He’s not getting talked about nearly enough. He’s falling under the radar due to not playing. He’s clearly the best prospect in this draft. So crafty and is such a damn good finisher.
2024 NBA Draft Mega Thread
- Thread starter Saint Cy of JFC
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He's disappeared for the past 2 1/2 months, right when he was about to jump a level in Europe. People are starting to worry if he'll have a chronic injury.
I really would love to jump into the top-4.
I'm coming around on Buzelis, even if he looks like a bit of a dork. His superpower is the ability to handle, process and playmake at 6'9". He has a really high BBIQ and ability to make reads. It doesn't always show because the Gleague is up-and-down and Ignite is terrible, but he's capable of making plays inside the arch with his decision-making. Put him in the middle of the floor and he can open up the Jazz's offense. He's got some Hayward-like versatility. He also tries hard and uses his length well defending wings.
I think the biggest problem with Castle's shot is his confidence in it. You know what he needs? He needs a Quin Snyder to scream in his face to take every even semi-open 3 he has or he's benched(half joking but yeah... he needs to build his confidence in it, even more than making any serious mechanical changes). I think a lot of his misses come off hesitation and uncertainty about whether he should take the shot or not, which is probably normal when playing on a team like UConn where you can get good shots relatively easily, so record-scratching a possession or two is no big deal... but this won't fly in the league. I won't act like this is not a problem because if he doesn't fix it this limits his potential in the league... but he still does SO MANY WINNING things on the floor... both offensively and defensively. I just don't see any other player in this draft that has better combination of positional size, bball IQ, vision, passing ability and willingness to make the right pass, unselfishness, skill, athleticism, defensive awareness and movement. He just does so many thing right. Now the question is can he take the next step with his shot.
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53 attempts is not a meaningful sample. He misses like 3 more of those and he's at 34%. Also, what I'm seeing in the stats is 41 attempts not 53.
Castle has better shooting indicators than both Thompson twins and Black. When the sample is so small, I think FT% is better indicator for shooting touch and potential for improvement at the next level. But he definitely does need to improve his confidence in it and he needs to shoot it without hesitation when the shot is there for him. To me this is the much bigger problem right now.
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About Edey vs Clingan... I guess Edey did make the point about his offensive game in this one. Even though I had little doubts about him being able to be this offensively efficient against NBA size, whatever doubts there were they were squashed. He answered that question with an emphatic and resounding force. But the biggest question about Edey was never his offensive prowess. It's his ability to stay on the floor defensively vs NBA athleticism, size and skill. And IMO here is where some questions remain and this is where a team like UConn showed some of the problems he might have at the next level - feet not quick enough, hesitation when covering the rim, slow recovery. I wish UConn had more/better PnR guards to see him cover that one, especially against someone who can shoot it off the dribble.
Clingan... I don't think he was doing anything bad in particular when guarding Edey... Edey just... was eating this game. A case of better offense... The interesting thing on offense was that initially he was pretty invisible when Edey was on the floor and the moment Edey sat, Clingan immediatey got a duck in for the and-1 at the rim then continued being active after Edey returned. Might be one of those players that you need to feed a bit for him to gain a momentum.
Clingan... I don't think he was doing anything bad in particular when guarding Edey... Edey just... was eating this game. A case of better offense... The interesting thing on offense was that initially he was pretty invisible when Edey was on the floor and the moment Edey sat, Clingan immediatey got a duck in for the and-1 at the rim then continued being active after Edey returned. Might be one of those players that you need to feed a bit for him to gain a momentum.
If you draft Castle as high as he is likely to go you are not drafting him to surround him with shooters(not that you don't want to have shooters around him...). You are drafting him because you believe he can become at least average shooter in due time.
I do
nt think he lacks confidence at all.