Player The blessed howl's moving Castle of Stephon Javonte

[dn0774]

I always appreciate when graphs like these are broken into tiers, which BB-Index did not do, so I went ahead and did it.

Stephon obviously grades out as elite by this metric, but it is nice to see Dylan and Fox both grade out in that slight-above-average tier. Really bodes well for Dylan's prospects to elevate to those elite level tiers one day. It's so huge that Fox isn't a complete liability like some other scoring guards.

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Gotta give Steph credit, looking at the guys in his tier Castle is easily to most promising/has the most offensive load to carry.

 

[Seventyniner]

Crazy that we have a top-of-the-league perimeter defender, and also have the likely DPOY paint protector. This may not be the Spurs' year to win it all (or maybe yes)......... But they sure are cooking with gas.

Btw, anyone remember the "Spurs have the worst defense in the league" thread on ST? Would love to give it a bump now that the Spurs are one of the top defenses... Many people acted like we'd never recover

It was "Spurs have the worst defense in NBA history", which was true for raw DRtg (120.0 in 2022-2023) but not if measured by # of standard deviations above the mean for that year. It has also been surpassed by the Jazz (120.4 in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025), and three teams currently have DRtg above 120.0, including the Jazz at 122.4.

 

[Exstatic]

If he wanted the money and lifestyle, why wouldn't he want more money and more of the lifestyle? Why cut it so short when he still has skills and athleticism by not playing for a few year stretch (I haven't watched him play in years, though)? If he could still play and gave up already, he's one of the biggest losers around and it seems he has less confidence in shooting the ball that almost anyone else I've ever seen. I'd kill to have had his athleticism and height. What a waste of talent. From what I remember, his dad was a good player (I didn't follow his team or anything). I watched his dad play in AU in the NBL, and from what I remember (I don't remember fully as I was too young, so I could be wrong), his dad seemed like he cared when he played.

You used to be able to coast through three contracts on talent and ability. Now, with the second apron in place,you’ve got to contribute towards winning. Counting stats aren’t enough.

 

[Sugus]

It was "Spurs have the worst defense in NBA history", which was true for raw DRtg (120.0 in 2022-2023) but not if measured by # of standard deviations above the mean for that year. It has also been surpassed by the Jazz (120.4 in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025), and three teams currently have DRtg above 120.0, including the Jazz at 122.4.

Oh, I know it was true at the time, I just vividly remember many posters saying it was more an indictment on the Spurs' future than a result of their tanking strategy, and worrying that not even Wemby would be enough to "ever right the ship" or something to that effect.

Makes it funny to remember in retrospect now that the Spurs are top-10 in both offense and defense. People were really acting like the Spurs were fundamentally challenged defensively beyond hope.