DeAngelo Casto Opens Up About NBA Draft, Tony Bennett, Childhood
by Jeff Nusser on May 11, 2011 9:00 PM PDT
in 2011-2012 WSU Basketball News
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PrintAbout a month ago, when DeAngelo Casto declared for the NBA Draft, Brian authored this excellent piece attempting to offer some insight into Casto's decision, which seemed curious (at best) to most outsiders.
Drawing on his observations, anecdotal experiences by both Craig and I with troubled youth, and some off-the-record stuff from contacts in Pullman, Brian painted a picture of a kid who knows only how to survive and speculated that Tony Bennett's departure for Virginia might have had a much bigger impact on Casto than we ever realized.
Many of those suspicions have been confirmed as Casto opened up with Ryan Feldman of The Hoops Report in a wide-ranging interview that shed some light on Casto's thought processes leading up to the draft. As you read, it's important to remember this is just Casto's version of events -- it's a one-source story, and the only source is Casto. But it's insightful in the sense that we get a little peek into what's going on inside Casto's head right about now, and how he saw his three years at WSU.
A lot of what Casto talks about has been reported elsewhere (although some of it seems to embellish upon previous reports), but what hasn't been talked about was just how hard he says it was for him to watch Bennett leave:
"I instantly cried," Casto said. "I had no other reaction but flat-out tears. In my heart, I was really happy for him because I know when I was looking at his kids and his family, it was something he really debated, and he wanted to support them as far as he could.
"I was just heartbroken. I just couldn't believe it was happening. He was a lot of the reason I showed up at WSU. I was a kid who was literally going to be taken care of. Under his program, I was taken care of for the most part. I was really held accountable. I felt more responsible. I just was able to fit in good with him. He also understood me. He understood a lot of where I was coming from with a lot of different things. It was like the head of the household leaving me. It was really heartbreaking."
An interesting subtext to the story, though, is that Casto says he and Ken Bone didn't see eye-to-eye after Bone was hired:
"Tony was the only reason I went to WSU," Casto said, "and he had the concept of including family and religion and God as part of our team and as a unit. And that was something we could fall back on. And essentially when he left, that idea left. Another guy came in who was completely and ultimately unsupportive of who I was. He just didn't fully understand who I was or what I was or what I brought to the team. We constantly butted heads and we constantly didn't get along. ...
"The new coach came in and I was turned off to him for a little bit because I was so bitter about my coach being gone – my coach, who was helping me develop, and actually showed a care in what I'm doing. It was hard to watch him go."
I'll just go ahead and say it's not a good thing when a player refers to his coach of the last two years as "another guy" and "the new coach" rather than his name. And Bone has dropped hints in the past that things weren't all sunshine and lollipops from his end, either, cryptically saying in an interview with Ian Furness at KJR 950-AM in Seattle back in March that Casto was a hard worker "on the court" and leaving it at that.
If we're looking at the big picture of the program in general, this just underscores in my mind how hard transitions can be. As someone who's taken over a pair of highly successful programs at schools from teachers who were beloved by their students, I know first hand just how hard it can be to earn the respect of the kids left behind.
For whatever reason, it seems Bone never was able to earn Casto's respect. Was that Bone's fault? Casto's fault? Who knows. I can tell you from experience that sometimes when you're the new guy, it doesn't matter what you do. And in some ways, the new thing isn't really yours until the last of your predecessors' kids are gone. It's why you often see mass transfers when a new coach takes over a program.
At any rate, this article just adds to the mounting evidence that there was some serious dysfunction on last year's team that might have contributed, at least in part, to the uneven play all season long.
(Major league h/t to Sundodger for posting this in the FanShots. Much appreciated ... even if you're a Husky.)
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I love DeAngelo Casto with all of my heart.
He will always be one of my favorite Cougar basketball players.
the last quote about the 'new' coach sums it up
I don’t think it really mattered who the ‘new’ coach was, Casto was torn up and bitter about TB leaving and nobody was going to fill the void. And I don’t have any issue wih that, Casto or Bone.
Did I mention that I love Casto? Cause I love him – game thread flashback.
