No one was hanging a banner in the Frost Bank Center ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, but the arrival of Victor Wembanyama was expected to spark immediate change for the San Antonio Spurs. Instead, they might actually finish with a worse record than they did the previous year.
If that possibility was presented to fans before the start of the season, they would assume Wembanyama is scuffling. Despite some growing pains, he is living up to the hype and is expected to win Rookie of the Year honors.
Hence, much of the blame is being pelted in the direction of the Spurs' supporting cast and even at head coach Gregg Popovich for not adapting and significantly developing his young roster.
These criticisms are resurfacing even at the All-Star break. Ahead of the Rising Stars challenge, Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski was touching on Wembanyama's size and overall dominance before uttering the words, “you can't mess up a lob {to him}.”
The camera then panned to one of the aforementioned scrutinized San Antonio players, Jeremy Sochan. Fans took the cue and partook in what they viewed as a surprise roasting.
Spurs' Jeremy Sochan can still change the narrative around him
Sochan himself acknowledged that he caught a blow. “They got me,” he posted on X.
Although the 20-year-old forward has not taken much of a leap in his second season, he is averaging a respectable 11.4 points on 44.2 percent shooting with 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He is sometimes criticized, however, for not feeding Victor Wembanyama the ball enough.
The French basketball prodigy posts 20.5 points, 10 boards and 3.5 blocks a night, but there is the belief that the team can do more to make him an offensive centerpiece throughout the game. When a team falls out of the NBA Play-in Tournament before Christmas, patience is going to run on empty.
But Jeremy Sochan can use this Rising Stars Challenge to remind fans why the Spurs viewed him as a top-10 draft pick. Opening tipoff is set for 9 p.m. ET Friday night.
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