Castle’s play could force the Spurs to make a move sooner than anyone thought

With early injuries to Tre Jones and Devin Vassell, San Antonio Spurs rookie Stephon Castle has been able to play significant minutes to start the season. His logging of the first few minutes has helped the Spurs, who haven’t had a big guard capable of harassing opposing guards in a while.

He has also shown more in the way of creating shots. While he didn’t always play with the ball in his hands at UConn, Castle has experience at point guard and it shows in his ability to create separation with nasty crossovers. He is also skilled in using hesitation dribbles to throw off his defender’s timing and getting into the paint.

His shot is still a work in progress, but it’s safe to say Castle is better than many reasonably expected him to be right out of the gate. That presents the Spurs with a potential dilemma.

The Spurs went from having few options at point guard last season to more this season. There is of course Chris Paul and Jones who are injured, but also Blake Wesley who has been fantastic defensively. Castle could eventually take Paul’s spot in the starting lineup at point guard, but plays backup shooting guard, at least for now.

If Castle continues to play well, then it would make sense for coach Gregg Popovich to consider starting him next to Paul. Vassell will be back soon and Jeremy Sochan has played fantastic so he shouldn’t be on the bench and of course there is Victor Wembanyama.

Benching Julian Champagnie and Harrison Barnes might seem like a bad idea considering both are above-average shooters, but one will be headed to the bench anyway, and the second unit already doesn’t have much cap space. Jones, Wesley, Keldon Johnson and Zach Collins are all below-average shooters, so moving two good shooters to the bench would help in that regard.

The Spurs would also get another ball-handler in the starting lineup and more shot creation. Paul, Castle, Vassell and Sochan, who have looked increasingly comfortable attacking closeouts, plus Wemby, give San Antonio five players who can create shots for themselves or others.

Defensively, Castle would get reps guards the other team’s best guard, while Paul, Vassell, Sochan and Wembanyama are also good on that end of the floor. That would give the Spurs balance at both ends of the starting line-up and more shooting off the bench.

Starting Castle would also come with the benefit of potentially accelerating his development, which should be a goal for this season. Therefore, the Spurs should embrace starting him going forward.