By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-04-17 15:54:08
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
杰里米·索汉 (10) 在上半场对阵76人队的比赛中扣篮。圣安东尼奥马刺队在2025年3月21日星期五在Frost Bank Center对阵费城76人队。
他们或许疯了。 马拉基·布兰纳姆(Malaki Branham)承认这一点。
但再过一个月，他和他的几位马刺队友将会忘记可能出错的地方。 他们将专注于可能顺利的地方。 他们会选择相信组织了为期一周的西班牙和英国之旅的人的判断。
即使那个人恰好是NBA最顽皮的捣蛋鬼之一。
“我们非常信任杰里米(索汉)，”布兰纳姆说。
在布兰纳姆、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)和德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)看来，索汉已经赢得了这份信任。 毕竟，在过去的12个月里，他取得了长足的进步。
并且，假设索汉能够带领他们在欧洲的旧地盘上安全地度过几天，没有发生任何重大事件？
马刺队对索汉日益增长的信任应该不仅仅体现在旅行计划上。
“这只是积极的氛围，”索汉谈到他为布兰纳姆、卡斯尔和瓦塞尔计划的旅行时说道，这本身就标志着这位出生于俄克拉荷马州、在英国长大的前锋在他NBA的第三个赛季中取得了进步。
一年前，索汉进入夏天时，仍然试图摆脱精神上的低落，因为一次不幸的控球后卫实验以及随之而来的球场挣扎而感到沮丧。
然而，自从去年秋天返回训练营以来，闷闷不乐的索汉已经被“积极氛围”的索汉所取代。 他的整体数据（场均11.4分、6.5个篮板和2.4次助攻）变化不大，但他的投篮命中率提高了近8个百分点，达到53.5%，更重要的是，他看起来很融入。
“老实说，过去两年我一直都在四处奔波，”索汉说。 “所以这对我个人来说不是最容易的事情。 但我认为（在）一支健康的球队中，我知道自己的角色。”
这位贝勒大学的毕业生下个月才满21岁，他将自己的进步归功于“真正地尊重和服从篮球之神”。 任何在本世纪花时间在马刺队周围的人都知道，这句话直接来自格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)的激励之词，并且在索汉身上持续产生共鸣。
索汉是否仍然喜欢时不时地挑起与对手的场外对抗？ 当然。
他是否仍然认为“厚脸皮”，正如他所说的那样，是一种被低估的NBA艺术形式？ 绝对的。
但是，本赛季不止一次，马刺队发现自己陷入了一些小冲突中，而索汉成为了和平缔造者，甚至是理性的声音。 他正在一点一点地成长为一位真正有话语权的老将，而不仅仅是因为他的口音让马刺队的新秀控球后卫如此开心。
（顺便说一句，卡斯尔坚持认为，无论他和索汉在伦敦玩得多开心，他都决心永远不要用英语俚语"Innit?"来结束一句话。）
这并不是说索汉已经弄清楚了一切，或者说他作为一名NBA球员已经接近完成品。 他的跳投仍然需要大量的练习。 他需要证明自己可以健康地度过一个赛季。 从长远来看，他可能更适合作为一名替补席上的能量球员，而不是作为一块基石。
但是一支围绕着维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)、达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox)和卡斯尔组建的球队已经拥有了一些不错的基石。 成为一名可靠的替补席上的能量球员不一定是件坏事。
至于邀请像卡斯尔这样的年轻职业球员和他一起去欧洲一周？ 这并不是为了取代马刺队期望在今年夏天在训练馆里所做的所有工作。
而是为了补充它。
“这就是你建立联系、发展关系的方式，”索汉说。 “这不仅仅是赛季中发生的事情。”
卡斯尔本人是一个愿意且渴望学习的学生。 正如他吸收了克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)提供的每一丝智慧一样，本赛季他在Frost Bank Center的更衣室相邻而坐，正如他最大限度地利用了与文班亚马和福克斯在一起的每一秒上场时间一样，卡斯尔也希望充分利用他和索汉、瓦塞尔和布兰纳姆的跨大西洋联谊时间。
顺便说一句，马刺队将乘坐商务航班。 当被问及乘坐私人飞机的可能性时，索汉笑着说：“我们需要加上克里斯才能做到这一点。”
但是在年轻的马刺队能够说服保罗包租他们的夏季旅行之前，索汉仍然负责。 即使该计划带有一些风险？
布兰纳姆、卡斯尔和瓦塞尔希望证实马刺队已经怀疑的事情：
信任索汉可能并没有那么疯狂。
San Antonio Spurs’ Bismack Biyombo, from left, Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell, Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox chat and watch their teammates take on the Toronto Raptors during the last Spurs game of the season at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Sunday, April 13, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan (10) and teammate Keldon Johnson (0) celebrate after a point during the second half of NBA basketball game action against the Toronto Raptors in Toronto, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Thomas Skrlj/The Canadian Press via AP)
San Antonio Spurs Keldon Johnson (0) celebrates with San Antonio Spurs Jeremy Sochan . San Antonio Spurs v Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, March 21,2025 at the Frost Bank Center.
