For Wembanyama's Sake, It's Time To Change The Jeremy Sochan Experiment
My editor has this rule: Every piece must be about a prospect, or a rookie. May the basketball Gods strike me down where I stand if I write about an NBA sophomore.
So, today, I'm going to test his patience and write about Jeremy Sochan, and there's nothing he can do about it.
The second-year forward - erhm, point guard - is running things in San Antonio these days, and so far the results have been underwhelming. The team has lost 11 straight games, all with Sochan running the show.
Now, in fairness, there's a plan behind this experiment. Head coach Gregg Popovich and his staff clearly wants to get Sochan used to being more of a playmaker when he returns to his more natural position of forward. And frankly, there's merit to the idea.
The Minnesota Timberwolves used the rookie season of Zach LaVine to do just that, so the youngster would get more acclimated to having the ball in his hands, and make decisions on the fly.
In that regard, Sochan is on the right track.
But the move has come at the immediate expense of Victor Wembanyama, to the point where Popovich and his staff needs to implement changes to balance both Wembanyama's rookie season, and the evolution of Sochan.
The Spurs right now look not entirely dissimilar to pee-wee soccer. Everyone's running after the ball all at once, no one's quite sure what their role is, and improvisation is the leading strategy.
As I outlined in a recent post about the Rookie Of the Year race between Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, the latter is being heavily used within the constraints of an established offense, whereas Wembanyama is primarily freestyling, and just kind of picking up bits and pieces where he can.
That's not to say the Spurs aren't running plays. They are. But where the Thunder have an established pecking order, and a long list of contributors, the Spurs are very much still feeling out one another. That's to be expected, but when you throw in a position change of the one Sochan is currently undergoing, it becomes too many moving parts at once.
Wembanyama shouldn't be a creator at this stage - at least not to this extent - but instead a play finisher. The 7-foot-4 rookie is quite simply better playing off others at this point, as he's got an enormous catch radius, is tremendous at running straight to the front of the rim, and frankly underrated at taking contact, given his modest weight.
Seven-dribble pull-ups should come in small doses, and preferably later in his career, when he has a better idea of the type of player he is.
This is where a real point guard would be capable of helping out the Frenchman.
"Go there, set a screen, and I'll hit you right near the foul line!"
"Let's force the switch, so you have the advantage in the post."
"This guy can't move his feet, it's best to attack him in movement."
These are the types of instructions and directions Wembanyama currently needs, and Sochan - understandably so - doesn't have the necessary experience to identify everything, nor has he been in the league long enough to pick up on opponent tendencies.
Therefore, it's time for the Spurs to come up with something new to at least bridge the gap between The Sochan Project, and the development of Wembanyama.
Tre Jones has done admirably in his own right, but he too is a young point guard, and one who doesn't have much of a long-range shot (25.9% on 2.1 nightly attempts) which unfortunately allows opponents to shrink the floor.
Yet, he's the best passer currently on the team, and for his shooting troubles, he at least can get into the teeth of the defense, and make the right read when teams rotate.
It would behoove the Spurs to minimize the use of Wembanyama and Sochan together on the floor, and instead lean into maximizing minutes between Wembanyama and Jones, flanked by shooters.
Or, perhaps even more intriguing, slide Sochan back to his normal forward position when he's on the court with Wembanyama, and put Jones, Devin Vassell, and Keldon Johnson on the floor together to get as much movement on the floor at the same time.
Regardless of what the Spurs figure out, it's crucial they don't spend the first half of Wembanyama's rookie season putting him in a role where he's taxed too much with the element of creation off his own accord. If that comes at the expense of Sochan's development, so be it. After all, the Spurs need to recognize who the most important player is between them, as I'm sure they know.
As such, they should begin to act like it.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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