I hope he gets a chance in the NBA, good luck Dictator!
Well, it probably doesn't help that Bone isn't warm and fuzzy with his players
But we knew that coming in. I remember a strange quote from Jeremiah Dominguez a couple years back where he basically implied he wasn’t that close with Bone. But he still won a ton of games there.
And if you look back at the quotes from Creighton players when Dana Altman left, it was a lot of “whatever” type stuff.
I think a fair amount of fans are going to hate on Bone for this, but it just goes to show yet again that Jim Sterk hired an opposite of Bennett in so many ways.
Writer: CougCenter Twitterer: @GradyClapp
I just think Ken Bone is a much more reserved personality than Bennett
They are very, very different people. One thing I found interesting about Casto’s comments was his disappointment that religion wasn’t as prominent when Bone took over. By all accounts, Bone is as devout as Bennett; he just doesn’t wear it on his sleeve all the time like Bennett did/does with his “five pillars” and stuff. Neither is inherently good or bad — it’s just different.
Wow.
I’m at a loss for words. I knew bits and pieces of his story, but not this much. Gotta feel bad for the guy. It’d be interesting to maybe hear Klay’s take on Bone (or any other Bennett player’s for that matter). And not the one he’d tell the media. The real one. And one other thought: would Casto be coming back for his senior year if Tony B was still the coach? Doesn’t really matter, but it’s just an interesting thought.
Attractive, Intelligent, Short Attention Span, Timbers Fan Reader
Yep, I am not to worried.
Whenever you play a sport there will always be a couple guys who don’t like the coach for some reason. I sure there have been guys who didn’t like Wooden or Coach K and especailly Bobby Knight. Even Huggy Bear is not huggy with everyone. It is quotes like these that cause me not worry about Bone with players.
"Nate and Trey Simmons are a couple of my real good friends, and they played for Coach (Bone) when he was an assistant at UW and told me how great of a coach he was," Moore said.
"I don't know. I never smoked AstroTurf." Tug McGraw, when asked if he preferred grass or artificial turf
GO CASTO!!!
Attractive, Intelligent, Smart A**
by Neil Vincent Roberts on May 12, 2011 6:14 AM PDT reply actions
Respect
Is a two way street. Casto never earned Bone’s respect as he didn’t put in the work necessary to move to another level. That work was in the summer and the gym. When you think back, Thompson and Casto were both very good after there first year, yet only one actually got a lot better by working on his game.
In fairness
He did improve substantially on the offensive end this year. I can’t tell you anything about his off-the-court work ethic, but it did happen on the floor. However, your point is well taken — I always felt he should have improved more from year one to year three.
Developing big men....
…is one of the hardest things to do in college basketball. Very, very few programs do it with any consistency, and the ones that do usually are the ones starting with the best talent.
It’s an achilles heel for just about everyone.
The big man has to want to develop.
If he does, he can make very real strides. Aron Baynes is a testament to that.
As was James Donaldson ...
His development under George Raveling was one of the most impressive leaps of improvement I’ve ever seen.
Improvement -- yet not in comparison
He played in two more games last year and scored 1.2 PPG more, but you’re right his FG% was up, yet his rebounding and shot blocking were down. Just compare his game to that of Carlos Daniel. About the same size of guys both small five players.
Mmmmmmm ... Carlos Daniel
Loved that dude. Another guy with the misfortune of not being surrounded by enough talent.
As for his improvement, I prefer the efficiency metric of offensive rating. In that respect, he was about 7 percent better than he was last year as an offensive player — a big jump. His block percentage was actually up, too, even if his counting stats don’t reflect that. However, his rebounding percentages were both down, which would concern me greatly if I were a professional team looking at him. He’s an average rebounder at best.
How many of TB's pillars did he breach by leaving?
I like TB even less. It’s a sad act to form a deep self serving connection with a hurting young man and them dump him for a better opportunity. I wish Casto the best, in the NBA or overseas. I would really have liked to see him graduate. There are a lot of unhappy endings for young athletes in Casto’s position. A degree is a heck of safety net, however, he will always have his Cougar family.
