Jayson Castro's Asia Cup career is among the best ever by a point guard

MANILA (Philippines) – The entire Asian basketball community took a collective gasp after Jayson Castro William announced that he will be taking a break from the Philippines national team this summer at the FIBA World Cup 2019. Castro said that he wanted to focus first on his family after playing basketball nearly non-stop over the past 7 years, switching between club and national team duties.

Castro has been one of the top guards in the Asian basketball scene, ever since his first Asia Cup appearance in 2013. In celebration of his recent 33rd birthday, let’s take a look back at his performances in Asia over the years!

Breaking Through

Just in his first time playing at the Asia Cup in 2013, Castro had already made monumental impact for the national team program.

"The Blur" shined with 17 points on 8-13 shooting in the semifinals game against Korea. Not only did it snap a three-game losing streak to their fierce rivals in the Asia Cup, it also advanced them to their first ever championship game. Castro was the team’s second leading scorer (11.8 points per game) and leader in assists (3.0 assists per game) on his way to being named to the All-Star 5 of the tournament that year.

Back-to-Back

Stepping right into his prime at 29-years-old at the 2015 Asia Cup, Castro let had one of the best overall performances ever by a guard in the competition. He finished with an uber-efficient line of 16.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 55.6 percent from the field, 46.7 percent from downtown, and 85.0 percent from the charity stripe.

Castro unleashed his own Asia Cup-high 26 points on the team that had beat the Philippines in the 2013 championship game, Iran, and continued to roll on to the finals for a second consecutive year.

Against Lebanon and Japan in the quarter and semifinals, Castro shot 9-19 from beyond the arc and averaged 22.5 points against two strong squads. Aside from leading his team to the championship game in consecutive years, Castro was also named to the All-Star 5 of the tournament once again.

 

Final Ride... ?

While we wait for Castro to confirm whether or not he will continue to play for Gilas, it’s a possibility that his Asia Cup appearance in 2017 will be his last.

Castro’s impact was different from his past two runs. It was the first time he averaged less than 10 points per game, but instead he set a personal Asia Cup-high of 5.7 assists per contest that was 5^th among all players.

The Philippines fell far from getting to the title game, but Castro was able to get his revenge over China for the 2015 championship game loss. In the Philippines first game of the 2017 tournament, Castro dropped 13 points and 7 assists as the Philippines won 96-87.

 

Will that be Castro’s last Asia Cup run? We won’t know until he says so.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of memorable Castro moments for fans to cherish.

FIBA