San Antonio Spurs Jeremy Sochan listens to Bismack Biyombo (18)San Antonio Spurs v Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, March 21,2025 at the Frost Bank Center.
点击查看原文：Spurs are putting trust in Jeremy Sochan for summer of 'good vibes'
Spurs are putting trust in Jeremy Sochan for summer of ‘good vibes’
Jeremy Sochan (10) dunks against the 76ers in first half.San Antonio Spurs v Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, March 21,2025 at the Frost Bank Center.
They might be crazy. Malaki Branham acknowledges that much.
But a month from now, he and a couple of his Spurs teammates will forget about what might go wrong. They will focus on what might go right. And they will choose to believe in the judgment of the man who organized a weeklong trip to Spain and England.
Even if that man happens to be renowned as one of the NBA’s most mischievous troublemakers.
“We are putting a lot of trust in Jeremy (Sochan),” Branham said.
The way Branham, Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell see it, Sochan has earned that much. After all, he’s come a long way in the last 12 months.
And assuming Sochan can shepherd them around his old European stomping grounds for a few days without any major incidents?
The Spurs’ growing trust in Sochan should cover more than travel itineraries.
“It’s just good vibes,” Sochan said of the trip he has planned for Branham, Castle and Vassell, and than in itself is a sign of the Oklahoma-born, England-raised forward’s progress in his third NBA season.
A year ago, Sochan headed into the summer still trying to shake out of a mental funk, down on himself after an ill-fated point-guard experiment and the on-court struggles that followed.
Ever since returning for training camp last fall, though, sullen Sochan has been replaced by “good vibes” Sochan. His overall numbers (11.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game) didn’t change much, but his field-goal percentage shot up almost eight points to 53.5%, and more than that he looked like he fit in.
“To be honest, the last two years it was all over the place,” Sochan said. “So that (was) not the easiest thing for me personally. But I think (on) a healthy team, I know my role.”
Still only 21 until his birthday next month, the Baylor alumnus chalked up his step forward to “just really kind of respecting and obeying the basketball gods.” Anyone who’s spent time around the Spurs during this century knows that’s a line straight out of Gregg Popovich’s motivational repertoire, and with Sochan it continues to resonate.
Does Sochan still like to instigate extracurricular confrontations with opponents every now and then? Absolutely.
Does he still consider the act of “being cheeky,” as he puts it, to be an underrated NBA art form? Definitely.
But more than once this season, the Spurs found themselves in little scuffles in which Sochan became the peacekeeper, and even the voice of reason. Little by little, he’s growing into a veteran with a real voice, and not just because of the accent that amuses the Spurs’ rookie point guard so much.
(For the record, Castle insists that no matter how much fun he has in London with Sochan, he is determined never to finish a sentence with the English slang phrase “Innit?”)
None of this is to say that Sochan has figured everything out, or that he’s even close to a finished product as an NBA player. His jump shot still needs an awful lot of work. He needs to prove he can get through a season healthy. And in the long term he might be better suited as an energy guy off the bench than as a foundational piece.
But a team built around Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox and Castle already has some nice foundational pieces. Becoming a reliable energy guy off the bench wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
As for inviting a young pro like Castle with him to Europe for a week? That’s not meant to be a substitute for all the work the Spurs expect to do in the practice gym this summer.
It’s meant to supplement it.
“That’s how you connect, how you grow your relationships,” Sochan said. “It’s not all about what’s happening in the season.”
Castle, for his part, is a willing and eager pupil. Just as he soaked up every bit of wisdom offered by Chris Paul, who dressed at an adjacent locker at Frost Bank Center this season, and just as he’s maximized every second of his on-court time with Wembanyama and Fox, Castle wants to make the most of his trans-Atlantic bonding time with Sochan, Vassell and Branham.
The Spurs will be flying commercial, by the way. Asked about the possibility of a private plane, Sochan grinned and said, “We would need to add Chris for that.”
But until the younger Spurs can convince Paul to charter their summer trips, Sochan remains in charge. And even if the plan comes with some degree of risk?
Branham, Castle and Vassell hope to confirm something the Spurs already suspect:
Trusting Sochan might not be so crazy, after all.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News