Go Cougs!
I got the opposite reaction and perhaps respect TB more.
He’s not supposed to leave because he’s got close ties to the players? Most coaches have close ties to the players they recruit. No coach should be denied the opportunity to better his career. The only reason I was personally upset with TB when he left was because he left for Virginia and I didn’t feel Virginia was an upgrade to what we were doing here. But I’m not Tony Bennett, so I can only imagine he did feel very strongly about that considering that it was probably a very hard decision for him and perhaps guys like Casto were the only reasons he might have stayed.
@casetines
by Kenneth Arthur on May 12, 2011 12:25 PM PDT up reply actions
yeah, i'm not thrilled with how Tony left, but Casto's feelings aren't really the issue
every coach that leaves is going to break some player’s hearts. Casto just happened to be part of the unlucky team that got left.
Pollard, Erdmann, Casto
Over the years I remember certain players having Casto’s response when “their” coach left WSU. Bryan Pollard was in tears just like Casto when George Raveling left for Iowa. I remember Pollard quoted as saying he thought of Raveling as a Father. Nate Erdmann came to WSU because of Kelvin Sampson and left with him (delayed a year in a JC) to Oklahoma. Some kids can handle the change while others are rocked when a coach moves on.
College Coaches and players have an interesting and probably misunderstood relationship. It’s often not nearly as close and warm as it’s made out to be. As Nuss correctly pointed out a transition can muck things up even more. During year 1 of Bone, Casto never seemed like he was the year before even considering that he was injured at times. It wouldn’t have suprised me to see him leave after his first or second year. To Casto’s credit he stayed eligible and made it through year 3.
By all accounts Casto had an incredibly difficut childhood. He’s trying to do his best to take care of his family and hopefully it will work out the way he wants it to. I hope he does follow through and get his degree though.
I think there are both advantages and disadvantages to both "creating family" and remaining aloof
When you preach family and you leave, someone is going to see it as disingenuous and be hurt. But the flip side is not creating a family atmosphere at all, and that’s just not an option for certain guys.
by Jeff Nusser on May 12, 2011 11:47 AM PDT up reply actions
If you sell family
then you better be able to back it up. Casto was the first player I thought of when it was announced Bennett was leaving WSU because of how important Casto made it known that the “family” element at WSU was key in his decision to come to WSU. Many programs push family but it’s the degree family was pushed as a program philosophy and priority at WSU. I have no way to evaluate how Bone did connecting with Casto but I think it was a nearly impossible job to accomplish. Casto has been passed around and dropped his entire life. He didn’t choose Bone and it was going to be a difficult match for any coach.
I wish things had turned out differently for Casto and he had been able to embrace Bone but very few people (including myself) can really understand how difficult that probably was for Casto. I wish Casto the best and do hope things come together for him and his family.
You don't get players like Casto with maturity issues...
…convincing him and other recruits to come with a foundation of trust and commitment, then leave in the middle of the night.
At the same time it’s hard to blame anyone directing.
Bennett for propping himself up as the ‘highly moral’ coach, then leaving his star class as freshmen.
Bone, for not connecting with these players and getting them to buy in.
Casto and Thompson, for not stepping up and be mature team leaders.
Or just the ugly nature of the situation, which nobody can be blamed.
Not that this isn't an interesting introspective, because it is interesting to hear it directly from the horses mouth...
but it’s not exactly surprising in any way. New players coming in won’t give two craps about Tony Bennett and they’ll be “Ken Bone guys” and if Ken Bone leaves, they could have the same issues with the new coach that Casto had with Bone.
I think it’s important for Casto to note that the school and team had his back when he got in trouble this year. It’s not like he got thrown under the bus when he could have.
@casetines
by Kenneth Arthur on May 12, 2011 12:27 PM PDT reply actions 3 recs
Your last two sentences are spot-on.
And a big reason why I don’t understand Casto throwing Bone under the bus.
by Brian Floyd on May 12, 2011 12:54 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs
I agree with lovemycougs.
