TRIPLE DIP OF YOUTH
Young roster gets even younger with addition of 3 teens
Malaki Branham’s head already was spinning before he retired to the backstage area at the NBA draft Thursday night in Brooklyn.
A few dizzying seconds after the Spurs tabbed the Ohio State swingman with the 20th pick, Branham was onstage at the Barclays Center, adorned in a silverand-black ball cap and shaking hands with commissioner Adam Silver before a national television audience.
A few moments later, the 19-year-old was whisked behind a curtain and handed a cellphone.
On the other end was Gregg Popovich.
If Branham wondered whether he had dreamed the whole thing, Popovich’s voice provided him with the first of many pinch-me moments.
“I was like, ‘Oh snap,’ ” Branham recounted in a Zoom call with reporters in San Antonio. “This is real.”
For Branham and two other teenage Spurs rookies-to-be, reality became remarkable Thursday.
The Spurs cashed in a club-record three firstround picks, taking Baylor forward Jeremy Sochan at No. 9 and Notre Dame wing Blake Wesley at No. 25 along with Branham at No.
Murray welcomes some help — and maybe a successor
If everything goes right, Dejounte Murray will grow to love Jeremy Sochan, for all of the same reasons Spurs opponents will grow sick of him.
In the smooth stroke of Malaki Branham, Murray will discover the benefits of a high-scoring teammate who commands a defense’s respect.
And eventually, Blake Wesley will become the havoc-wreaking backcourt partner Murray once dreamed Derrick White would be.
The Spurs, though, weren’t counting on a perfect outcome when they made their three selections in the first round of the NBA draft on Thursday night. Yes, it will be fantastic if Sochan, Branham and Wesley all prove to be productive complements to San Antonio’s only current All-star.
But when it comes to Murray and the Spurs, there’s another potential result at play here.
One of these teenagers could end up succeeding him.
That, to be clear, is nobody’s Plan A. The Spurs adore Murray’s game and his character, and Gregg Popovich has developed as close of a relationship with the ever-rising point guard as the coach has had with any player outside of perhaps the famed “Big Three.” Murray retiring in silver and black, with a trophy in his case, is what everyone wants.
But there is a reason general manager Brian Wright can’t just laugh and hang up the phone on Atlanta or any of the other teams inquiring this summer about Murray’s avail
20.
In doing so, the Spurs injected their ongoing reconstruction project with a triple shot of youth.
Last year, the Spurs used the 12th pick on Alabama guard Josh Primo, the youngest player in the NBA last season.
In the season to come, Primo no longer will be the youngest player on the Spurs. All three new arrivals are younger than Primo by a matter of months.
“We approach every draft trying to find the best available talent,” Spurs general manager Brian Wright said. “We walked away from this one feeling pretty good about what we ended up with.”
Wright said the Spurs had all three of their draftees graded inside the top 20.
On paper, the cream of the class is Sochan (pronounced “So-han”), a 6-foot-9 do-it-all forward who was named the Big 12’s Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman last season.
Born in Oklahoma to a Polish mother and American father, Sochan spent his formative years in England, an upbringing evidenced by his distinctly British accent.
Sochan will be the second Baylor alum to play for the Spurs, joining Vinnie Johnson (199192).
Sochan said he is eager to relocate south down Interstate 35 from
Waco to take the next step in his basketball journey.
“I feel like they play as a team,” Sochan said. “They’re one of the best at assists. They pass the ball and move the ball. I feel like that’s what I’m really good at, filling a role and being part of a team.”
Sochan averaged 9.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals in his lone college season.
The Spurs used their first top-10 pick in 25 years on Sochan in hopes he will outperform those numbers as his NBA career develops.
In particular, the Spurs are intrigued by the versatility Sochan offers on the defensive end, where he has shown the ability to guard any position.
“He’s a connector,” Wright said. “He connects you on both ends of the floor. He can pass, he can think, he’s physical. … He’s all the things we identified that we wanted to add to the team.”
Though for now considered the jewel of the Spurs’ 2022 draft class, Sochan is also a diamond in the rough.
His jump shot needs work. Sochan made only 29.6 percent from 3-point range last season and only 58.9 percent from the foul line.
Sochan acknowledged his shot mechanics need refinement.
“With the Spurs, I think that’s one of the best places to go to improve my shot,” Sochan said. “I can’t wait.”
In Sochan, the Spurs added more potential
size at the power forward position, where the 6-6 Keldon Johnson has been the starter for each of the past two seasons.
With their other two first-round picks, the Spurs augmented their overflowing stable of young wing prospects.
The 6-5 Branham, a native of Columbus, Ohio, was named that state’s Mr. Basketball in 2021 as a senior at St. Mary’s-st.vincent High School, the program that produced Lebron James.
Branham played one season at Ohio State, earning Big Ten Allfreshman honors while averaging 13 points. He finished second in the conference in free-throw percentage at an 83.3 percent clip.
Wright said the Spurs feared Branham might go in the late lottery and considered moving up to take him.
They were pleased he was still available at 20.
“He’s a guy with a lot of upside,” Wright said. “We think he is a threelevel scorer, very efficient, very smart, knows the game. He doesn’t try to do things he’s incapable of.”
Branham said he is ready to join the Spurs’ youth movement.
“I am super excited,” Branham said. “Just getting to know the guys and jelling with them on the court is going to be big.”
The Spurs spent their final pick in the first round Thursday on Wesley, who became Notre Dame’s first one-anddone player.
The 6-5 Wesley averaged 14.4 points last season,
totaling the fourthmost points by a freshman in program annals, and was a second-team ALL-ACC selection.
Like Sochan, Wesley arrives amid optimism about the doggedness he might bring on defense, but also questions about his wayward jumper. He shot only 30.3 percent from beyond the arc at Notre Dame.
“You are talking about
speed and downhill ability and competitiveness, a motor that just keeps going,” Wright said. “And he loves the gym and wants to work.”
Of the Spurs’ firstrounders, Wesley is the one most likely to begin his career in the G League.
“I’m just blessed to be here,” Wesley said. “I don’t worry much about mock drafts and where I went and where I go.
“That all ends tomorrow, and then summer league starts.”
After a night in New York in which reality felt like a dream to the three newest Spurs, things are about to get even more real in the days to come.
Practice starts next week.