Spurs’ Jeremy Sochan finds success with quirky one-handed free-throw style

SAN ANTONIO — It’s hard for San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan to find much humor in a season that on Tuesday night produced another double-digit loss for his team.

Somehow, everyone seemed to be having fun every time Sochan stepped to the foul line for a free throw.

The Utah Jazz’s 130-118 loss to the Spurs at Frost Bank Center left them at 4-25 with most of the loss tied to the team’s experiment with the 6-foot-8 Sochan as the starting point guard.

That exercise was deemed a failure and Sochan was dropped back up front in the starting lineup that put rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama at center and second-year guard Malaki Branham at the point.

However, an earlier experiment with Sochan continued to be a resounding success: His unique one-handed free-throw form made almost everyone smile.

In a form that may be unique in the history of the game, the only time Sochan touched the basketball with his left hand occurred when he used both hands to catch it when a referee threw it. Then, so quickly that one could hardly notice, he positioned his right hand under the ball while simultaneously releasing his left hand and immediately began his shooting stroke. Complete with a picture-perfect release, the new look made a dramatic improvement that left Gregg Popovich happy and Sochan’s teammates in awe.

After making both free throws after being fouled Tuesday night, Sochan is 112 of 148 from the line in the 62 games he’s played since switching to the one-handed shot, a healthy 75.7 percent.

He’s not Steph Curry (career 91.0 percent), but he’s not Andre Drummond (career 47.8 percent) either.

Nor is he the first one-handed free-throw shooter in NBA history. Notably, Hall of Famers Bob Pettit (76.1 percent) and Oscar Robertson (83.8 percent) shot their free throws with one hand. So did Don Nelson (76.5 percent), a member of five Boston Celtics NBA title teams and, importantly for Sochan, one of Spurs Hall of Fame head coach Popovich’s most important 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 by using just one hand to improve their their shooting stroke. This made Popovich an advocate of Nelson’s shot doctor teaching method.

Sochan’s one-handed free throw has been a revelation since he first used it in a game last season against the Rockets on December 19, 2022, in Houston. Then, he entered game No. 23 of his rookie season making just 11 of 24 (45.8 percent) free throws. But, Popovich and his veteran assistant, Brett Brown, are working with the then 19-year-old to change everything about his foul shooting approach.

“Jeremy was in the tank, 45 percent,” Popovich recalled recently. “I talked to Brett and said, ‘What are we going to do this year?’ He had so much extraneous motion (in his shot) that we decided, ‘Let’s just let him do it with one hand and see how he feels about it.’ ”

It didn’t take long for Popovich and Brown to convince Sochan to try the one-handed shot. He disliked his appalling free-throw percentage more than the coaches, admitting it was embarrassing, helped Popovich pitch Sochan to try it.

“The biggest downside to that is that most guys are probably embarrassed about wanting to do that 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 won’t. But, maybe it’s easier to control and let’s just see.’

“He did it, and I don’t know if instant is the right word, but he did them pretty quickly and it was a more consistent stroke than he used to. So, we just stuck with it and said let’s see how he’ll do it in five games, 10 games, whatever. The success just keeps coming and now he’s comfortable with it.”

When Popovich began preaching the virtues of the one-handed free throw, he discovered that Sochan was already a member of the choir.

“I went through a bad stretch where I couldn’t get enough of them,” Sochan said. “I’m willing to try anything.”

The process began near the basket, the one-handed flips so that Sochan was comfortable with the feeling of going out. Eventually, the shots were from longer distances and, finally, from the foul line.

“I was practicing a lot, up close, one-handed, form stuff,” Sochan recalled. “We kept taking it back to the free-throw line, then back and forth before going back to the free-throw line until it started working well in practice.

“So, then it’s, ‘Why not try it in a game?’ ”

The first experiment was a small failure but it brought about a small change that made a world of difference.

“Well, the first game wasn’t the best,” Sochan said, painfully recalling his 1-of-4 foul shooting against the Rockets. “It was very new to me, and I didn’t know how that first test would go.

“The first time I got fouled I looked at Coach Pop and he was just smiling at me, nodding his head. So, I just said, ‘F— it, just do it.’ But, the one thing I noticed when I first did it, I dribbled the ball twice and my pickup was different, so it didn’t feel good and I kind of rushed it.

“The next game in New Orleans, I explained (to Popovich and Brown) why I wasn’t going to dribble. Just take a deep breath, set my hand and just lift the ball in one motion.”

Popovich happily endorsed the quicker, no-dribble release.

Less thinking, more success.

Jeremy Sochan endures some taunts from opponents and fans alike when he attempts his one-handed free throws. (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

“Yeah, he just took a breath and shot,” Popovich said. “We all know that taking too much time on a shot usually ends in no success.”

Sochan went 7 of 10 the first time he used his no-dribble technique, starting 12 games in which he made 24 of 29 (82.7 percent) free throws.

“So, that became my thing, and I’m really happy because I went from 45 percent to 70-something,” Sochan said.

Sochan endured a bit of taunting from opponents stationed along the lane as he attempted a free throw.

“Oh yes, of course,” said Sochan. “Someone on the opposing team will say, like, ‘What the f—?’

“But, that’s— coming in. It is what it is and the results count.”

In particular. Spurs fans enjoyed Sochan’s free-throw style, cheering when he was fouled and cheering when he made both shots. It’s become a “thing” at Spurs games, enough for the company that makes the team’s iconic TV commercials for the HEB grocery chain to write a spot airing this season featuring Sochan as the star, with Wembanyama, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson.

In a short space, Sochan completed several one-handed tasks with various HEB products: cracking an egg like a short-order chef, opening a jumbo bag of potato chips with a pop, serving a platter of piled with plates of food, opening a jar of salsa and sliding it down a tabletop, startling his teammates.

“One hand,” said Wembanyama.

“He couldn’t turn it off,” Vassell added.

However, there is one thing Sochan loves not being able to do on one hand: count the number of Spurs’ victories.

(Top photo of Sochan: Jed Jacobsohn / NBAE via Getty Images)