I have to let my emotions and thoughts out and be heard or else my health will decline… Watching Castle be ALL OVER THE PLACE on both defense and offense and nearly shutting down or helping shut down 90% of SGA in the WCF is honestly crazy and is the basketball gods work. Reed Sheppard would NEVER be able to do this and guard SGA like Castle is. It’s actually insane that we didn’t draft Castle. Castle is 21 YEARS OLD out here nearly locking up a 2x MVP in SGA, who is 27, and still staying attached to him possession after possession on defense. And then dunking on players taller than him and never giving up on any play. That level of discipline, strength, effort, IQ, and physicality at 21 is ridiculous and my heart is legit broken as a Rockets fan that our front office is this stupid. And it really kills me that the Rockets got completely screwed and fu**** in the 2023 draft lottery by Silver and should have had Wemby and the number 1 pick. Then somehow in 2024 we pass on Castle at number 3 for Sheppard, who barely even played any crazy minutes at Kentucky. The craziest part is Castle’s draft notes literally said, “Castle often was tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best scorer, and the game seemed to slow down for him as the season wore on.” HOW does Stone read that and not immediately think, “Yeah let’s take the 6’6”, 210 pound two way monster instead of the undersized guard in Sheppard who’s wingspan is not NBA level and barely played heavy minutes in Kentucky”? I just can’t believe Castle is already proving he can impact winning at the highest level on BOTH ENDS against MVP caliber players in the playoffs and in the WCF at age 21 with some damn good body control and agility to be everywhere and is a starter who has the green light from his coach to do whatever he wants but also get better game after game. I’m really heart broken as a Rockets fan…
I don't watch college ball, but I do wonder about our scouting department and Stone's decision making. Passing on a 2-way player with a dawg mentality and a desire to beat you to death for an undersized shooting guard is just professional malpractice. I love Reed when he is aggressive and making shots. Otherwise, Reed is useless.
You are literally insane, Castle would have started at point guard with Fred out and we would have beat the Lakers in the first round. You think Castle letting Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard bomb 3 after 3 on him? I switched sides like Anakin after 30 years because of this dumb gm and coach
it’s pretty obvious to anyone with a brain and 2 functioning eyes that Castle is significantly better than Reed Sheppard and has way more potential Reed Sheppard does not even look like a NBA player when he’s not hitting shots Castle has had several big games in these playoffs and is being used as the primary defender vs Shai in this series…Reed Sheppard would never be able to handle the sort of intensity and physicality being put on display vs the Thunder or even the Wolves, and he’s nothing more than a target to be abused on defense Reed Sheppard is not starting on the Spurs…matter of fact, he’d barely get minutes Reed Sheppard was getting wide open look after wide open look vs the Lakers bottom 10 defense and shot 30% from the field. Then people will sit here and tell you “b-b-but if he had Wemby.” What? He’d miss the same open looks?
I SAW THAT PRE-DRAFT!! And I swore up and down the Rockets were too smart to draft a SMALL TWEENER. He was not a PG, because he couldnt dribble nor was he big enough to be a SG and if I could see it, why couldn't the Rocket's Scouting Dept. BUT BOY WAS I WRONG....
They had Amen (and Tari) already. They were higher on Amen than Castle. I’m not sure it was entirely about Reed vs Castle.
I guess we needed a new thread to discuss this in, the Reed Sheppard is the Rockets’ Franchise Player™ thread was getting a bit long. If Reed doesn't take a big leap this season, the answer is Castle. Ask me again mid season.
“Reed Sheppard is not starting on the Spurs…matter of fact, he’d barely get minutes Yes he would lol and in fact, the spurs would develop him in a way where he could stay on the court. If castle can stay on the court averaging 10 TOs a game during the first two games, Reed wouldn’t get any run at all on the spurs? that being said, yes castle is better than reed(it does help to have Wemby and be better in a better system that accentuates your strengths too)
“he’d barely get minutes” and “he wouldn’t get any run at all on the Spurs” are 2 completely different statements… at best he is getting 10-15 minutes off the bench and getting yanked the second he starts getting abused defensively… 1st off, Castle was the primary defender on SGA, something Reed Sheppard could never be…he is also often pressuring Shai full court to try and tire him out 2nd, while Castle was averaging all those turnovers, he also gave them 17 and 11 and 25 and 8 there’s more to the game than just turnovers and he went on to have just 2 turnovers total in games 3 and 4 while once again being 1 of the main guys on Shai in game 3, Castle shot just 1-8, but he was able to get to the line 14 times because Castle can actually get to the rim and handle physicality…if Reed Sheppard goes 1-8, he’s finishing that game with 2 or 3 points Castle also played a whole 12 playoff games before his high turnovers in 2 games vs OKC, and he was the Spurs 2nd best player Reed Sheppard sh*t his pants against Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, and AARP Lebron
