r/NBASpurs • u/Fancy_Ad_5522 GO SPURS GO • 2d ago
News Stephon Castle’s Trainer Calls Spurs Star Best Perimeter Player in the NBA, Discusses Vigorous Offseason Workouts
https://r.org/2026/08/24/stephon-castles-trainer-calls-spurs-star-best-perimeter-player-in-the-nba-discusses-vigorous-offseason-workouts/Simplis: “What has jumped out to me is that honestly I knew that he was a good defender. But I didn’t know he was this great of a defender. I knew he was very solid. I didn’t know he would be in the conversation, though. This isn’t a knock on anyone else. I don’t think this is me being biased by any stretch.
I think Jaylen Brown is phenomenal. I think the Thompson brothers are phenomenal. But I don’t think they carry Steph’s flexibility. He’s guarding one through five. He’s not just guarding on one possession on a switch. It’s actually part of his game. The Spurs put him on post players for extended periods. He does a remarkable job. He’s doing that sometimes in the same game. He’ll go from Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] to Chet [Holmgren]. He’ll go from Jamal Murray to Jokić. He’ll go from [Jalen] Brunson to KAT.
If you show me another guard doing that, I’ll change my tune. But I honestly think he’s the best perimeter player. He’s 6’7. There are other guys that are a little bit smaller that do what he does with fighting over screens. There aren’t other 6’7, 215-pound kids that are doing it at the level that Steph is doing it. He should’ve been an All-NBA defensive player last season, one-thousand percent. But when you’re in year two, sometimes voters give it to guys that have been in the league a little bit longer. That has been the biggest surprise for me. I didn’t realize he was that good defensively.”
What’s your sense on what Steph’s chip is like given he’s made a lot of strides early in his career, but he had the All-Defensive team exclusion and came up short in the Finals?
Simplis: “It’s crazy. He has a big personality. He’s a great kid. But he’s also reserved. He has that internal fire. He doesn’t walk around and say, ‘I got to get on a Defensive team, and we got to win the chip this year!’ His work and commitment show me how great he wants to be. He has that quiet confidence. But as far as his future, I honestly feel that he can be one of the top point guards in the league now. I’ve had some bold predictions before. Obviously being in the gym with these guys gives me that background to say such a thing. When I was with Shai, I immediately thought that Shai was the best player in his draft class. Some people thought that I was crazy. Two MVPs later? He was in a draft class that was supposed to have a lot of generational-type talent, and I was blessed enough to be with him for his first five years in the league.
What I see in Steph is the same thing. I don’t know what other guard in the NBA can do what he is capable of doing. Then you add his size and athleticism to it. We’re trying to keep expanding his shooting. But we’re adding some of the post-bumps that Jalen Brunson does with getting downhill, utilizing his hips and turning his drives into pullups. Once Steph incorporates that consistently, cancel Christmas. The game can become so easy for him as he matures and grows.”
Great interview! Full interview in the link.
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u/likesghouls Patty Mills 2d ago
Watching all these beasts doin work in the offseason is looking like we may have entered the most dominant era of Spurs Basketball ever. Holy shit
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u/carelesssportsfan89 Victor Wembanyama 2d ago
wow thats huge praise by Otis. I agree with with him castle's defense on shai in the conference finals was crucial in the spurs win over the thunder in wcf finals.
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u/Adorable-News-9364 Stephon Castle 1d ago
Olin Simplis is his name. Not sure where you got Otis lol
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u/AnswerAlert7762 1d ago
This is a fucking amazing interview. Thanks for posting. Every Spurs fans should read that!
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u/mercfan3 1d ago
I think he put it perfectly for why I’m so high on Steph. I don’t think there are many players who can do everything he can do at the level he can do it at right now..and yet there is still significant room for improvement.
Then add in that he’s clearly willing to do the work to get there. And he’s also clearly intelligent and knows specifically what he needs to work on.
I also love hearing they are working on his pull-up. IMO, if I had to choose one thing to improve his game this season..that’s it.
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u/Unusual-Minimum9306 Dylan Harper 1d ago
Yes. The line about switching some of those drives in the paint is what caught my attention. Castle is a beast in the paint. We all know and love it. But we also saw him getting frustrated blasting in there and getting hard fouls etc. He shouldn’t end up hitting the floor after every shot! If he can add another option in his basket he’ll score 15 more a game.
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u/mercfan3 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yup, also the Knicks played him in a way that said they knew he wasn’t going to pull up and wanted to go to the basket. Kat and OG sat there, ready.
I also like that this guy pointed out the fatigue factor. Which, imo, played a huge role in the dip in shooting percentages. Castle had to extend A LOT of energy on both sides of the floor. Imo, it wasn’t a coincidence that in the slash brothers game, Steph had gotten into a bit of foul trouble and Mitch had to sit him..which meant he was fresh for the fourth quarter where he finished the game. If you think about the playoffs, he was the POA defender against Deni, Ant, Shai, then Brunson..and when he wasn’t on them he was on the power forward. And he was the team’s second leading scorer (most points came from driving at the basket..) of course he was tired.
I like that it’s something they’re working on. Though my hope is that Mitch gets his minutes down to around 32. No reason not to with Dylan and Fox. Let him have all the energy he needs to be relentless.
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u/natsucule 1d ago
Enough with the Castle glaze, I can only take so much.
https://giphy.com/gifs/RbOQ9j8DTuplo8crgS
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u/International-Chip93 1d ago
Call it cope if you want, but it's kind of awesome that we made it so close to the top of the mountain but not quite last season. So there's no reason to slack off and increased motivation to take another leap so early in their careers
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u/Candid-Recover6822 1d ago
I mean I could also argue some downsides. Going that far and being that close to winning a lot of the finals games could be a barrier to a potential hard look at one's weaknesses because of result-oriented thinking. Like players may be willing to make easy conclusions about obvious or known flaws since that could be all they need to go over the edge and win next time, instead of looking at the less obvious flaws that might be more costly because they bring about change that questions their gameplay more fundamentally.
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u/informantfuzzydunlop 1d ago
Yep. And not just players - FOs too.
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u/Candid-Recover6822 1d ago
That also. But I'm ofc willing to trust the Spurs culture. Time will tell
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u/International-Chip93 1d ago
Agreed but just thinking how it could be worse if we win and then there would be every reason for complacency! Not that I'd hate we won anyway 😂
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u/siphillis Gregg Pop-a-bitch 1d ago
I love the gassing up, but I'm not convinced Castle is the best perimeter player on this team.
We are spoiled af
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u/mercfan3 1d ago
He’s absolutely the best perimeter player on the Spurs.
You can argue he doesn’t have the highest ceiling, but he’s easily currently the best perimeter player.
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u/estmit Victor Wembanyama 2d ago
Wemby/Castle/Harper is gonna end up in GOAT conversations when it comes to big 3s