SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan struggled to find anything to laugh about this season as his team suffered another double-digit loss Tuesday night.
Somehow, everyone seems to find something interesting every time Sauchamp steps to the line and shoots a free throw.
The Utah Jazz defeated the Spurs 130-118 at Frostbank Center to move to 4-25, with much of that loss related to the team’s attempts to make the 6-foot-8 Sauchamp the starting point guard.
The practice was deemed a failure and was canceled, with Soshan returning to the starting lineup with rookie Victor Wembanyama at center and sophomore guard Malaki Branham. Play as point guard.
However, the previous experiment with Souchon was still a heartening success: his quirky one-handed free throw gesture made just about everyone smile.
The only time Sauchamp touched the ball with his left hand was when he caught the basketball with both hands after the referee threw it, which may be unique in the history of basketball. Then, he quickly puts his right hand under the ball, releases his left hand, and immediately starts shooting so fast that it’s almost impossible to notice. The new format was finished in picture-perfect form, resulting in a huge improvement that had Gregg Popovich applauding and Souchon’s teammates in awe.
After hitting two free throws after being fouled on Tuesday night, Sauchamp has made 112 of 148 free throws in 62 games since switching to one-handed shooting for a 75.7 percent shooting percentage.
Jeremy Souchon’s free throws this season
| date | opponent | Financial Times | Free trade agreement | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
October 25 |
against the mavericks |
3 |
6 |
50% |
|
October 27 |
vs. rockets |
4 |
4 |
100% |
|
October 31 |
in the sun |
2 |
3 |
67% |
|
November 10 |
vs. gray wolves |
1 |
2 |
50% |
|
November 12 |
vs heat |
2 |
2 |
100% |
|
November 17 |
vs kings |
1 |
2 |
50% |
|
November 18 |
vs grizzlies |
5 |
6 |
83% |
|
November 20 |
against the Clippers |
2 |
2 |
100% |
|
November 22 |
against the Clippers |
5 |
6 |
83% |
|
November 30 |
vs eagles |
6 |
6 |
100% |
|
December 1 |
on the pelicans |
3 |
4 |
75% |
|
December 13 |
vs lakers |
0 |
2 |
0% |
|
December 15 |
vs lakers |
1 |
1 |
100% |
|
December 17 |
vs. pelicans |
3 |
4 |
75% |
|
December 19 |
in the bucks |
1 |
2 |
50% |
|
December 23 |
in the mavericks |
1 |
2 |
50% |
|
December 26 |
to jazz |
2 |
2 |
100% |
|
total |
42 |
56 |
75% |
He’s not Stephen Curry (career 91.0%), but he’s not Andre Drummond (career 47.8%) either.
He’s also not the first one-handed free throw shooter in NBA history. Notably, Hall of Famers Bob Pettitte (76.1 percent) and Oscar Robertson (83.8 percent) shot free throws with one hand. The same goes for Don Nelson (76.5%), a member of five Boston Celtics NBA championship teams and, more importantly for Soshan, Hall of Fame head coach with the Spurs One of Povich’s most valuable mentors.
During Popovich’s two seasons as an assistant on Nelson’s Golden State Warriors coaching staff in 1992-93 and 1993-94, he watched Nelson help some challenging shooters use only one hand. Improve their shooting percentage. This has made Popovich an advocate of the shooting-doctor Nelson teaching technique.
Sauchamp’s one-handed free throw shooting has been a revelation since he first used it against the Rockets last season on Dec. 19, 2022, in Houston. Then, entering his 23rd game as a rookie, he made 11 of 24 free throws (45.8%). But Popovich and veteran assistant Brett Brown had been working with the then-19-year-old to change his free throw shooting style.
