Chip Engelland, shooting guru and long-time Spurs assistant coach, has left the franchise to join the Oklahoma City Thunder. His exit doesn’t come as a huge surprise, since it had been reported that he was going to depart after his contract ended, but it does suggest that there might be more turbulence in San Antonio than previously thought.
First, the optics are terrible. Losing someone who has been so interlinked with the Spurs’ success in developing players as they embark on a full rebuild is hard to defend. Moreover, the move comes as the latest in a brain drain that has been going on for years in San Antonio and seems to point to a cost-cutting trend that goes beyond the norm, even for a Spurs franchise that has always been financially conscious.