At the start of the season, head coach Gregg Popovich revealed that the San Antonio Spurs would be testing out a new starting lineup – Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Victor Wembanyama, and Zach Collins. Rather than rolling with a traditional point guard, they’d have Sochan running the show.
Unfortunately for the Spurs, the experiment failed. They stopped using Sochan as the primary point guard in the middle of December. During his time at point guard, Sochan even admitted to being uncomfortable with the role, as it was something he had never done before. Now, Vassell, Sochan, Malaki Branham, and Tre Jones are sharing the ball-handling duties.
But while Sochan at the one didn’t work as well as the Spurs may have hoped, it will benefit the team in the long run.
Yes, Sochan playing point guard failed to help the Spurs this season. But winning games was never going to be their primary goal. Would they have liked to make it back into the playoffs this season? Absolutely. But with a young roster and a rookie leading the way, that was never a likely reality.
Instead, the Spurs should be prioritizing player development. Sochan isn’t going to be their point guard of the future, but by playing the position for a couple of months, he at least got familiar with the role.
At just 20 years old, Sochan has tons of time to develop his game, and during his time at point guard, he got a better feel for how his teammates play. Where to find them, where they like to be on the court, and who wants to the ball when.
He won’t have to deploy that knowledge at the point guard spot anymore, but having it will be invaluable as he and the rest of the Spurs continue to grow.
Plus, running Sochan at point guard gave the Spurs a chance to have all of their most promising players on the court at the same time.
So, Sochan’s time as the Spurs’ full-time point guard may be done, and the experiment wasn’t necessarily a success. It wasn’t a failure, either.
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