A Spurs player who will shock the world in the 2023–24 NBA season.
Being a Spurs supporter at this time is exciting. A team that isn’t exactly used to missing the playoffs, they’ve done it for the last four years during a period of transition after suffering back-to-back first-round playoff losses.
Although their most disappointing season in terms of results ever, there are many reasons to be upbeat about the future.
Of course, a very tall Frenchman is one of them.
There are other players on this team, a couple of whom have a lot of talent of their own, despite the high expectations for Victor Wembanyama’s first season and career in general.
Keldon Johnson is a good player who will be even better with a few better players around him, while Devin Vassell just keeps getting better and Malaki Branham demonstrated a lot in his first year. But in his second season in the league, one of the Spurs’ most distinctive players ought to make the biggest stride.
Why Jeremy Sochan could have a breakthrough season in 2023–24.
As the ninth pick in the 2022 draft, Jeremy Sochan joined the league as a special big man with moves that were as eccentric as his numerous hairstyles.
He lived up to the hype during his debut season.
He was certainly not flawless, and as is customary for him, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had no qualms about removing him from the game after particularly egregious mistakes. Overall, though, it was a really impressive first season, especially in light of how much growth he displayed between the first and second halves of the season.
He averaged 11 point zero points, 5 point three rebounds, and two point five assists per game throughout the entire season.
He averaged just 7 points per game in his first 24 games due to his inability to make threes with any kind of respectable efficiency and poor free throw shooting.
By the end of the season, those problems were far from fully resolved, and his shooting touch continues to be his biggest area for development.
However, they did get better, and when combined with his tenacious defense, versatility in his scoring options, and playmaking skills, they helped him stand out as one of the league’s more intriguing prospects.
It is encouraging to think about what might happen in his second season given his first season’s rapid development.
He’ll be playing on the same team this year as Wembanyama, his enormous new French ami, and coach Pop is hoping they’ll make a strong duo at both ends of the court.
Since Popovich isn’t exactly the type of coach to prefer having his offense revolve around just one player, the Spurs in this iteration won’t be any different.
Sochan won’t be in any way controlling the ball because they have a wide variety of scoring and playmaking options.
He will still have a lot of responsibility, but he has already proven that he is more than capable of handling it.
Despite the fact that he had a few games last season where he scored a lot of points, which showed his potential in that area, he also has the potential to average much more assists than the 2 points per game he averaged last year – especially with a 7’4″ behemoth sharing the front court with him.
Jeremy Sochan will play in just his second NBA season in 2023–24, and he will still be a long way from being the player he has the potential to develop into. But after a promising first year, he should be aiming to build on his strong second half of his rookie season and have a second year that will make the league sit up and take notice.