NBA Comparison: Dante Exum

Strengths: Castle is a physically gifted SG/PG who stands 6’6 210 with pretty good strength and overall athleticism, showing excellent agility and body control while being a solid leaper off 1 or 2 feet with deceptive quickness … Tricky and unorthodox; plays the game at his own unique pace and keeps defenders off balance with his ability to change tempos when operating with the ball … Shifty and creative with above average ball-handling skills; likes to lull defenders before driving downhill and is a master of misdirection as an ambidextrous slasher who can operate on either side of the floor … Likes to use a quick spin move in either direction when played too much to one side … Strong around the rim; can finish above the rim with a head of steam and convert through contact (59 FG% inside the arc) … Promising court vision (3 APG as a Fr.) … Effective drive and dish player; seems most comfortable operating on the move as a passer whether in halfcourt or in the transition game … Pretty comfortable in the pick and roll too; made plenty of nice pocket passes and alley-oops for easy baskets to his big men this season … More comfortable with the ball than without it, but occasionally shows the off-ball awareness needed to find open areas and make timely cuts to get behind the defense … Looks good operating in transition … Shows signs of a back to the basket game in the mid-post area, which wouldn’t be bad to build on as a bigger combo guard … Willing rebounder from the perimeter (4.7 RPG) … Projects to be among the best perimeter defenders in the 2024 Draft class, especially on the ball … Can smother small guards but also has the size, strength and lateral quickness to defend bigger perimeter players…Ability to navigate and get through screens is beyond his years; had a number of excellent defensive possessions this season … Moves his feet and gets in a low stance that allows him to cut off dribble penetration effectively … Also an aware off-ball defender who had quite a few deflections that led to turnovers, and can make teams pay for telegraphed passes (25 steals) … Flashes some fringe triple-double potential due to his ability to chip in in multiple facets of the game…Pretty poised for such a young player …

Weaknesses: Not a plodding athlete by any means but he’s much more smooth than explosive and much closer to average than elite … Currently is not a very good shooter (26 3FG%, 17 made 3s in 32 games as of writing), and he’s less confident the further out in range that he gets … Teams will inevitably dare him to shoot by going underneath screens and clogging up his driving lanes until he can keep them honest … His not-so-harsh shooting fundamentals and decent free throw percentage (76 FT% on just over 3 FTA/G) offer hope that he can figure this part of his game out, at the least becoming respectable when he has his feet set, but it has to improve to open up the rest of his game more … Effective offensively but not likely to be a prolific scoring threat at the next level (11 PPG) … Doesn’t have outrageous turnover numbers (1.5 TOPG) but at times is too deliberate; will force some action that isn’t there and occasionally seems to predetermine what he wants to do, which plays into a set defenses hand and can make him relatively mistake prone with added ball-handling responsibilities …Can handle some PG duties due to his natural ball skills, but doesn’t yet display the consistent decision-making or temperament of a real floor general …Doesn’t say much on the court and can at times come off aloof or lax, none of which are really the common traits of a lead guard … May be a bit of a “tweener” guard who has some of the traits of each backcourt position but doesn’t have some of the more necessary skills to play either position exclusively  …

Overall: Castle was a blue chip consensus 5-star recruit and McDonalds AA from near the Atlanta area in HS who steadily rose in the rankings his last 2 seasons … He committed to Danny Hurley and UConn pretty early in his recruiting process and came in as an immediate starter in 2023-2024 … After spending most of his AAU & HS career operating as a de facto PG, he slid into more of an off-ball role in college with decent results on a UConn team that lost a few starters from their national title team a year before … A Day-1 starter, Castle’s poise, open court prowess, defensive ability and all-around offensive game showed promise and allowed him to seamlessly fit into a role on a veteran team that is the odds-on favorite to once again win the 2024 national title … He still has things he needs to work on; namely his jump shooting ability, especially from 3-point range, and processing when reading defenses … He also is a bit stuck between guard positions with both positive and negative traits that limit him in some way or another at both backcourt spots … Still, there is a good amount of upside to look into with the interesting Castle, who projects to easily be a name that will come off the board in the lottery or late teens  …

Jorrye Nixon 4/5/24