Frontcourt uncertainty has been a common trait of Florida basketball teams in recent history and for that reason it made a lot of sense why the Gators jumped at the opportunity to land 6’10” Colin Castleton in the transfer market. Yes, him being from Daytona Beach, Florida certainly helped but don’t let that fact that he’s coming back to his home state all the way from Michigan overtake the fact that basketball-wise this is a great fit for both parties. Here are some things you need to know about Florida’s newest player.
The Situation At Michigan
There were definitely some fans that raised their eyebrows at the acquisition of Castleton when they saw his limited role at Michigan, and in all fairness some curiosity is fair. He only averaged 7.9 minutes per game last year and for that reason his season averages were low, namely 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds. Having some skepticism regarding his skill level when seeing those numbers is fair, but you have to look at the context of why he wasn’t able to see much time in his two years at Michigan.
For starters, when he entered college he was only 200 pounds, relatively light for a college center and especially light for a center in the Big Ten where multiple teams focus their offense around a bruising big. For that reason he had some physical development to do, and besides that he was playing behind junior Jon Teske who was one of the best centers in the country, something you may remember from the dominant performance he put up against Florida in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan’s coach at the time John Beilein was never the type to play two bigs at the same time and besides that they had future NBA player Ignas Brazdeikis and college stud Isaiah Livers taking the minutes at the “4”. That left Castleton fighting for backup center minutes with junior Austin Davis, so there wasn’t much of a role available.
Fast-forward to this past season and Jon Teske is still there, now as a senior who was still eating up a ton of minutes. Austin Davis was also back as a senior, and at 6’10” and 250 pounds he profiled a lot more like the grinding, physical big new head coach Juwan Howard was looking for. That left Castleton in a tough spot for minutes at the center position and he was now trying to get on the floor out of position at power forward, something he got at times but was also in tough against a player NBA scouts are high on in Franz Wagner and a talented natural forward in Brandon Johns.
Castleton was never in the doghouse for his play and it was always the great depth at the position at Michigan that left him off the floor, not anything he did. He improved in multiple aspects of the game from his freshman to sophomore season and he even bulked up to 235 pounds.
Since the raw counting stats don’t paint a fair picture of Castleton due to his low number of minutes, we’ve got to rely on the film as well as well as our good friend—the advanced metrics.
Offense
The pick and roll was where Castleton was most utilized in Michigan’s offense and for good reason. Castleton had an immaculate sense of timing when it came to starting his roll, something that’s difficult to teach and shows his feel for the game. If a big rolls too early or too late, there isn’t a passing angle available for the ball handler. Trying to stay “in phase” with a ball handler is an innate basketball ability that only few post players possess—and Castleton is one of them. Not only was his timing good on rolls but he owns a great set of hands, something that allows him to receive passes on the short roll and square up towards the hoop without fear of fumbling it. At 6’10” he has great length to make extension finishes, and when you put together all these traits as described you’ve got a tremendous pick and roll big. Castleton shot 64.4% as a roller on pick and roll plays, a mark better than any Gator this past season. Florida’s best roll man last year was Omar Payne who was mostly effective as a player who could soar above defenses and catch lobs, and Castleton’s ability to catch the ball earlier on the short roll and use a dribble or two before making a pass or finishing will make him a unique talent in Florida’s frontcourt.
Another area where he showed upside offensively was on post ups where he was able to both take advantage of switches when smaller plays were matched on to him as well as go to work against the big, traditional centers of the Big Ten. Overall he shot 62.5% on post ups and when you go through the tape he showed a fairly diverse way of scoring down there. He had hook shots with both hands, he had savvy step through moves to beat double teams, and he had a drop step that allowed him to use his length around defenders. Kerry Blackshear Jr. was a solid post scorer at times last season but wasn’t consistent on the block, and with him gone the Gators didn’t have another post threat on the roster so Castleton also provides a niche skill set here. It’s not like the Gators are going to be a team to ever funnel all their offense through a big but they have needed a center that can punish switches by scoring on the low block and Castleton will provide that.
An area he needs to improve on is his ability to finish after getting a dump off pass from a driving guard. Castleton only shot 40% on these plays last year which is well below-average (around 56%) and he’ll need to become a better finisher when his man steps over to protect the rim and a Florida driver dishes him the ball. Castleton’s struggles to score as the dive man might be a bit of an anomaly however, as he’s not someone who struggles to score around the rim. He shot 58.1% around the basket on the season meaning he was successful finishing inside on pretty much every play other than the drop off pass, so it’s likely that won’t be a problem.
