ELITE OF THE ELITE: BHS prep only 1 of 20 in nation at hoop heaven

NBA All-Time great Damian Lillard, renown train Phil Beckner bring together 20 preps and 20 college players for unrivaled experience

Let’s make this simple.

Twenty high school basketball players throughout the nation were invited to this week’s Damian Lillard Formula Zero Camp in Portland, Ore.

Bartlesville’s David Castillo was one of them.

Castillo traveled by jet on Wednesday to the Beaver State to begin what could be the signature event of his basketball opportunities this year.

And, that’s saying a lot — Castillo already started on the USA Basketball U17 national basketball team that won the international World Cup championship in Spain.

But, the Lillard camp is even more unique — the 20 players are being mentored by 20 college players representing different institutions throughout the nation.

And, several pro scouts have been inited to watch and evaluate the elite high school talent gathered at the prestigious camp.

Castillo — who is entering his junior year at Bartlesville — helped elevate the Bruin basketball team to its best record in seven years (12-11).

ESPN ranks him as the top point guard in nation coming out of the class of 2024 and his “in-box” already is full of some of the nation’s most well-known college basketball teams offering him a scholarship — an accumulation that began even prior to the end of his freshman year.

Even with playing on two national teams and bringing home a pair of gold medals, and his other achievements and other high-profile basketball events, this week’s camp is something special for him.

“He was very excited about the opportunity to learn from college kids,” his dad Nate Castillo said during a Wednesday phone conversation.

Plus, he cherished the chance to be mentored by Lillard, already an NBA legend at age 32.

When it comes to the pro basketball wars, the 6-foot-2 Lillard has been a fighting general.

Six times he has been selected as aa an NBA All-Star; six times in has earned a spot on the All-NBA Team — the first time a Portland Trail Blazer player has achieved those numbers.

In 2021, Lillard populated the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Through 10 NBA seasons — all with Portland — he has started every single game (711). His career scoring record is 24.6 ppg (through 29 games this season) and 6.6 assists per game. He’s also pulling down 4.2 rebounds per outing.

Beyond his achievements and success within the foul lines, Lillard also seeks to tutor future generations of basketball — not only in the sport but in the broader aspects of life.

Nate Castillo summarized Lillard’s camp as a total training ground.

“He’s teaching the kids the aspects of the games, of skills, of attitudes and of mindsets,” he said. “He tries to teach them how to really grow as a player, not only on the floor but outside the floor as well. … He’s such a well-known athlete. David was excited to learn from him and to worked with him.”

Lillard “is really helping kids to help understand what it takes to play,” Castillo said.

This camp will close out another basketball-themed summer for David Castillo.

The USA Basketball U17 tryout, trip to Europe and competition in Spain consumed about a month of the summer.

Once David gets home from Portland, he’ll need some rest and start his junior year.

He’s also going to begin to start considering seriously his basketball scholarship offers, “and looking where does he fit best,” Nate said.

UP to now, he’s looked at his college opportunities from a name standpoint only, Nate said.

But, now David wants to consider the programs that are conducive to his playing style, the coaching staff and the academic side, Nate continued.

David has been a full-time varsity starter since the beginning of his freshman year (2020-21).

Toward the end of last season, he surpassed the 1,000-point career mark.

But, Castillo has been more than just a scoring force for the Bruins. He’s proven to be an alert passer, a trigger or finisher in the transition game, an energetic defender and a focused presence.

He is part of a Bartlesville boys basketball program with a storied tradition of team success and shining individual standouts, one of them being Castillo’s own brother Antonio — who was a starter on the 2014-15 team, the most recent season Bartlesville boasted a winning record until last year.

During past 20=or-so years, several former Bruins have seen action on the four-year college level.

Part of the list includes Noah Hartsock at Brigham Young University, Sam Mitchell at Tulsa University, Ben Rovenstine at Northeastern State University (Tahlequah), Kyle Stewart at Oral Roberts University, Jeremiah Hartsock at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Ross Moore at Southwestern Oklahoma State, Marquisse Jackson at Mercer (Ga.) University, Scott Blakemore at Oklahoma State, Nick Shoemaker at Southwestern Oklahoma State, Jackson Bart at the University of Cincinnati, and currently Barron Tanner at Salem (W. Va.) University.

Another former Bruin from the 1980s and 1990s, Tommy DeSalme, is the head men’s basketball coach at Cowley County (Kan.) Community College, which played for the junior college national championship in 2021. DeSalme was part of Bartlesville’s glory years in the latter 1980s and early 1990s when the Bruins won three state titles in five years.

Steve Hesser, the coach of those teams, many years later captured a national collegiate crown at Drury (Mo.) University. In addition, former Bartlesville Sooner High coach Joe Holloway went on to be a primary assistant for Roy Williams at both Kansas and North Carolina, where he experienced multiple NCAA titles.

Bartlesville Sooner High graduate Doug Tolin coached Oklahoma Baptist University’s men’s basketball team to a national title (2010).

Bartlesville College High athletes from the early-to-mid 1950s Bobby Joe Green and David Baker both excelled on the prep hardwood — Green scored 50 points in one game; Green and Baker both scored 30-plus points in one game and they each scored 20 points in another five or six games — went on to star in the NFL.

Former Bruin basketball star Markell Carter was drafted in 2011 by the New England Patriots.

And, Bartlesville High graduate A.J. Parker, currently battling in the Detroit Lions’ training camp to return for a second NFL season, also excelled as a Bruin hoopster in the early-to-mid 2010s.

But, none of these Bruin hoops heroes thrived on the pre-college opportunities for recognition as has Castillo — chances to honor his own natural gifts, hard work and dedication, his family, his school and his community.

And, this week he is experiencing another well-timed boost to his ability as he continues to the arduous slope of progress toward the pinnacle of his potential.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High hoopster Castillo invited to exclusive camp