Sochan’s confusing mixed bag of results provides less clarity this summer

With yet another early end to a season, the San Antonio Spurs will need to take stock of their roster this summer. They will have to see which players fit long-term and which don't.

Former lottery pick Jeremy Sochan is still a part of the Spurs' young core, and Sochan definitely made strides this season. That gave the Spurs and fans little reason to doubt his continued development. However, his advanced metrics were all over the map, leading to questions about how effective he actually was for the Spurs.

BBall Index recently compiled a series of advanced stats for Sochan, giving fans a glimpse of how impactful he was, and the results were less than stellar.

He ranked poorly in Offensive LEBRON and even worse in Defensive LEBRON. According to BBall Index, it incorporates box score and advanced on/off calculations to come up with a catch-all stat to help figure out how impactful a player is.

How effective was Jeremy Sochan for the San Antonio Spurs, really?

Sochan shot a terrific 70.7% inside 3 feet, with more than half of his attempts coming from there. That improvement as a finisher in the paint helped him increase his efficiency in a big way.

That resulted in his true shooting percentage jumping from 51.3 to 58.9 from 2023-24 to this season. Nevertheless, 3-point shooting remains a struggle for Sochan. Even as a low-volume shooter, he shot well below the league average, hitting just 30.8% of his threes for a second straight season.

Three seasons in, and he hasn't gotten a 3-point shooter, and even saw his free throw percentage drop significantly. That could limit his ceiling as a player. After all, the Spurs can't play him, De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, and Victor Wembanyama together and expect to have a perfectly spaced lineup that can score efficiently.

Stats may not fully capture Jeremy Sochan's contribution

That puts more pressure on Castle and Wembanyama to develop into efficient, high-volume 3-point shooters. If they can, then Sochan could unlock that lineup, giving them a Swiss-army knife defender.

Someone who can crash the offensive glass and finish anything around the basket. That's a useful player, and perhaps something that these metrics don't fully capture.

It's also worth mentioning that some of Sochan's struggles in these advanced metrics could be related to the team's overall struggles. Not to mention that the Spurs often mixed and matched lineups during the second half of the season.

All told, Sochan may not have been as impactful as first thought this season. Nevertheless, he still improved, and with better teammates around him next season, he may be able to better utilize his strengths while minimizing his weaknesses.