How Spurs Guard Trio of Fox, Castle and Harper Came Together in Preseason Debut

SAN ANTONIO -- When the Spurs finally debuted their much-anticipated starting lineup with De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper it went terribly... for the first few minutes at least.

Asked before the game if he thought the starting group of Fox, Castle, Harper, Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama could work in the regular season, Mitch Johnson answered with a single syllable in the affirmative before responding to a follow up question about any expected strengths or weaknesses.

"I understand the narrative around it, I always land on the same reasoning at the very end of it: they're three of our better players," Johnson said. "I know in the majority of their life, maybe their highlight tape is typically with the basketball in their hands, but De'Aaron Fox has played with other handlers and played off the ball a ton. Steph Castle won a national championship basically not touching the basketball ever for the start of a possession."

The offense led by the talented trio of guards stalled out of the gate in preseason game number four against the Phoenix Suns. San Antonio managed just three total points in the first five minute of game play, not a single one of the guards made a basket or an assist, and the whole team managed just 1-10 from the floor.

"I thought we started the game with some very sloppy possessions, and everybody will have to have a better start to games and a better approach with that," Johnson said.

The only thing we knew for sure coming in was that Fox, Harper and Castle would finally all start together. After those clunky first five minutes, Johnson started answering the question of how he'll manage the rotation for the rest of the game. It started with De'Aaron Fox heading to the bench, with Castle joining him a minute later leaving just Harper. Fox replaced him after a minute and a half, and Castle joined Fox for the final two and a half minutes of the quarter.

When Johnson went down to just one of the three guards, it was only Fox or Harper. Those groups held the line, but the units with either of them coupled with Castle pushed the Spurs back into the game.

The trio linked up for the first three minutes of the second quarter, and they immediately improved. Fox cut down the lane and took a pass from Victor Wembanyama for a poster jam. Castle grabbed an offensive board and crammed it home, and San Antonio outscored Phoenix by four in that stint.

Johnson again went down to Harper and Castle, then down to just Harper. He skipped over the Fox-only minutes in favor of the Fox-Castle pairing that worked well in the first quarter. Then he closed with the trifecta, and this time they went nuts.

In the final 3:33 of the half with the three point guards sharing th floor, the Spurs offense scored 17 points as San Antonio outscored the Suns by 10. Stephon Castle got to the free throw line six times, and finished the game 14-15 from the stripe with 18 points.

Fox fed Wembanyama for a dunk and an alley-oop finish before finishing the half with a corner triple. He logged 19 minutes and didn't play in the second half, finishing with nine points and four assists while hitting both of his attempts from long range.

Harper didn't shoot as well as he would have liked, but he finished with nine points and grabbed six boards which is extra important for a smaller lineup. His most exciting rebound by far was a soaring offensive rebound and putback slam that left his teammates and the fans at the Frost Bank Center in shock.

It's striking just how much Johnson leaned into the three-guard lineup. In the first half when all three were available they played almost a quarter together in aggregate, easily the most-used guard group. A duo of either Fox or Harper and Castle paired up for nearly eight minutes, leaving single coverage with either Fox or Harper for five minutes total.

Also apparent is that once these guys shook off whatever rust and weirdness comes with trying out a new lineup for the first time, they clicked together and looked sharp. They looked every bit like the group that should be starting and finishing games together.

"We didn't do it a lot last year Dylan Harper was a rookie who couldn't play more than 20 minutes for half the season because he was gonna cough up a lung cause he wasn't in shape," Johnson said. "They're three of our better players, and I think they can dribble, pass, shoot, defend, make winning plays, they're unselfish, they have good size. They'll need to rebound, they'll need to run the floor, because we have a tremendous level of pace that we like to play with."

This wasn't a true dress rehearsal for a 48 minute game, which looks like it will come in the preseason finale on Friday. These guys played more minutes in this first half than they probably will be when the regular season begins, with Harper at 17 and Fox and Castle at 19. Maybe Johnson will stretch some stints out or add more. Maybe they'll be fine playing heavy minutes in the first half and building a lead that lets them rest in the fourth quarter.

“It felt like we were trying to do the right things at the beginning but we scored so few points, but when it clicked, it really clicked," Wembanyama said after the game.

Wemby is the MVP favorite who finished this game as the leading scorer with 19 points and four blocks, leading the Spurs to their first win of the preseason by a score of 123-103. But the big story on this night, and the big story to watch all season long, is that the Spurs are going to play Fox, Castle and Harper together as much as possible. After brushing off a tough start, they showed exactly why.

As Johnson fielded another question about the 'three guard lineup' he chuckled like he was already sick of hearing about it before the regular season even tips off. He downplayed the focus on that group, but seemed happy with what he saw from them tonight.

"We did some good things," Johnson said. "First time that group has played together, it's been a very stop-and-go preseason in terms of lineups, so we're just trying to get into a rhythm. Some positive reinforcement to show them, and some learning and a long way to go in other areas."