Stephon Castle

Castle really stuck out when watching the Spurs game. Honestly, he looked like the only NBA-level player out there for them with his skill with the ball in his hands. His playmaking looked incredible and his ball handling are both much improved for him, his shooting already looks much improved from his college season, and he was also getting to the rim pretty well. Castle displayed a lot of issues during this game as well, and I'll touch on those later, but his playmaking and scoring out of the pick-and-roll were big improvements from his college season. I was a skeptic to the notion that he should be playing point guard, but this gave me a lot more hope. He displayed a lot of patience and IQ to make the right read and hit an open shooter. The box score didn't do him justice; the Spurs do not have shooters on their team. Castle should have had at least 3 more assists than he did. Castle showed that he has a true understanding of how to play as a lead creator and that's something we haven't seen since high school from him.

Now, there were a lot of things I wish he'd done better. His space creation is not where it needs to be. He struggled to get his shot off at times, and we knew this would be a concern for him in the NBA. At the beginning of the game, he tried to go at the opposing big and try to jump into him, take the contact, and get a foul but he's not an elite explosive athlete compared to his competition like he was in high school and college. He seemed to pick up on this as the game went on, settling for mid-range jumpers and floaters. His shots weren't falling, but he was getting good looks.

Castle has some of the same issues driving that he's had previously. He struggles to look up while driving, he's often just looking at the floor. Also, he struggles to finish through contact. He got a couple of fouls by taking contact though. His jumper also looks more confident and versatile. At UConn, and early in this game, he looked scared to shoot and hesitant to take even open shots, but as the game went on, he became more and more confident in his shots, and he knocked down 2 of them. I wasn't optimistic about his jumper pre-draft, but I'm more hopeful than I was at that time right now. Overall, Castle seemed to improve in a lot of areas that were concerns for him in college, but he still has a ways to go to be a great NBA player.

Armel Traore

When watching the Lakers SL game, he really stuck out on defense. He wasn't in the 70 players I scouted, and that was a mistake. I really think he can be an impactful player for the Lakers team off the bench. His ground coverage and switchability were really on display. He was able to guard wings and still get back to the rim to deter finishes. He had one play that stuck out where he was guarding an opposing wing who made a pass to a cutter and Traore got all the way back to the rim to block the shot. His defense looked super impressive to me, and his athleticism gives him a great ceiling here. On offense, he's really not much more than a play finisher/offensive rebounder/dunker spot guy, but that's ok if he's contributing enough on defense and on the boards. If he can develop a jumper (I don't think it's likely), he could become a starter in the NBA. I'm really high on Traore right now.

Dalton Knecht

The Lakers summer league game didn't give me much hope for Knecht. I was a fan of his coming into the draft, but he was pretty disappointing this game. He looked unconfident and uncomfortable the whole time. He struggled to cerate separation, settling for tough mid-range jumpers. He needs guys around him to help him get open, and they weren't doing that in this game. I believe in his shot, but not much else right now. He was a sieve on defense. He was trying to make plays off the ball, but he got torched by some cuts. I'm starting to lower on him.

Hansen Yang

Everybody's favorite mini-Jokic also played against Kings 1 yesterday. He didn't play much, he only played 15 minutes, but he made some nice plays. He showed his elite passing vision and affinity for high-leverage passes, although that resulted in some turnovers. He has the slow and methodical scoring ways of Jokic, but the game just moves too fast for him sometimes. He's a really bad athlete, but super skilled. He made some really crafty post moves and he went 2-2 from the free throw line, but it's pretty unlikely he ever becomes a big-time NBA player.