Brian Windhorst: “I was talking to people at the Spurs and like two weeks into them having him, they were like, ‘We got him. We got Victor’s running mate, we got him. We hit the jackpot, we got him.‘”
Harper is gonna be a star
Wemby, castle, Harper b2b2b in the draft is absurd
Yeah and they basically lucked into the NFLs “good QB on a rookie contract equals winning team” model
Like Wemby, Harper, Castle make peanuts. Combined they make less than Fox
Its incredibly easy to build a supporting cast when your 3 best players make nothing
That’s very similar the situation the Thunder were in last year too. Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren made like \(15M combined. Hartenstein and Dort were their second and third highest paid players after SGA. Even this year, Chet and JDub made less than \)21M combined. Starting next year though they’re going to have to make choices, because they will both be on max contracts.
I don’t really want the NBA to get into “must have a star on a rookie deal” mode though. As much fun as it is when young teams are on their way up, it sucks when stars in their prime can’t win anymore because the cap hit is too big.
Yeah I mean thats the elephant in the room
On the EC side the Knicks are incredibly lucky Brunson took a massive discount. Its the Tom Brady peice
That’s why the Knicks had to go literally all in and pray for the best for this year and next, because they’ve got KAT, Brunson, and Anunoby all due for extensions in the next couple of years (OG has a player option for 28-29, but he’s leaving \(15M on the table taking only \)48M that year). KAT and Hart can be extended after this season, Brunson and Anunoby after next. All three are players that could reasonably command north of $55M/yr, especially OG.
There’s just absolutely no fucking way they can pay all three of KAT/OG/Jalen a total of \(175M, plus another \)33M for Bridges. Even the Celtics are only paying their top 4 guys \(155M, so this would be another \)50M on top of that. Then figure that they gave up five first-round picks, a second, and a pick swap to get Bridges, and I’m not sure exactly how they stay competitive after next year.
Realistically speaking they will sign and trade OG. He is worth more to teams than Hart or Bridges. A sign and trade allows them to keep the cap space and gives him his max pay
Its better for them to let Hart go but teams wont want him as much
Tanking will only get worse if that keeps up too. If you need a rookie deal star, why bother trying to fight it
Damnit, I didn’t see this comment because I’m blind, apparently, but this.
Also, I’ve always wondered how much of a discount Brady really took in the big picture since he raised his brand with all of the rings.
Teams have to stop giving max deals to players that are a 3rd option on a team.
Chet is good but he’s not a max player based on impact.
When he’s not getting owned by Wemby, he’s an All-NBA player and a DPOY candidate. That’s supposed to mean people around the league think he’s one of the 15 best players in the league, which is worth a max deal. Having seen him the most vs. the Spurs I find that wild, but he looks enough better against other teams that I guess that’s supposed to be his value?
I mean, he’s got a similar effectiveness around the rim to Rudy, with better perimeter defense. That might not be the max player you are most excited to have, but it is a max player.
The problem is the cap makes it so you can’t replace your 3rd option if you let him walk. Your choices are pay them or lose them and not be able to sign a replacement, not pay them less or pay someone else.
Then someone else will and they will have a gap in their roster. That’s why building a roster is difficult.
Boston has two all nba players and they are cooked cap wise. The supermax rules were not updated when they added the aprons, it just fucks teams if you have more than 1 all nba guy.
I wouldn’t say easy. Free agency isnt what it used to be and the apron can make it harder for trades even if your books are ok. And I imagine everyone is trying to figure out the value of first round picks now
But definitely a great spot to be in
Easy is a relative term, imo, and when you pay the level of players with their production \(35M this year and \)40M next year, it’s easy in comparison to what other teams have to do.
Oh for sure. Just saying that the rules don’t make obvious postions to upgrade as straight forward as it would be in other sports.
And on top of that the lottery changes get implemented right after they’re done tanking and loading up in the draft.
Nobody will be able to replicate this moving forward.
And when all three are good-elite defenders.
But almost never wins a Super Bowl, it’s of note.
Didnt the Eagles (Hurts), Cheifs (Mahomes), and Eagles (Wentz/Foles) all win recently on it?
I too would like to make nothing
That gets infinitely harder in like 2 years.
Annoying when media talks about spurs’s success stemming from their winning culture and not their insane luck in 3 consecutive drafts.
