6 takeaways from the San Antonio Spurs one-quarter of the way through the season

Takeaway #5: Early returns for Jeremy Sochan are promising.

Jeremy Sochan was selected ninth overall by the Spurs in this year’s draft, and while Sochan’s production hasn’t gotten the attention of say, Paolo Banchero or Benn Mathurin, he’s been just what the Spurs hoped he’d be. Sochan is already starting for their team at power forward and has helped give them stability and size at the position.

That’s been an issue in recent years, with the position often being manned by small forwards like Dante Cunningham, Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan, and Keldon Johnson. Now, with Sochan in place, Johnson can play his natural position and has looked much better as a result (more on that later).

Sochan has drawn comparisons to Draymond Green and Dennis Rodman for his versatility and tenacity. He can legitimately defend all five positions, and watching him seamlessly go from guarding players such as Damien Lillard, switching onto Jerami Grant, and then to Jusuf Nurkic as if it were nothing is really something to watch.

Only a handful of players can effectively do that, and Sochan is just 19 years old; that’s obviously impressive and could be key to the Spurs eventually becoming an elite defense again. Offensively, his jump shot definitely needs some work, and it looks like there’s a bit of a hitch in his shot, but he’s at least taking threes and occasionally knocking them down.

Shaky jumper aside, he’s a capable offensive player who finds other ways to score, particularly off drives, cuts, and offensive rebounding. He’s probably never going to be a 20-point-per-game scorer, but he doesn’t need to be. Instead, he can be called upon to defend guards, forwards, or some centers while also being an offensive contributor. 21 games into the season, Sochan has looked good and has been worth being taken ninth overall in the 2022 NBA draft.