Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images Despite the loss, some Spurs players made a strong case for their future roles on the team. With not only Victor Wembanyama but also De’Aaron Fox out for the season, Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell have been handed the reins – with quite encoura ging results. The Spurs have won some games in recent weeks and competed admirably against the heavily sontending Cavs and the Celtics. Castle has averaged more than 20 points per game and over 5 assists per game during this stretch. He’s also attempting close to five three-pointers per game, making almost 30% of them – a significant step up in terms of production. The same goes for Devin Vassell, who has averaged nearly 20 points per game since Fox went down. Additionally, he has been shooting over 45% from beyond the arc on almost eight attempts per game – an elite level, exactly where he should be. Neither Castle nor Vassell had their best game Saturday night against the Celtics, but both performed reasonably well. The key question is: Will they be able to maintain their productivity next season when they share the court with both Wembanyama and Fox? Takeaways: The Celtics tried to exploit the height mismatch between Kristaps Porzingis and Jeremy Sochan early on, with Porzingis scoring the first five points for Boston. However, thanks to some excellent passes from Chris Paul and Devin Vassell, Sochan was able to respond with two close-range buckets. That’s one way to keep him involved in the offense – a necessity, given that defenders continue to ignore him on the perimeter, and his shot remains both slow and inaccurate. His 12 trips to the free-throw line were likely an outlier performance. Defensively, the Spurs struggled early on to contest the Celtics’ elite outside shooters. In the first quarter alone, Boston made three wide-open threes from the right corner. Meanwhile, the Celtics made it difficult for the Spurs to get clean looks. Despite this, San Antonio managed to stay within striking distance for most of the game. Considering that third-stringers Blake Wesley and Sandro Mamukelashvili played significant minutes – well above their season averages – while the Celtics were nearly at full strength, the performance was commendable. It also suggests that both Wesley and Mamukelashvili have shown noticeable improvement. One of the Spurs’ toughest stretches came in the first half of the second quarter, when the Celtics deployed two seven-footers, Porzingis and Luke Kornet. Without Wembanyama, San Antonio had no answer for their size defensively, nor could they exploit the lack of mobility on the other end. The Spurs started the quarter down by nine and fell behind by 16 by the seven-minute mark, largely due to Kornet’s impact. However, once he went to the bench, the Spurs quickly cut the deficit to eight points in under two minutes. Seeing how much damage two seven-footers can do on the court together against a small team makes me wish for the Spurs to get another seven-footer. Harrison Barnes continues to be Mr. Reliable for the Spurs, providing a stabilizing presence when the young core needs him. His timely three-pointers and veteran leadership have been invaluable. Given that the Spurs acquired him at virtually no cost, this move has to be considered a home run for Brian Wright. It’s also a positive that Barnes still has another year left on his contract. At the start of the season, I was somewhat down on Keldon Johnson as a player (though never on his personality), but he has won me back over. If he can regain some consistency from beyond the arc, he’d check all the boxes for an ideal off-the-bench scorer. His driving game is super-solid. Vassell took a backseat to Keldon Johnson from the second quarter onward, which was the right call. Even so, it was encouraging to see four of his six three-point attempts find the net. It has been a down year for him, so seeing him trend upward in his most valuable skill is promising. It hasn’t been a down season for Stephon Castle (how could it be?). The Spurs’ No. 4 pick in the 2024 draft has exceeded expectations across the board. Even as a shooter, he has shown improvement. In college, he attempted just 2.2 threes per game, hitting 26.7%. As a rookie in the NBA, he’s attempting 4.1 per game and making 28.5%. While his percentage is still low, he’s taking significantly more shots and making slightly more of them. He appears to be on an upward trajectory as a shooter, though last night’s game was a reminder that he still has a long way to go. Many of his misses are bad misses. Then again, Derrick White also had plenty of ugly misses in his early days with the Spurs – and look at the shooter he has become! Castle will be good. He’ll be very good. ...read more read less