CLEVELAND — Jeremy Sochan’s transition to the Knicks didn’t go well on the court as he tried to get back into the game and get comfortable with his teammates.
But he is confident that it will turn around.
“It’s a process. It’s my fourth game here,” said Sochan in an interview with The Post. “So we’ll figure it out. We’ll be fine.”
Sochan managed just two minutes in the first half of Tuesday’s 109-94 loss to the Cavaliers, then was benched until garbage time while finishing scoreless.
Sochan, who was signed as a free agent during the offseason, has been offered a trade by coach Mike Brown, who said he wants to give the player a chance to decide if he’s ready before the playoffs begin.
But Sochan’s third-quarter shift Tuesday went to rookie Mohamed Diawara, who had been frustrated before Sochan’s signing but struggled in Cleveland while missing three of four three-point attempts.
“It was the first time I got used to a different way,” said Sochan, who spent his three full seasons with Spurs. “So it will take time to understand, and of course, I’m not in the shape of the game yet. [be] up and down. But I am blessed and happy to be in this situation. And I truly believe that I can add to this team.”
In four games, Sochan averaged one point and one rebound in 7.5 minutes.
“I think it’s just learning how everybody wants to play. The vibe in the team and all those kinds of things,” Sochan said of his big adjustment. “And I think it’s a lot easier for me to learn the playbook. But now we’re learning everybody’s tendencies. What they like and what they don’t like. Just trying to find that part. That’s offense and defense, too.”
Fitness has also been an obstacle after spending so much time on the bench with Spurs.
“[Tuesday] I felt better than Chicago [on Sunday] and two other games. There’s nothing you can really do to get into the game,” Sochan said. “That’s a whole different story. But it only takes a few games and you start to feel better.”
Kenny Atkinson is not focused on beating the Knicks in the playoffs because he doesn’t want to make the same mistake as last season, when his top-seeded Cavs were preparing for the Celtics game but were upset in the second round by the Pacers.
“You have to be careful. I know last year we were thinking ‘Boston, Boston, Boston,’ and we got Indiana,” Atkinson said Tuesday. “I thought, ‘We’re going to have to beat Boston.’ As a head coach, I’m always looking at what those teams are doing, the Knicks or Boston, the teams in our wheelhouse. Detroit, I’ll be watching. But I think it’s a mistake to focus on one group because the roulette wheel might just fall on another group.
“I know what goes on with these teams more than, when we finish the teams.”
The Knicks and Cavs entered this season as the favorites in the Eastern Conference, but the Pistons and Celtics emerged as the two surprising frontrunners in late February.