“Jeremy was down, 45 percent,” Popovich recalled recently. “Brett and I talked about, ‘What are we going to do with this guy?’ He had so many extraneous motions (for his shot), and we decided, ‘Let’s let him do it with one hand and see what he does with it. How do you feel about this. “”
It didn’t take Popovich and Brown long to convince Soshan to try a one-handed shot. He dislikes his horrendous free throw shooting even more than the coach does, admitting it’s embarrassing, which helps Popovich pitch to Sochamp to give him a try.
“The biggest disservice to this is that most people would probably be embarrassed by wanting to do this in front of the whole world,” Popovich said. “That was our biggest concern, so I went to him and said, ‘What do you think about this? I don’t want to put you in a weird situation, and if you don’t want to try, we’re not going to do it. But, it might be easier. Control, let’s see it.”
“He did it, I don’t know if ‘instantly’ is the right word, but he made those moves very quickly and more consistently than he had ever hit before. So, we just stuck with it and said let’s see See how he performs in five games, 10 games or whatever. The success keeps coming and now he’s happy with it.”
When Popovich started preaching the virtues of one-handed free throw shooting, he found that Soshan was already part of the chorus.
“I was going through a bad time, and I wasn’t making enough money,” Sochan said. “I’m ready to try anything.”
The process begins close to the basket with a one-handed flip to allow Sochan to get used to the feel of the shot. Eventually, shots were taken from farther away and eventually from the free throw line.
“I practiced a lot, close range, one-handed, form stuff,” Sochan recalled. “We kept bringing it back to the free throw line, then back to the free throw line, then back to the free throw line until it started working well in practice.
“So, ‘Why not try it in a game?’ “
The first experiment was a small failure, but it resulted in a small change that made a world of difference.
“Well, the first game wasn’t the best,” Sauchamp recalled painfully of his 1-of-4 free throw game against the Rockets. “This is new to me and I don’t know how it will be the first time I try it.
“The first time I got fouled, I looked at Coach Pope and he just smiled at me and nodded. So, I just said, ‘Go — that’s it.’ But when I first did it , one thing I noticed, I dribbled twice and I was catching the ball differently, so it didn’t feel good, I was a little rushed.
“The next game in New Orleans, I explained (to Popovich and Brown) why I wasn’t going to dribble the ball at all. Just take a deep breath, put my hands down, and lift the ball in one motion.”
Popovich happily endorsed the quicker, off-the-dribble shot.
Less thinking, more success.
Jeremy Sochan was jeered by opponents and fans as he attempted a one-handed penalty kick. (Noah Graham/NBAE, Getty Images)
“Yeah, now he just takes a breath and shoots,” Popovich said. “We all know that spending too much time on a shot usually doesn’t work out.”
Sauchamp went 7-for-10 from the field the first time he used the off-dribble technique, and in the 12 games since then, he’s made 24-for-29 from the line (82.7%).
“So, it became my thing, and I’m really happy because I went from 45 percent to about 70 percent,” Sochan said.
Souchon was jeered by opponents standing in the lane when he attempted a free throw.
“Oh, yes, of course,” Sochan said. “Someone on the other team will be like, ‘What the f—?’
“But, that’s — going in. That’s the way it is, the results matter.”
especially. Spurs fans have come to appreciate Sauchamp’s free throw shooting style, cheering when he gets fouled and cheering when he makes two shots. It became a “thing” at Spurs games, enough so that the company that produces the team’s signature TV commercials for the HEB grocery chain wrote a spot to air this season, starring Sochan alongside Wembanya. Ma, Devon Wasser and Keldon Johnson star together.
In brief footage, Sochan performs several one-handed tasks using various HEB products: cracking eggs like a short-order chef, opening a large bag of chips with soda, serving up a platter piled with food, and opening a jar of salsa , then slid it off the table, all to the surprise of his co-stars.
“A hand,” Vunbanyama said.
“He just couldn’t turn it off,” Wasser added.
However, there’s one thing Solshan desperately wants to do that he can’t do with just one hand: counting Tottenham’s wins.
(Top photo of Sochan: Jed Jacobsohn/NBAE via Getty Images)