Why can’t it be both? I mean sure Wemby probably would be good anywhere, but as a Bulls fan, I have full faith that we could fuck up Castle & Harper’s development and that here they wouldn’t look anything close to what they do now. The fact they landed on the Spurs plays a huge part.
Yeah, I don’t think we’d be seeing these versions of Castle and Harper if they were drafted by at least 25 of the other teams in the NBA.
Harper was the #3 high school prospect behind only Flagg/Bailey and was all but the unanimous #2 pick in his draft class. He would’ve been great anywhere lmao
yeah this does a pretty big disservice to both of them
top prospects flame out all the time and Harper has shown incredible poise for someone his age/experience already.
Harper surely benefited from having Five-Ring Ron as his dad.
That’s some serious real-world NBA knowledge he likely inherited.
Harper would be drafted 1st overall if he was in this draft class. He was a no doubter
3 teams had a chance to take castle, it’s not all luck
It’s kinda luck that they didn’t take castle
You can use this argument to discredit anyone
Yeah how insanely lucky 6 teams passed on Steph. Are they all stupid?
5 teams
They were just lucky that every team in the league passed on Ginobili and he fell to them at 57.
He wouldn’t be this good with the hawks, rockets, or wizards lmao. You can’t have 3 non shooters in one lineup with amen, sengun, and castle. How are people not getting that?
Dude they got a #1 a #4 and a #2 pick in three consecutive, and the #1 and #2 picks were from among the strongest draft classes we’ve seen in ages. That’s a LOT of luck.
Yep maybe back in the Duncan, Parker, Ginobli days, but their success right now is 99% based on insane lottery luck. There are teams that have never moved up in the lottery and the spurs did it in 3 straight drafts.
Drafting the best PF of all time isn’t insane luck too?
They were lucky the Admiral was hurt the year prior
Any time your franchise player gets a career altering injury, you just have to chalk that up to ridiculous good fortune.
I swear this sub isn’t real and we’re all just arguing with figments of our imagination. These can’t be real people using a brain.
I mean yeah that was also extremely lucky. At least they got Parker and Ginobli on their own though for those teams lol.
How was 2023 and 2024 luck?
They had the best odds to get Wemby and 3 other teams passed on Castle lmfao. 2025 is the only one you can call black magic
There was an 86% chance that the Spurs didn’t get Wemby.
But more so the fact that they had only been in the lottery 7 times in their team history to that point (in no small part due to their past luck) 3 times with a generational big as the clear #1 pick, and won all 3.
Luck yes but Spurs have traded away multiple all-stars to be in the position they’re in now over the years… Kawaii Leonard, Dejonte Murray, Derrick White, DeRozan…
2 out of 3 we’re lucky. It’s not the Spurs fault other teams picked two soft frenchy’s and a small point guard over Castle.
I can count on 1 hand the number of teams outside of the Spurs that would’ve given us this version of Harper and Castle, this soon.
And don’t sleep on Vassell in 2020. A couple of busts in ‘21 & ‘22 but DV been ballin in the playoffs.
Not to mention getting the three greatest big man prospects every time they have the #1 pick lol
Kind of like KD, Russ, and Harden. It all depends where the players decide where their fate would be.
Luckiest damn franchise in history.
Luka, Gasol, and Kobe trades say hi. Is it skill that teams keep dumping franchise players to the Lakers at a huge discount?
Yeah I’m more inclined to believe those weren’t luck, they were “influenced”, nobody rigging for San Antonio but a lot of what is there is pure luck, imagine the team with Brandon Miller instead of Wemby lol
I think within 2 years, they have a clear big 3. Where they have a clear best player in the world, a guy in the top 10-15 range (Harper) and a guy in the top 25 range (Castle.) I think Castle is all-defense potential but I’m not sure about all-NBA potential, while Harper clearly has all-nba potential
Castle absolutely has all-NBA potential, he’s still only 21 and is the second best player on a Finals team. Not saying he’s a lock to get there but he’s already insanely good and has a ton of weaker areas to work on still
Castle is so damn good, it’s crazy
It’s gotta be the best 3 consecutive picks in the history of nba franchises?
Durant, Westbrook, Harden
This is a fun comp. Like there’s almost no way the Spurs trio can all win MVPs like the OKC gang, but they probably compliment each others’ games better and will probably find greater longer sustained success.
I could definitely see Harper ending his career being better than Westbrook and Harden. That dude is special.
