Newcomer King Castle: The starting point of the Spurs dynasty!

When Wenban Yama won the Best Rookie with an overwhelming attitude in 2024, everyone is beginning to wonder: Who is the next successor? Who can continue this reconstruction momentum from the Silver and Black Legion and shoulder the banner of the new era?

Looking back at the 2024 draft echelon, they were considered to be insignificant from the beginning, and there was no new combat power of players like Wenbanyama, Cunningham, Zion or Doncic who were regarded as geniuses before the draft. Overall, this year is generally considered to be a cornerstone rookie who lacks instant combat power and can change the team's fate.

Now that the season is over, the competition is clear. Among the many young players, a calm and steady defender stood out from the storm, Stephen Castle, the fourth pick in the 2024 draft, from the Spurs' hope star.

Castle was not the first focus in the early stages. Before the draft, because most of his college years were mainly defense and off-ball play, some scouts believed that his offense still needed to be developed. Although he was firmly in the lottery before the draft, many people still think it will take him several years to adapt to the pace of the NBA.

In the end, the Spurs selected Castle with the fourth pick. Judging from this position, the Spurs still had great expectations for the young defender, but the focus of the media and fans was mainly on Wenban Yama at that time. No one expected that in just one year, Castle would not only stand firm in the Spurs, but also win the Best Rookie.

Looking back at Castle's rookie season, it was once full of challenges. Coach Popovich was missing due to health problems after coaching for five games. Then the team's main player Wenban Yama was reimbursed for the season due to thrombosis in February, and the new head controller Fox also withdrew due to surgery. But it was precisely under these dilemmas that Castle was able to grow rapidly. Although he is young, he is no longer a bystander and gradually becomes the main position of the team.

Recalling Castle's NBA debut, it was actually not impressive. He only scored 17 goals in the first eight games, his shooting percentage was only 30.4%, and his three-point shooting percentage was only 14.3%. But after the team's starting Sohan suffered a broken left thumb in Game 7, acting coach Johnson decided to put rookie Castle in the start.

For Castle, who plays the main defender, it is undoubtedly a difficult task to replace forward Sohan, who is averaging 15.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

It is precisely because of the team's injury that Castle has been awarded many defensive responsibilities this season and has been arranged to face opponents' main attack scorers many times. Star defenders such as Curry, Doncic, Brunson, Mitchell, etc. were once the targets of Castle's one-on-one defense.

Even though it is difficult enough, Castle's defensive efficiency is still ahead of the team in many games, but this is not surprising. Castle was originally a defensive player in college. Spurs general manager Brian Wright has also stated many times before that he and the team have attracted the defender because of their defense. As early as the preseason, Popovich described Castle as a defensive tough guy more than once.

As a rookie player, Castle roams back and forth between starting and substitute, constantly changing roles between ball-handling organization and offensive scoring. Although it is difficult, I never complain, just like the team's senior Duncan, who plays silently in a low-key manner. Coincidentally, Castle's father, Stacy, was an alumnus of Wake Forest University and had been teammates with Duncan for one year.

On November 15 this season, in the game against the Lakers, Castle scored 22 points in the whole game, facing James in the last moment and scored a key layup to help the Spurs take the lead for a short time. Although he was reversed by the Lakers in the end, Castle ushered in an unforgettable moment in his career after the game. After the game, 40-year-old James took the initiative to walk towards 20-year-old Castle, patted his shoulder and said:

"Continue to keep it, boy, you will become very special."

And after the game, Castle was excited to answer the reporter:

"I have watched James' games since I was a child, and it is incredible to be able to play the same game. It was him who told me how to read the game and asked me to continue working. If you continue to work hard, and read the opponent's response, how to move forward. For example, how to use your feet after breaking through the penalty area. I respect him very much and thank him for coming and talking to me about this. He actually doesn't have to do this. But as I said, I watched him play as a child since I was a child, and he came over and said this to me, which really means a lot to me." After that, Castle's confidence in the game continued to escalate. A few days later, without Wenban and teammates such as Wassel and Sohan, he helped the Spurs defeat the Thunder and won their first NBA Cup victory. Then Castle began to become the team's starter, scoring in double digits in 11 consecutive games, making core contributions in many games, and his personal data was also comprehensively improving, gradually becoming the top candidate for the best rookie.

During January, Castle averaged 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists per game and won the rookie of the month, with its usage rate soaring to 28.8%, and has gradually become the number one core of the Spurs backcourt. The All-Stars away challenge to the Hornets scored a career high of 33 points this season, setting a record for the Spurs' rookie substitute score. A month later, Castle scored 32 points against the league leader Thunder, and the two exciting performances of 30 points were all based on the bench lineup.

With veteran Paul as mentor, Castle grew quite fast. Starting from March, Castle has completely entered a period of outbreak. The entire month averaged 19.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists. It is the only rookie in the league who scored at least 100 goals and scored more than 70 free throws in a single month. He scored more than 15 points in nine consecutive games. He can perform stably even when facing strong teams such as the Thunder and Celtics, which are ranked among the top defensively in the league..

When he constantly switches different tasks this season, Castle's defensive burden has never decreased. From a rookie substitute to a starting main player, from a point guard to a shooting guard, whether he is paired with Paul or Fox, or he leads the team to an offense alone, Castle can make adjustments and respond more and more stable as he plays.

Such progress is directly reflected in the award selection of the Best Rookie. He won the second Western Conference Rookie of the Month in March, becoming the fourth rookie player in the Spurs history to win the Rookie of the Month twice after David Robinson, Duncan and Vinban Yama. At the end of March, facing the 76ers, he sent 14 assists in a single game record for rookies this season, which is also the highest record for rookies in a single game in the Spurs' history in 40 years. The second-most rookies in the team's history record for single game assists

After entering April, Castle continued to show his all-round skills, averaging 18.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game, and almost scored a triple-double in two consecutive games. He faced the Nuggets with 15 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, and 22 points, 9 rebounds and 11 assists against the Cavaliers; he has scored 100 points in the whole season, with 250 rebounds + 250 assists + 70 steals, making him the fourth rookie defender to reach this threshold after Doncic, Trae Young and Cunningham.

In addition, Castle has scored at least 20 points in 26 games throughout the season, including 6 double-doubles, and 11 games to play a comprehensive performance of 15+5+5, making him the only rookie player to achieve this achievement this season.

In the entire rookie list, Castle ranked first in rookies in scoring, shooting times and hits; free throws, free throws, steals data are all ranked first in rookies, and second in rookies in playing time and play games, and fourth in rookies in assists. He played 81 games throughout the season and played 2162 minutes in total, making him the fifth rookie in the history of the Spurs.

With Castle winning the Best Rookie, the Spurs became the only team in the past 50 years to win the award for two consecutive years, the last time was the Timberwolves’ No. 1 picks in 2015 and 2016, Wiggins and Towns.

For Castle, this Best Rookie Trophy is not only a recognition, but also the standard for the Spurs' future blueprint. The best rookie appeared on the same rebuilding team for two consecutive times, which is not only rare in history, but also the beginning of a new Spurs dynasty.