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With the Point Sochan Experiment now a distant memory, Jeremy can once again return to his chaotic roots.

Photo courtesy of SS&E

For the most part, San Antonio Spurs training camp was the good kind of uneventful, quiet and streamlined. Perhaps it had to do with the Victor Wembanyama experience being more than a year old now, rather than a brand-new reality that had sports-media members from here to Timbuktu flying in just to climb all over one another in the old practice gym, looking for a place to stick their boom mics; perhaps it was that the Victory Capital Performance Center at La Cantera fully felt like home this time around, and no longer smelled like fresh construction; or perhaps it was just that all the kids are a little older, and the front office brought in a few more old guys to help raise the average age of the roster from ‘barely old enough to drink’ to ‘might be able to tell you what purpose a 401(k) serves.’

Things felt structured, orderly and businesslike — save for a certain splash of color that oftentimes felt conspicuous in its absence last season.

Jeremy Sochan wandered around media day popping in and out of interviews and listening in on others, his pink afro (which he said had been purple until recently) tightly braided for the occasion. On his feet were Rick Owens Geobaskets, a pair of shoes that had even Devin Vassell asking, “What the hell are those?” Sochan was in his element, and seemingly back to enjoying himself again one year removed from a trying time in his young career.

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“There have been moments where it’s like, ‘Yo, I don’t want to,’” Sochan told reporters last November, about halfway through what had been dubbed the Point Sochan Experiment. “It’s like fuck this shit.”

It was the first time in his life he’d ever been asked to play point guard on a regular basis, and the results were about what you’d expect from a then-20-year-old being tossed in the frying pan of arguably the most demanding position in the sport. He was under a microscope unable to hide, and with the new responsibilities on his shoulders, it was difficult for him to find spots where he could play to his normally chaotic strengths.

Nothing was comfortable, and the offense as a whole struggled to find any consistency in the early stages of the season. Sochan seemed distant off the court as well. His bubbly personality was subdued when the doors were opened to the media, he rarely spoke in front of microphones and, while this might be some real armchair-psychologist stuff, there was essentially no hair dye to be seen throughout the entire year. At times it felt like the fun was gone.

But Sochan understands it’s in the discomfort where most of our growth occurs.