As part of a four-part series, Spurs rookie standout Jeremy Sochan will check in to share his thoughts and experiences exclusively with The Sporting News.
Fresh off of earning a selection to the NBA’s All-Rookie team, Sochan dishes on his offseason plans, what he’s learned from watching the playoffs and how he plans to work on his game.
Jeremy Sochan rookie diary: Part I | Part II
All-Rookie selection
I was just named to the All-Rookie team and it’s a great honor to receive. A lot of people have hit me up to congratulate me and I really appreciate that, but at the same time, individual awards are not as important as winning or improving, so it’s always a bit of a weird feeling.
I’m happy to get the honor but not overly excited, you know? In my mind, I’m thinking ‘Thank you, but now it's time to work.’
Awards are awards, but I want to win.
Offseason work begins
It’s so important to stay in shape during the offseason and I’ve been doing a lot of working out in San Antonio.
A typical week for me is two days on and one day off, then having a weekend off. On an average day, I start in the morning and until 12 or 1 p.m., I’m working on my body and my mobility, watching film, talking to our coaches, watching film from the playoffs and doing some skill work.
As of now, one of my main focuses is my shooting, so I’m continuing to work on that. Becoming a more consistent shooter is really important for me.
With my shot, it’s not really about changing my mechanics or changing things so it looks different. It’s more dissecting my shot and looking at smaller areas.
From cleaning up my follow through to the way I hold the ball and where my left-hand placement is — it’s being more consistent with the little things like that and just being able to get reps in my shooting. The little things are what’s going to help me.
Summer League will be here before we know it and I feel like my workload is going to increase as far as what I do with the basketball.
I’m focused on being able to get stronger as a team, understanding where everyone wants to play, how they want to play, and just getting better by communicating with everyone to ensure we’re on the same page.
Overall, I just want to improve my whole game.
Peace during the downtime
At the end of the season, you're thinking to yourself that it’s nice to get a break. Then the break comes and you don’t realize how much time you’ll have. With fewer obligations, it’s been about finding things I enjoy, like going to the movies. I actually went to see “The Super Mario Bros.” movie recently and I’m not going to lie, it was fire!
I enjoy things like going to plant shops to pick out a plant for my house or my room. Or little things like trying new restaurants in the area.
And it’s still good to have downtime for myself, chilling in my own space by listening to music to vibe out.
When the season ended, I went to Mexico with my boys. We went to Tulum, and the vibes were great. The weather was really nice and we went to visit a couple of cenotes — the underwater caves — and just did quite a bit of different things. It was a lot of fun.
Since getting to the NBA, I realized that much more of what I do is spontaneous.
As of now, I don’t have any major travel plans for the start of the summer but I may go to Milan when the NBPA does an event over there, so I might potentially do that.
I do have obligations like Summer League and potentially playing for the Polish National Team.
There will be a few things that I'm going to be doing and traveling is one of them. And it'll be spontaneous. There's definitely going to be some type of vacation that just hasn’t been planned yet.
The NBA Playoffs are just different
I’ve been locked into the playoffs, and the first thing I noticed is that it’s way different from the regular season — I can tell with my eyes that it's way more physical and everything's more dissected. When you’re playing a team six or seven times, they know what you’re going to do and who you’re going to run plays for, so everything's under a microscope.
Being able to be locked in is so, so important.
The one thing that I've realized from watching film around the facility is that no one's perfect. Even superstars make mistakes or poor decisions at the end of the game.
Head coaches make mistakes, too. You would think at this stage that everyone’s perfect, but they’re not.
There’s a lot to learn from watching the playoffs...
During the first couple of games, I was so impressed by Kawhi Leonard. The way he played, I think he was the best player in the playoffs. It’s unfortunate that he got injured.
What fascinates me is a team like Miami and their mentality. I don't think many people thought that the Heat were going to go this far as a No. 8 seed. I credit how they’re playing and their mental game.
With injuries, they don't necessarily have the craziest team on paper, but they play hard, they’re so physical and they have Jimmy Butler, who has the best mentality. They’re showing people that it's not all about what you have on paper.
I watched the Draft Lottery this week and it was crazy — we’re so excited to have the No. 1 pick in San Antonio. We’re all excited for draft night and to get to work for next season!