It’s especially fun bc each guy actually compares quite well to these guys as far as type. Wemby is similar to Durant, castle is similar Westbrook and Harper is similar to harden. But only similar. I think all 3 are better defenders than all 3 OKC guys.
If Harper was 30 years old he would easily be considered as top 25-30 player in the league but he is twenty frigging one?!
If basketball gods save Spurs from seriously stupid injuries they will probably own the league.
He turned 20 in March
That’s disgusting. He plays like a got damn 28 year old vet. If i had no clue and you told me Fox was the rookie and Harper was the 7 year man I wouldn’t even blink.
Harper just turned 20 lol.
I’m sorry but the Harper glaze is insane. The guy almost shot them out of the game last night. He’s very good for a rookie but he’s not top 30 get fucking real lol
True he isn’t top 30, but making broad judgements after one game is also pretty silly…
Yup, top 30 players don’t have bad games ever. He’s a rookie in the FINALS and he had an ok game, it wasn’t even bad. And he didn’t play bad enough for them to lose. The glaze is not insane at all, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rookie guard this poised.
They hit the jackpot three times on a row. Luckiest franchise ever.
Looking at b2b2b max extensions before they know it too.
Also illustrates what’s wrong with the draft lottery…
He’s talking about Castle here btw, and I agree obviously. Castle has been an insane stud and has improved so quickly. He’s a bit turnover prone but that’s to be expected from a 21 year old playing against finals teams.
If his 3-ball improves (and it’s improving already) he is going to be one of the best two way players in basketball.
He’s also using so much energy guarding Brunson - insane footwork and movement on D - so I’m not surprised he’s a bit sloppy at times on offense.
And having Harper and Vassel as switch options is just brutal. No wonder Brunson is shooting so poorly.
Our guard rotation is ridiculous. I’m excited to see what happens when we get a good true PF.
And we play all 4 at times lmao
And when he gets funneled down to Wemby it’s almost always been a brick. It’s crazy, but Brunson is still insanely impressive. I’d give him superstar status after this, regardless of the series outcome.
Yeah he wasnt efficient but he made clutch baskets in their wins
Yeah he was amazing on defense
It must be exhausting to deal with that for Brunson. It tired me just to watch it
Watching him as a UConn fan it was clear he’d have a long career in the nba at a minimum. Guy is a dog and a winner, with a massive ceiling if he becomes a reliable shooter
I don’t think enough people are talking about his shooting. His 3 pt attempts are higher in the playoffs than the regular season and it’s 36% against playoff defenses. I get he’s not guarded like a sniper and most of his 3 balls are catch and shoot, but I think he might already be a reliable off ball shooter.
His FT% going up in the playoffs is what so impressive
And THEN they got someone even better (at least in the future), it’s awesome.
I love Castle’s defense and see him as a top 5 perimeter defender in the near future, but offensively he’s clearly a step below Harper (at least after a bit more Harper development, not that he needs it).
Harper is more polished in what he’s good at, but Castle has a higher ceiling.
Harper is smooth and fluid. Castle is sharp and aggressive. They are a great compliment.
Harden Westbrook regen
Don’t wish that on us. They’re gonna at least win chips unlike the other two. Lol
Eh, I disagree.
Oooh I hard disagree on that. Castle is amazing and a dog and his development has been 99th percentile. But Harper’s ceiling is elite lead guard. All-nba 1st team. I think the ceiling for Dylan is a tier higher than Castle
So is Castle’s..I think that’s the point. People aren’t overrating Harper, they’re under rating Castle’s ceiling.
Lol thanks for clarifying. Without looking at the video, I was assuming they said this after getting Harper
Turnover issues are related to his ball handling. Last two stages in his development is improved ball gandling(like Jaylen Brown level improvement, nothing crazy) and shooting off the dribble).
Mid range is more key to unlocking his offense
Id be surprised if his 3pt shot ever constantly improves over what he shot this year. Still, ~33% with his defense is legit
a lot of great players are turnover prone, he’s fine
Windhorst is talking about Castle, not Harper for people not listening to the clip.
It’s a problem for the league that it applies at least as well to Harper. They should move fox asap.
Another year with Fox sounds about right to me. He’s been dealing with an injury over the last weeks and he’s generally quite streaky on the offensive end, but he also really steadies their play. Castle and Harper are the future, they’re gonna be an elite duo for a decade. I’m honestly surprised how well Fox works as a mentor. They don’t make the finals without Fox, that’s for sure.
