Jeremy Sochan arrived with his hair dyed Knicks colors and excited to move on from his ugly ending in San Antonio.
“Just no real opportunity, in my opinion,” Sochan said of this campaign with the Spurs before he was waived last week and signed with the Knicks. “And it is what it is. It’s a very deep team. And maybe I didn’t see eye to eye with Coach, and Coach didn’t see anything I could do for the team.
“And it is what it is. And I’m just blessed to be in an opportunity where I can grow and blossom.”
Sochan’s availability in the buyout market would’ve been a shocker before this season, when he was coming off three campaigns of averaging more than 25 minutes and a spot on the 2023 first-team All-Rookie squad.
But Sochan never jibed with head coach Mitch Johnson, who replaced Gregg Popovich. He was racking up regular DNPs before the All-Star break. A big hindrance to Sochan’s playing time, according to people familiar with the situation, was the 22-year-old’s poor jump shooting.
His career efficiency from deep is under 30 percent. Sochan’s defense, which had previously facilitated a large role, was uninspiring this season in limited action.
“It’s tough. In my whole career even looking past the NBA I’ve never really been sitting on the bench and getting DNPs. So you go through a process of questioning why or what’s happening,” Sochan said. “It can get stressful. But at the end of the day, I’m from England, where basketball is not big. So I know my worth. I know what I can bring to the team, and I’m blessed that the organization here [in New York] has seen that. And I’m super excited to get a fresh slate and show what I can do.”
The Knicks were interested in Sochan at the trade deadline, according to sources, but the Spurs had no interest in their offer of Guerschon Yabusele.
So the Knicks pounced when Sochan hit the market.
The plan is to give Sochan a chance as the backup power forward, with coach Mike Brown saying Wednesday that he wants to test the new player before the playoffs. Sochan — who often dyes his hair and settled on orange and blue before his Knicks debut — is getting a fresh start on a bigger stage.
“Very excited. The culture here, at the Knicks and New York in general, is crazy and very global. And I feel like I’m global, too,” said Sochan, who was born in Oklahoma to a Polish mother and grew up in England. “So I’m just super excited to be here and just grow with this city and the club.”