Castleton is a career 0-7 from the three-point line but it’s worth noting that he shot 83% (24-29) from the foul line last season. In a lot of cases success at the charity stripe is an indicator of future three-point shooting so there is a chance he becomes a stretchy player but right now he’s best when he can use his fluidity and length to finish around the rim.
Defense
Florida’s defense struggled mightily to contain the pick and roll last year and a lot of it was due to some difficulties the centers had in the preferred hedge and recover scheme the coaching staff wanted to play so when evaluating a center entering the Gators’ program this is a natural place to start. One thing that’s interesting about Castleton is that he played for two coaches in two years at Michigan and both had drastically different philosophies of pick and roll defense.
In Castleton’s freshman season, John Beilein had his big men hedging like Florida wants to do. In this defense Castleton looked relatively comfortable, but it needs to be stated that Michigan was loaded with talented perimeter and wing defenders so he was able to hedge out aggressively knowing he had four connected players filling up the necessary space behind him.
As a sophomore Castleton played for Juwan Howard who came right from the NBA and predictably Coach Howard wanted to play the style of pick and roll defense you see most often in that league—drop coverage. This is a more conservative style of pick and roll defense where the big man is in charge of walling off the paint, and in this defense Castleton really excelled. Teams only shot 35% when involving Castleton in the pick and roll and he showed excellent timing and understanding of angles when falling back towards the paint to protect the hoop. Though most of his work was done in a different style of pick and roll defense the way he was able to perform in this area should be extremely exciting for the Gators considering how they struggled in this area.
Castleton is a fluid athlete at 6’10” who shows great mobility and that’s something that should help him in Florida’s hedging ball screen defense. This mobility was shown when he switched on to guards at Michigan and did a tremendous job of sitting down in a stance and slowing the first move of the offense player. Castleton allowed a mere 22.4% on isolation plays and when you go through the tape of each one it was almost always a point guard or shooting guard that wasn’t able to get the corner as they tried to use speed to beat him.
The mobility and hip flexibility shown by Castleton is impressive but what might be most impressive about his defensive game is his rim protection. Doing a great job of staying vertical he allowed only 14.5% at the rim, a marvelous number even though it was on a low number of possessions. His block rate of 6.1% was 91st in the country and everything points to him being a solid help defender in the paint. Castleton was also able to defend without fouling most of the time and his 3.9 fouls committed per 40 minutes was better than anyone in the Gators’ front court.
One area Castleton struggled was when it came to defending post ups where he allowed 60%. The Big Ten had arguably the best centers in the country last year and Castleton was in some tough matchups against some of these elite big men and some of them were able to get the best of him. There isn’t anything wrong fundamentally about the way he played defense on these post ups but at times he just wasn’t able to get the stops he needed and with more experience and muscle under his belt as a junior hopefully there will be improvements in this area.
Rebounding
Florida has been a below-average defensive rebounding team over the last five seasons and they are looking for solutions to that problem and one of them could be Colin Castleton. His defensive rebound rate of 23.4% was one of the best in the country last season and was higher than anyone’s on the Gators and while that number is a bit misleading due to the fact he didn’t play a ton of minutes it shows how impactful he was on the glass when he was out there. Disciplined with boxing out his opponents Castleton knows to find a body and not just jump for the rebound and he has the foot speed and length to go out of his area to go get a basketball. You see that on the offensive end as well where he led Michigan in offensive rebound rate as well, and considering he had such good rebounding rates against huge, physical Big Ten frontcourts it should be expected he’ll stay effective rebounding at Florida. Playing more minutes it’s almost certain his rebounding rates will go down but he has shown he’s a well above-average center on the glass.
Final Thoughts
You can look at the small number of minutes Castleton played and be concerned but when you go through his film there is so much there to like without any major problems. He has good size, a high basketball IQ, and the requisite mobility required for a modern big man and all those things should be extremely exciting for Florida fans. What might be most encouraging is the fact that he fills in some gaps that we saw from the team last year. He was a stout pick and roll defender, a savvy scorer as a roll man, and a confident defensive rebounder, all areas where there was a deficiency at times for the Gators last season. Finding productive big men is one of the hardest things to do in college basketball and it looks like the Gators landed a valuable player in Colin Castleton.