Stephon Castle showed his upside in Summer Spurs’ loss to Hornets

The team offense was a mess in a blowout loss, but Castle got better as the game wore on.

The San Antonio Spurs’ summer exhibition squad was outclassed by the Charlotte Hornets in Sacramento. Fourth overall pick Stephon Castle showed off his impactful point-of-attack defense, and his offense got stronger as the game progressed. Yet the squad committed too many turnovers and its offense was barren.

To start, the Spurs had trouble scoring in the paint and were off-target shooting from the wings, missing six tries. The Hornets’ energy was up 100°, allowing them to take a 14-point advantage through the first 10-minute quarter.

The response was logging seven of 18 baskets and holding the Hornets to 38 percent accuracy, keeping the deficit at 14 heading into halftime.

The last two quarters looked like runs at LA Fitness, with the Spurs briefly cutting the gap.

The Hornets won 97-65. The Spurs’ starting unit converted 12 of 41 baskets, and the reserves tallied 26 percent of attempts.

Let’s review the observations.

Stephon Castle watch

The 2024 Big East Freshman of the Year had a forgettable debut for the Silver and Black, yet there were brief signs of promise as he was the team’s top performer. His handle is decent and he has nice first-step speed, but for now he’s green as grass.

On offense, Castle wasn’t sharp as a finisher or outside scorer. He started, missing on a driving pick and roll set, bricked a one-legged jumper at the nail, failed a right-elbow shot after getting free by the screen, and was denied at close range after flaring into the lane. His first basket came over six-and-a-half minutes in, hitting a floater on a transition screen roll.

As the playmaker in the open and half court, he made the right reads, finding the man ahead and locating the corner sniper and roller.

Defensively, he locked and trailed well and was disruptive on the ball to complete his first stint of action. He also recovered on time when pinned by the screen. To boot, Castle moves well laterally and with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, has the tools to be a defensive boogeyman.

In frame two, he threw the ball into traffic, traveled on the right wing and passed up a triple. His defensive mistake was biting on Leaky Black’s fake and fouling him at the rim.

His finest possession was throwing a dart to Nathan Mensa on a horns set and canning a deep catch-and-shoot tray at the top of the key. On the latter, broadcaster Mark Jones joked that the coach told him he must sit next to him if he passes up another trifecta.

In the third quarter, Castle attacked the rim multiple times and connected on a left-wing 3-pointer on a horns set.

He finished with 12 points on 33% accuracy, with six rebounds, three assists and a turnover in 20 minutes.

Other prospects

Nathan Mensa snagged eight rebounds, five on offense, in 13 first-half minutes. He wasn’t crashing the glass as hard to follow up, grabbing two more to end the night.

Harrison Ingram’s debut was quiet. His handle is not tight enough, plus he struggled scoring from long and short range. Although, he supplied seven rebounds in 26 minutes.

Sidy Cissoko looked stiff but significantly leaner. He missed twice at short distance and turned the ball over by losing his balance going into the square.

The Spurs’ next exhibitions are on Sunday against the Sacramento Kings and on Tuesday versus the Chinese National Team.