How The OKC Thunder Improved Odds Of Rebuilding Success Off The Court

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a great young roster that should help bring the team back to contention one day. The core in Oklahoma City is headlined by a trio of potential future NBA All-Stars in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren.

Outside of those prospects, the Thunder also boast a handful of former first-round picks that could emerge as key pieces to a championship team in the future.

With that in mind, young players with high upside is only one piece of the equation. Developing and maximizing that talent is equally as important, which is something the Thunder have been great at historically.

Now, they’ll be even better at ensuring their players reach their ultimate ceiling.

As first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Thunder are hiring Chip Engelland as an assistant coach. A tenured and highly respected figure around the league, Engelland is known as one of the top shooting coaches in the world.

For the past 17 years, he was part of the San Antonio Spurs’ system, where he helped develop Hall of Fame level players like Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker along with rising star Dejounte Murray among others. Thunder GM Sam Presti has ties to Engelland from his days in San Antonio earlier in his career.

This is a huge move for the Thunder, and perhaps one that’s equally as impactful as any player they could have brought onto the team this summer.

While OKC has a ton of quality young talent, the shooting of many of them could be a swing factor.

This is where Engelland comes into play.

Last season, Josh Giddey (26.3%) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (30.0%) struggled from beyond the arc. If he’s able to work with them on their shot over time, each of their ceilings will only be raised.

Additionally, Chet Holmgren projects to be a spectacular floor spacing center but now should only have more success as a scorer away from the basket.

From there, rookies Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams have extremely high ceilings but their careers could be limited if the shot doesn’t come around. Engelland on the Thunder staff should make fans optimistic about the futures of these prospects as well as the others on the roster.

In a league that is dependent on 3-point shooting, this hire could be historically impactful for the Thunder. They shot a league-worst 32.3% from deep last season.

Not only did Oklahoma City’s developmental capabilities improve today, but so did the scouting department. In what was another hire by the Thunder on Wednesday, the team reportedly came to an agreement with Vince Rozman as Vice President of Identification and Intelligence.

Rozman is a former Philadelphia 76ers executive that started as an intern with the team in 2006 and worked his way all the way up to assistant general manager before making this move to OKC.

After 15 years In Philadelphia, he’ll now be a key piece of the Thunder’s future scouting. Rozman is known as one of the best around the league at what he does and was a key piece of the recent draft success the Sixers had. He was able to find talents like Tyese Maxey, Paul Reed and Isaiah Joe all later in the draft, which could be crucial for Oklahoma City as the team gets better and needs to find talent when no longer selecting in the lottery.

“[Rozman] has been a critical part of the Sixers’ strong player evaluation process for a long time and will be missed – we wish him the best with OKC,” said Philadelphia President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey on Twitter.

The Thunder are even more well-positioned to not only perform well in the draft, but also develop the prospects they land with these two signings. Both Engelland and Rozman are fantastic hires that could further enhance the rebuild in Oklahoma City.

It’s also telling that they both are leaving teams after over 15 years in the system to come to a Thunder team with a bright future.

Oklahoma City has 15 first-round picks and 13 second rounders between now and the 2029 draft. This includes all seven of their own first rounders, meaning the team has ultimately flexibility.