I agree. Fox needs to stay at least another year. Castle is so physical and strong, he allows all three of them to play together. Fox just hasn’t been healthy enough to really see it
Why “as soon as possible”? Unless you can get something better in a trade, keeping him as a veteran presence makes a lot of sense
His contract ends right as they start needing to pay their young core, perfect time to tell Fox he can take a team-friendly deal or part ways
But unless the Spurs think they can land Giannis or something, someone that’s an obvious upgrade, why move on from a player that’s part of their winning formula?
The difference is Castle was the 4th pick, Harper was the #2 prospect in those drafts and they would have been fine with Flagg as well so it was a no brainer, same with Vic, but if you look at the 2024 draft you will end up scratching your head as to how anyone was drafted in front of him other than Sarr I guess.
Sarr on this team woulda been pretty interesting, I think had we had the 1st pick we probs get him and with the 2nd/3rd pick we probably still end up with ether Sheppard or Castle.
I feel like Castle still ends up being the obvious pick for us at 2 or 3, we needed guards and perimeter defending more than anything (in 2024 iirc we were bottom 3 in defence in the entire league despite Vic being consensus top 2 defender in the league already) and Castle was by far the best defensive guard in the draft and had a lot of upside on his playmaking/shot creation that ended up paying off
Did you not watch the game last night where Fox bailed us out twice in the last 90 seconds as well as having a huge game 2? The spurs are full of inexperienced players, Fox has been up and down in the playoffs but he provides something we really need and don’t have right now.
The fact that you could assume either player was the subject is insane
I like how we have to clarify what other great player they are talking about. lol
We were REALLY lucky to get Area 51 together.
And with Harper it’s like they found the algorithm to open the fucking Stargate.
I didn’t mention Harper because I would get yelled at for the GREED.
There’s still a timeline when we pick up Flagg and Harper in the same draft man, those lottery balls hahaha
Yeah. It’s not fair.
The Spurs would want to hold on to Harper and develop him like Manu. He has the potential to be so elite. Can get to the basket, can shoot, defend, can pass. Just needs to hold on to the ball.
I would love Wemby/Castle/Harper to be the new big 3 after Timmy/Tony/Manu.
I hope it all pans out honestly, I honestly get so excited thinking about their games developing & improving as the years go by.
Teams, really should be able to keep players they drafted. I know the NBA is trying to limit dynasties, but as a fan it’s so fun to root for guys who started as rookies and developed through the same team
Yeah I think the “we bought a bunch of talent” type teams should be discouraged, but “we drafted a bunch of studs and turned them into a dynasty” is what the whole thing is about - penalizing teams for scouting, drafting, and developing well is just stupid.
Easy solution - give teams a cap discount for any player they draft. Player gets paid the same, teams incentivized to develop talent to get an advantage.
That would make too much sense so Silver wouldn’t do it
I figured they should make a tax exemption such that every year a player is on a team’s roster their salary affects the cap less and less for each consecutive year.
This would prevent GMs from simply signing a bunch of big names, but also not penalize teams for wanting to pay their core guys.
Their bird rights extra pay shouldn’t count for the luxury tax
All 3 are very likely to get supermaxes (or maxes on another team) so unless the rules change, you’re gonna lose one of them.
Manu is my favorite player of all time. Harper has a higher ceiling. He’s gonna get the keys to the offense sooner rather than later.
They cant hold him back that long hes gonna have to start sooner than later. They should think about trading Fox after next season.
What are the chances he’d be a willing 6th man?
And then we got another one the next year 😭
Pick 20 won’t help much next season
Every little bit helps with this roster, Spurs have no depth in the playoffs.
You don’t want a Jalen Johnson?? Lol
If whoever we pick turns into Jalen Johnson I’d be so happy but that’s not likely lol
I know haha I’m just joking. More likely another Branham but we have Carter Bryant still developing
Castle got a bit of Westbrook in him. Can be a little wtf at times but still really good.
Harper? Man. I am just impressed. Rookies don’t play the way he does. Especially at point.
Exactly my thoughts on Harper. It’s amazing to see him play this well of the world’s largest stage.
The Westbrook comparison is a pretty good one that I hadn’t thought about before.
Not just me. I heard somebody else say it too. Maybe bill Simmons?
Anyway. Another thing is I will bet you wemby does something with his contract to allow for them to keep this core together.
