After 19 games with the Spurs, Stephon Castle has emerged as one of the top rookies and is among the leaders in several statistical categories.

Castle learned the slow step after tutelage from Mike Noyes, the Spurs assistant who is the team’s player development coach. Noyes, like Castle, was a former UConn guard and joined the Spurs in July after spending six years with the Memphis Grizzlies, most recently as player development director.

Stephon Castle is starting to look like the real deal for the San Antonio Spurs, and his name is officially entering the Rookie of the Year conversation. While Jared McCain remains the favorite (-165), Castle’s recent surge has his odds improving to +600, and it’s easy to see why.