Jeremy Sochan entered the league in 2022 having the chance to play under the legendary Gregg Popovich.
And with Pop transitioning to a new role as the San Antonio Spurs’ new president of basketball operations, Sochan heaped the utmost praise and admiration to his former coach.
“Pop is a person who is a person that sees basketball, but also, is an ultimate human being,” Sochan told reporters in his visit to Manila for the 2025 NBA Rising Stars Invitational - Philippines Qualifiers.
“I’m truly blessed and honored to be coached by someone who has the most wins in the NBA. You could say he's the best coach ever to live, but it's all about just growing, learning, and having fun with that process. So, again, I’m super blessed,” he added.
Popovich’s 29-year coaching career came to an end after his decision to step down from the post and pass the torch to Mitch Johnson.
This came after the 76-year-old five-time champion coach missed all but five games this season after suffering a stroke last November 2024.
He, however, will take on his first front office role since becoming the Spurs’ general manager and vice president of basketball operations from 1994-1997. Essentially, Popovich still will be heavily involved with the Spurs but he just won't be on the sidelines anymore.
[ALSO READ: Thank You, Pop: End of an era as Gregg Popovich steps down as Spurs head coach]
“My first year in the league, he was my coach. I'm just happy that he's still a part of the organization, he's still having some involvement in decisions and just like culture and identity,” Sochan added.
Johnson will be Sochan’s second head coach in his NBA career and the 21-year-old do-it-all forward looks forward to ushering a new era of Spurs basketball.
“I've been with him [Johnson] since the start of my career. We've been to Poland together for Basketball Without Borders, so the relationship is there.”
Since taking over for Popovich in the remaining 77 games last season, Johnson led the Spurs to a 32-45 record and 34-48 overall.
That resulted in a sixth straight playoff miss for San Antonio as season-ending injuries to stars Victor Wembanyama (blood clot on right shoulder) and former All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox (finger) also hit the team.
[ALSO READ: Spurs shut down Victor Wembanyama for rest of season due to right shoulder blood clot]
But Sochan remained optimistic on the Spurs' direction moving forward.
“I think we’re building a team and we’re trending up. Every year has been better. We got Stephon Castle, who had an unbelievable rookie year. Of course, we have Victor, who’s unique, a unicorn that no one’s ever seen," the Polish-American cager said.
[ALSO READ: San Antonio Spurs’ Stephon Castle emerges as 2025 Rookie of the Year winner]
“But then we added players like De’Aaron Fox and even last year we learned from all-time greats like Chris Paul. And Harrison Barnes was there, too. That helped a lot. So I think as a team we’ve matured, we’re making a lot of progress and, yeah, I think we’re all super excited in the building process," he continued.
With a full offseason to learn Johnson’s system, Sochan did not hesitate to set the bar high for the Spurs in the 2025-26 campaign.
“It's going to be cool to learn from someone like Mitch. Next season, our goal is to make the playoffs and go as far as we can,” he bared.
Sochan logged 11.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists in 54 games last season.