Westbrook didn’t play defense like Castle
They just need a great bona-fide 4, Vassell has been great doing his best playing on the post rebounding and even blocking bigger players but it’s a glaring hole in the Spurs starting lineup going forward.
It’s crazy how much Castle has been underrated this playoffs.
Harper is crazy talented, Spurs are lucky to have him..but he has very little responsibility on this team. He just comes into the game, plays good defense and takes the ball to the basket. (Which is what the expectations for a rookie should be) He’s been great, but it’s crazy to me to look at what he’s done and look at what Castle has done, and go “Harper will be better.” He really hasn’t shown that. It would be one thing if Castle was 25, but he’s only a year older. It’s his first playoffs too.
Castle is the team’s POA defender, the primary ball handler, the primary play maker, the guy directing the offense even off ball, the second leading scorer (and responsible for creating all of his own baskets). And in every single area of offense he is both great enough to be effective but also incredibly unpolished - to the point where there is considerable room to grow, but it’s beyond evident that it’s there. Oh, and it’s his first year playing PG outside of high school.
He’s both the second best player and second most important player on this team. He’s been the player with a big game in every single elimination or must win game for the Spurs. He’s 21, only one year older than Harper and one year of more experience. I’m not sure why he keeps being talked about like he’s a 5 year vet.
People need to pause for a minute with him and really think about what he’s doing. Yeah, mistakes are made..but he’s taken all of that responsibility on and done it so well that they are in the Finals, in fact I’d argue that the reason they are in the Finals is because they gave Steph the keys to the car.
1000% agree. Castle is an absolute stud
I think Harper has a clearer road to superstardom on offense (which is what most people look at). Harper has more of a smoothness to his game and the ability to get to the room with multiple moves and counters well beyond his age. Creating that initial advantage is huge. Castle is more dependent on how the refs are calling the game because he looks to introduce a lot more physicality on both sides of his play and it looks more variable as a result.
I think that Harper is more likely to be the better natural scorer, but the gap won’t be that large and Castle will be the better player in literally every other area of the game.
What a core they have.
Says a lot that people are interpreting the quote as both Harper and Castle
real talk, how are they gonna keep all of them
Won’t be that hard. At least not till they get off their rookie max extentions. That’s like 6-7 years down the road.
Wemby will take a pay cut.
Because the NBA max salaries are quite a bit lower for guys signing their second contract after their rookie deal expires. Even Wemby on supermax can’t sign a deal for as much as vets like SGA, Giannis, KAT, Curry, Embiid, Booker, etc.
Their gonna be a new cba by than
Yay homonyms!
Hahahaha
just like they fixed the tanking rules after Spurs got 3 straight superstars, they’ll fix the apron rules right around the time they have to sign them long-term.
[deleted]
This summer the Spurs will extend Wemby to the max starting 27-28, which becomes supermax if he makes an All NBA Team, wins DPOY, or wins MVP next year. Supermax for him will be 30% of the cap, non supermax would be 25%. Tim took a paycut when he was around year 14 or so, not in his prime.
> So this is how that draft went. Zaccharie Risacher, #1 to the Hawks … ah, ok.
😂😂😂
I particularly enjoy when he decides he’s going to try to destroy someone’s immortal soul with a dunk.
It’s peak entertainment, even when he misses.
Obviously the Fox trade made a lot of sense at the time, but I wonder how the spurs would’ve managed that trade flexibility if they knew what they were getting w Castle and Harper too.
Obviously this logic could be applied to any team, but it’s wild that the spurs lineup is basically Wemby and a bunch of guards/wings. Their next tallest starter after Wemby is what? 6’6” or 6’7”?
I 100% don’t think they get this far without Fox. Castle clearly isn’t ready to be the primary offensive runner, and I doubt Harper is there either.
Harper can get himself shots. He’s not really making plays for others as of now
You get it. This whole “combo guard” trend got people thinking anyone who can drive to the rim can run 40+ possessions a night.
Yea without Fox to take some of the heat off of Castle after 20 TOs in the first two games of Thunder, that series could look a lot different.
100% people have been discounting him because of this playoff performance
They can always salary dump Fox when it’s time to pay castle
Harper*
Its hard because we never know. last season, wemby suffered the unfortunate blood clot so they shut down fox too so he can have surgery. Had those things not happen theyll have more wins which lessens the odds to land top4 which could have cost them not getting harper
They didn’t give up a whole lot to get Fox. It was an unprotected Wolves 2030 pick, a top 10 protected pick from Chicago, their own 2027 pick, two seconds from Charlotte, Tre Jones who they had no minutes for with Fox, Castle, and CP3 there, and a guy they were desperate to salary dump after grossly overpaying him on a new contract the year before in Zach Collins.
