crappy team is BETTER for his career trajectory than this Spurs composition and another 10 years of possibilities?

You’re seeing it WAY too narrow, man. But I guess we can just agree to disagree. I’m going to keep watching his star ascend and maybe win 5 titles with a generational player.

 

[Mr. French]

BJ Armstrong shares similar concerns too.

We can find 50 clips of everyone being geeked to combat this. 1 former player having a hot take isn’t that persuasive. It’s just not nearly as large a concern as you think.

Him being a great piece to a great core with a great org is way more important than this season having the ball in his hands more. Bottom line.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

How about the Celtics, Luka’s team, OKC, any LeBron team, or any of the other dozens of examples of teams with multiple facilitators and point forwards?

Also, Castle is ready NOW to contribute, but he’s not ready to be THE lead guy. He may be, if not thrown into a crap situation, by the time he’s 24-25. That’s the goal.

YOUR goal for him is arguably easier for him this way. He’s not going to be given the keys, nor should he. You genuinely think him being LaMelo on a crappy team is BETTER for his career trajectory than this Spurs composition and another 10 years of possibilities?

You’re seeing it WAY too narrow, man. But I guess we can just agree to disagree. I’m going to keep watching his star ascend and maybe win 5 titles with a generational player.

Lamelo is an extreme example. But he could be Tyrese Haliburton, Cade Cunningham, SGA, Ja Morant, except he would’ve had Wemby to make winning easier.

He was averaging like almost 17 over his last 10 before they picked up Fox. He would’ve been ready in 3 years maximum to take this team to where they needed to go.

You can’t fault the Spurs for having a star player fall in their lap though. Hes going to be a part of winning if he stays there for sure. Just not sure how bright his star will shine or if he’d rather be Haliburton (who left a team that ended up being a 2 seed in the West the very next year).

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Playing off the ball a bit more will help Steph improve his scoring and secondary playmaking which the Spurs need if they want to compete.

Great. Steph will spend more time highlighting what he’s not good at instead of being able to lean into what he’s great at.

 

[Palatine]

Steph is a rookie. He will force his way onto the court soon enough.

Same with Clingan. They will have to move people to get DC on the court. If you watch his highlights, they are pretty sensational. They win a lot when he gets minutes.