Knicks head coach Mike Brown plans to treat newly acquired forward Jeremy Sochan like his predecessor, Jose Alvarado, and insert him into the rotation ahead of Mohamed Diawara to see what the team has in its newest addition.
“Mo’s had a good season so far as a young guy and as you guys know, I’ll play young guys,” Brown said after practice at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Friday. “I’ve played young guys in front of vets before but I’m gonna give Jeremy an opportunity.”
Alvarado took the lion’s share of the backup minutes from second-year forward Tyler Kolek when the Knicks acquired him ahead of the trade deadline in a three-team deal sending out Guerschon Yabusele. Brown will use a similar approach, even though Diawara has played well, to give Sochan an opportunity to earn a rotation spot for the playoff run.
“Jose is a vet. He knows the league. The league knows him. He knows the officials and vice-versa, so they’re gonna get an opportunity, but at the end of the day, I’m gonna play who I think is best for us and right now, Jeremy, he hadn’t played for us, so I’ve gotta see — rather quickly — what we have in him before getting to the playoffs
The Knicks signed Sochan, 22, on the buyout market after the San Antonio Spurs waived him in a season that saw him on the bench and out of the rotation more often than not. Sochan, the No. 9-overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, is eager both to help his new team make a deep playoff run and dispel the notion he can’t help a team win games.
“Yeah, it’s tough. In my whole career, I’ve never been sitting on the bench and getting DNPs [did not play, coach’s decision]. You go through a process of questioning why or what’s happening. It can get stressful,” he said on Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, I came from England, where basketball’s not big. I know my worth. I know what I can bring to the team, and I’m blessed that the organization here has seen that.”
“I’m super excited to get a fresh slate and show what I can do.”
Sochan is a 6-foot-8 forward with career averages of 10.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He is known to be a tough-nosed defender capable of guarding four-to-five positions on the court.
“[I bring] energy, the kind of mold that coach has been doing and what the Knicks have been doing and what he wants from me, I feel I can really excel in,” he said. “I bring versatility, defense, energy, a little bit of that nasty, so I can’t wait.”
Three-point shooting is a weak spot, however, for New York’s newest front-court player, as he hasn’t eclipsed 31% shooting from downtown in any of his four NBA seasons, though Brown believes the upside has potential to compensate for the lack of spacing.
“When we put our rotation together, I try to think of how the group on the floor fits for a lot of different reasons, not just because this guy is a high-level shooter and this guy is not a high level shooter, but can this center play with this power forward? Can this guard play with this guard in terms of being able to bring the ball and handle against pressure?” he explained. “So there are a lot of different–does this group have enough guys that can go defensive rebound?
“So I try to look at a lot of different combinations when it comes to putting them together or the pros and cons of the individuals when it comes to putting the individuals together, and it’ll be no different with Jeremy or Jose at the end of the day.”
Brown said Sochan immediately addresses size up front, giving the Knicks a bigger profile along the wings.
“When you look at Jeremy, you like his size right off the bat, especially for a four. OG is of that size but nobody else really is of that size,” he said. “And you look at the versatility, over the years, he’s been able to guard one through five, and so to have that versatility on that end of the floor is huge, especially if OG’s out.
“We’re a lot smaller if OG or Josh or they both are out. And then [Jeremy’s] energy, his physicality, all those things that don’t necessarily show up in a stat sheet in my opinion are welcomed by any team.”
Brown was noncommittal regarding the number of minutes he expects to play his new forward, but it’s clear Sochan will be a part of the rotation unless he plays himself off the court.
The former Second Team All-Rookie selection is excited to start a new chapter after his previous stop ended unceremoniously in San Antonio.
“[There was] just no real opportunity [with the Spurs] in my opinion, 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. It is what it is, and I’m just blessed to be in an opportunity where I can go and blossom,” he said. “[Mike and I] have talked a lot, and I think it’s just seizing whatever opportunities I get, and I think one of the reasons why I picked New York was again it was a very deep roster, a lot of really talented players, and I think it’s a pretty cool opportunity to watch and grow from that as well.
“I think I’m young, so just being around players that have established themselves and have done stuff in this league, I think it’s a crazy opportunity for me.”