We saw what happened without Fox against OKC. Our team averaged 2 million turnovers and needed one of the best playoff performances of all time from Wemby to scrape one game off
The reason Harper has not been given minutes in 4Q until game 3 is cause he literally doesn’t know what to do on the court, let alone run the offense. They’d run more lineups with him and Fox together the rest of the series. Most of Harper’s offense right now is him attacking in transition / cross matches, as we as attacking a close out / iso with Fox/Castle running the offense. Fox is a perfect trade cause they have someone to run the offense and allows the kids to just hoop.
Spurs are fine till 2028 in terms of salary cap. It’s gonna be tighter when wemby and castle rookie contracts expire, but until 2028 they should have enough space to keep their depth.
The problem will be post 2028, because wemby will be on a super if he’s eligible, and both castle and harper will be on a max. Realistically, if they wanna keep all 3 of them, they will have to let go of not only fox, but also some other role players with big salaries. Vassel, KJ, etc. Idk if they’ll be able to keep kornet too. It’s literally the same issue OKC has right now with their big 3.
Ngl I hate the salary cap system in the NBA, because it punishes teams that draft well, while rewarding teams that tanks the second half of their season for better pick odds. It would be nice if teams had more flexibility, like in soccer. Big teams with lot of capitals can buy star players, while smaller teams with less revenue can get more out of a rookie they developed and save up till they can buy their own star player. It’s a lot more flexible.
I like how angry Castle always seems to be just at the idea of someone guarding him.
People hate on Windy a lot but he’s always been very solid and I could really listen to him talk about anything. He’s just got a good rhythm and timbre to his speech
And then they get Harper the next year 🤣
This is going to be generational copypasta
Wemby, Castle, and Harper are gonna terrorize the league for years. It’s like the new Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli
This really is a reminder of just how mauled Castle gets on every drive
the spurs asset management has been insane. turning the derozan trade into a core of wemby/castle/harper while keeping max cap flexibility is textbook rebuild. contrast that with teams who rushed back to mediocrity and never bottomed out properly
That’s one shitty title right there. Is he talking about Castle? Fox? Harper?
This feels like Duncan, Parker and Manu all over again lol.
In my viewing of the playoffs, but especially of the finals, Harper is the real offensive present and future of the spurs… and he’s good at defense too. The kid is very special.
Genuinely thought I was on the spurs sub for a second lol
Need to zoom out a little yeesh
I feel like Wemby is as good if not better than a young Shaq. Call me crazy but Stephon Castle AND Dylan Harper are equally as good as young Kobe. Question is, which one will take the leap to be 2000-2003 Kobe.
It’s not fair.
I’ve read nothing past the title, and I have no idea if he’s talking about Castle or Harper.
Needing a guard and having Castle and Sheppard on the board and taking Sheppard is a tough look. That goes on your permanent record.
Swap those two and the league is different.
Sheppard might look another different on the spurs in their system
If Harper and Castle develop good 3pt shots…it’s game over.
Crazy to say this about castle and Harper is the guy I’d pick to be a top 5 guy.
This team has some room before cap gets them too.
Thought this clip was gonna be about Harper
Why would the Rockets pick a role player with #3? I guess the draft was perceived to be that weak.
Nobody here watched the video and cast their own aspersions
It’s not always where you draft it’s how you draft
Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.
And this Harper kid
Dem young boys..
Wemby really could use a good post up game ..Spurs can slow the game down so he can pass out of the post when not scoring
he was never going to houston:
One of those teams was the Houston Rockets, who ultimately took Reed Sheppard out of Kentucky with the third pick. Per league sources, Rockets coach and former Spurs assistant Ime Udoka was a huge fan of Castle’s (which Castle said he was well aware of). But with veteran Fred VanVleet manning the point guard position and young Jalen Green at the two-guard spot, Castle and his camp sent the kinds of signals Houston’s way that eventually led to him landing in San Antonio. Just as he’d hoped.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7343611/2026/06/10/spurs-knicks-wembanyama-popovich/
surprises me a bit san antonio has a lotta basketball success, they’re not a major city like l.a. or nyc. they do have 1.5M population tho. 2nd biggest city in Texas, ok, didn’t know that