Scoring, rebounding, assists, protecting the rim, closing out, picks. Monster Castle is doing it all. Everything we have been asking for Colin is doing.
He's going to have to make 3's to make it in the league. His post game in terms of moves and strengths isn't enough against NBA 4/5's and he's not a great lob threat. His one NBA level skill is his excellent passing: he could be an elite passer from the 5 spot but I don't think his offensive game is good enough right now where teams won't just sag off of him or tell their guys to play 1v1 on him in the post to prevent that from being exploited. Having more strength in his base to hold position for boards and some increased range on his jumpshot and you can see him become playable.
Is he vegetarian? What’s his deal. why is it always the weak dudes that wear a tshirt under their jersey? FYI, you don’t look any bigger. Time to hit the weights
He actually seems somewhat tough and grabs rebounds and block shots even though he looks a little skinny. He may be one of those bigs with "sharp elbows" and "low base?" or whatever that allows him to play stronger than he actually looks. Sort of like a Domantis Sabonis. That dude doesn't look like a 12-13 rebounds guy imo.
sabonis is narrow-shouldered but solid-packed. castleton is wider but wispier, imo. sabonis doesn't get moved around, but castleton does. look at the legs especially.
In that photo …. the upper legs are not where they should be. But it’s also a two years or older pic from college though your point about getting moved is true.
When you look at a players like Charles Barkly and Reggie Evans they had guard height and were rebounding machines. They were low to the ground and had strong legs. Charles wasn't a physical specimen. Kevin Love was flabby and unathletic and also was a very good rebounder.
rebounding seems to be as much about instincts/hoop iq as anything. rodman just knew where that ball was going. and yes, he claimed to practice that, but i think a good chunk is just pattern recognition that some are naturally really good at (like pgs or nfl qbs). jason kidd was a great rebounding guard without being a great athlete or particularly huge (big for a guard, but not big). obviously, tenacity matters, and then technical things like boxing out with good technique, etc. but some guys really just have a better sense of where the ball will be.
If it were me I would start asking Colin to be aggressive and try to score in some of the ways I’m sure he can against guys his size and smaller. It’s like he feels he doesn’t have a green light to do that and I think he should. He’s shown a certainly decent shooting motion and handles the ball well enough to score around the basket too depending on the match up. All in addition to his playing OK D off the bench with his good size and mobility, setting picks, rebounding and passing well. Sirron and I were cracking on him last year for seemingly always running at 3/4 speed. Not this game but last I think … he turned on his speed in one full court sprint that was truly impressive. They ought to develop him and actually use him more for sure this year with his 2-way status. If not back up center some games then at power forward off the bench in a pinch.
he needs to play so well and dominant that he forces them to play him. Anything less, and he doesn't deserve to play. Same goes with every other player.
Castleton is rebounding well this offseason. There is a limited sample size, but he's getting about 10 rebounds per 36 minutes. Also, 8 assists and 3 blocks per 36 isn't too shabby either.
Just like Christie, he will need real burn to develop. He still needs to build a stronger core and base.
That's the problem. He's the lightest 250 lbs I've seen. He's an older "kid" at 24 and he hasn't made any strides there. I'll give him another year to see if a new development team can help him out, but he still looks like a G-League big who doesn't have what it takes to crack a NBA roster.
