Courtney Castro was still in his full New Jersey Nets practice gear as he left the team’s training facility early Wednesday afternoon. The Brooklyn native was just let go by the team during its final cuts.
“It feels unreal,” Castro said. “I have been wanting this all my life. I’ve been dreaming about it.”
The 5-foot-11 guard said he was told that he wasn’t cut so much for lack of skill, but that the Nets already had 15 players who are under contract or that they wanted to sign. The team’s coaching staff told him to keep working and that they would have him back next year.
“Really with the NBA if you can make shots and play defense, you can play in the league,” Castro said. “I can do both and I think I did both.”
Over the summer, when he first got the offer to try out when Nets coaches saw him play on a movie shoot at the IZOD Center, he talked about the importance of showing hustle and work ethic over skills. Starting from the first day last week Castro was in the gym two hours before practice was supposed to start, launching 1,000 shots. The 28-year-old got to play against Devin Harris, Cliff Robinson and former Cardozo guard Rafer (Skip to my Lou) Alston during his stint.
He got the chance because Nets coach Lawrence Frank and his staff the noticed him on the set of the upcoming movie “Just Wright,” about a physical therapist (Queens Latifah) who falls for the basketball player (rapper Common) she is helping recover from a career-threatening injury. Castro was one of 10 players selected out of 300 who tried out for a role playing on a fictional Nets team with NBA stars like Dwight Howard, Richard Jefferson and Bobby Simmons in early August.
“It was a great opportunity because a lot of people feel I should have never been here, that I am not that good of a player,” Castro said of his try out. “If I wasn’t that good, I would have never have gotten an opportunity.”
He led the alternative school Pacific to the PSAL championship game as a senior and spent his college career at Navarro Junior College in Texas before heading to Division II Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. Castro is lightning quick and a pure scorer. His streetball nickname is “The Jumpman” because of his highlight reel dunks and 45-inch vertical leap.
Since graduating, he has played in Quebec, Taiwan and with the Globetrotter-esque Harlem Wizards. Castro, who said he made the final cut for several NBA Development League squads, was planning on taking his game to Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic this season and possibly giving up on his NBA dream.
“I said last year that I was going to quit this summer,” said Castro, who regularly plays for the WillieHowie AllStars in the Hoops in the Sun streetball tournament.
Now he is more motivated than ever and already has a tryout lined up with the Maine Red Claws of the NBDL. He plans on chasing a spot on the NBA roster for at least two more years.
“I guess it not time for me to stop,” Castro said. “God sees something better for me.”