I don’t see how he threw Bone under the bus. He didn’t say he was a bad coach, he just said that they didn’t get along.
Attractive, Intelligent, Short Attention Span, Timbers Fan Reader
The entire second quoted statement above reads as Casto flipping Bone the bird.
I mean, come on, he won’t even refer to him by name and spends the entire interview taking digs at him. It’s backhanded, but it’s pretty clear what he’s saying.
That guy doesn’t understand me. Bennett was interested in my game and was helping me develop. Me and that guy butted heads. That guy didn’t support me. That guy wasn’t worried about my development.
He can quantify it or try to rationalize it all he wants, but It’s still complete crap.
by Brian Floyd on May 13, 2011 12:07 AM PDT up reply actions
I guess our definitions of "throwing him under the bus" are different.
To me, throwing Bone under the bus would be Casto just coming out and saying “Ken Bone is a terrible coach and the sole reason that I left WSU early”.
Attractive, Intelligent, Short Attention Span, Timbers Fan Reader
That's basically what he said though.
Just because he didn’t say it like that, doesn’t mean he didn’t say it. You have to read between the lines sometimes.
by Kyle Rancourt on May 13, 2011 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions
Read between the lines.....
I don’t know about you but I have had a boss or two who I didn’t get along with, but that didn’t mean I didn’t think they were bad at their job or that I didn’t respect what they did for our company. Just meant we had different personalities that made it hard to communicate. I feel you are reading alot more into it than is there. Alot of statements made can be read several ways based on our interpretation of them, this doesn’t mean that the person saying it meant it that way
I know someone very close to the program who read the Casto piece
And used the exact phrase “threw him under the bus.” I can’t tell you who it is, but you’ll just have to trust me that he knows what he’s talking about and was pretty irritated that Casto would do that.
Sounds like a pattern
As someone has said familar with Casto he tends to not only burn but blow up bridges. Whatever the facts are about Casto’s life he has survived a lot. The way he looks at the world is probably very different than one would who had at least a parent they could trust.
I am sure the person you know has every right to be “irritated” with Casto but it’s probably much more complicated than most of us (hopefully) could ever understand.
"The way he looks at the world is probably very different than one would who had at least a parent they could trust."
I don’t know Casto, but I’ve known enough kids like him to know this is true.
by Jeff Nusser on May 15, 2011 12:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh, and as for the irritation
We can understand where things come from and still be displeased by their occurrence, no?
by Jeff Nusser on May 15, 2011 12:34 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Very true
and I am sure the “irritation” actually does come from a good place. Casto obviously did noy have parents but he has had a lot of people who do want to help him and have his best interest at hear. At least it seems that way.
I don't know Casto in any way, shape, or form.
But I guess if your source is as good as you make him sound, then you’re probably right. But I’m still willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt when talking about whether there was any meaning behind what he said.
Attractive, Intelligent, Short Attention Span, Timbers Fan Reader
How did he throw Bone under the bus? He didn’t say he was a bad coach. He said they butted heads and he felt he didn’t understand him. He did not say anything negative about the program, school or his teammates.
In interviews before or after games, I got the impression Bone wasn’t his biggest fan. He never said anything negative but didn’t talk him up a bunch either.
It came across to me that they had different personalities that didn’t mesh.
Wish Casto the best and I hope he finds happiness
reply fail
Attractive, Intelligent, Smart A**
by Neil Vincent Roberts on May 12, 2011 7:20 PM PDT up reply actions
This is all just a pattern of his personality
As a former high school coach of his said in an article by Bud Withers:
“High, what’s the word? High drama? There’s just a lot of stuff that follows him around. DeAngelo tends to burn bridges. He’s a bridge-burner.
“How about a bridge-dynamiter?”
I’m not going to sit here and pretend for a second that I can identify with what Casto has gone through in his life, but I can say I know a few people well into their adult life who never shook the attitude of being me-against-the-world, burning bridges, and having a chip on their shoulders. The tragedy is that by taking on this life paradigm, none of them have accomplished even a fraction of what their God given talents would have otherwise allowed. I see Casto travelling down the same path and it’s heartbreaking.
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