Prospect Spotlight: McCallan Castles (2018)
When you first lay eyes on McCallan Castles, it is easy to picture the muscular, 6-foot-5 athlete as a defensive end who bursts in the backfield and eats quarterbacks for lunch. Castles looks that way because he does in fact…
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Continue ReadingWhen you first lay eyes on McCallan Castles, it is easy to picture the muscular, 6-foot-5 athlete as a defensive end who bursts in the backfield and eats quarterbacks for lunch.
Castles looks that way because he does in fact play the part of pass rusher during the fall for Berthoud. But when he steps onto the basketball court, it’s immediately clear Castles fits just fine inside its rectangular parameters as well. His strong, compact frame helps him burst around the court, attack the glass, protect the rim and finish.
On the second day of the CCBA Spring Showdown on Saturday, which featured a handful of the state’s top prospects, Castles was among the best players on the court. After averaging 13 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists as a sophomore last season, Castles is playing with the Colorado Titans top 16U squad in his first season with one of the state’s top club programs.
He has fit in very well with the squad with athletic quickness that helps him cause problems on defense while also finding multiple ways to score the basketball.
On Saturday, Castles was testing out his newfound perimeter game with solid results. He squares his broad shoulders well on his jump shot and is fluid with it when he has some time.
“We’ve done a lot of shooting work,” Castles said. “I didn’t really shoot it well during the high school season, so since we’ve been able to get so many shots up (practicing with the Titans), I’ve been able to get more consistent and get going earlier in the game.”
Castles is often able to get the shots he wants when he’s battling smaller defenders down low, but he knows that given his height, he’ll likely need to be a perimeter player at the next level.
“I don’t think I’m big enough to play down low,” he said. “So I’ve tried to work on my shooting and ball-handling skills this year to get a little more quick off the perimeter and shoot better.”
Castles said his work on the perimeter has included an emphasis on defense as well, concentrating on staying lower his stance to be able to move with smaller, quicker guards.
Castles has yet to receive and serious recruiting attention in basketball, but it’s hard to imagine he won’t see that soon. He is already big and physical and he has good ball skills that are quickly improving. It’s not to hard to picture him as a low-major Division I prospect
He says playing with the Titans has been a major boost to his game, and a big part of that has been the competition he has been able to face both in state and on the NY2LA circuit with stops in Dallas and Minnesota so far this season.
“There were teams that were a lot bigger than us since we don’t really have a true big man,” Castles said. “And there were kids who could really shoot, but we started to play a press defense that really helped us out.”