They are silently building a MONSTER with this...

They are quietly building a monster with this. The Spurs are silently moving under the radar, making another perfect coaching signing as it continues the theme of the San Antonio Spurs' best offseason moves, maybe not even being the players they brought in, but the specific coaches. From Sean Sweeney to Richard Lewis to the newest addition, there is something mighty building in San Antonio, shifting the entire culture behind the scenes, transitioning into this new era. We gotta talk about the newest coaching hire for the Austin Spurs, coming from one of the most well-respected coaches in all of Australia, and how the other recent signings all coalesced into something very special. All that coming up in this episode of Spurs Digest. And I wanna start a bit with Richard Lewis. Now, I know, wait, you saw, we already covered this yesterday. I know you've probably already heard about Lewis, but let me just highlight one particular aspect of this here because Richard Lewis, there's something specific I wanna dive into. And I know Keenan talked about this in the video yesterday, but I like to do my own little dives on this, and I think you'll be interested. So, you guys probably already saw this. Of course, we know who Richard Lewis is, though maybe some younger fans, they might not know this. There was a huge reason the Orlando Magic made the NBA Finals in 2009, one of the original stretch for, I don't wanna say originally, I gotta say Sam Perkins and stuff, but Richard Lewis was ahead of his time. Let's just say that. But the big thing, he was an unbelievable shooter. And I think a lot of us who watched him play really know that. And one theme that we've talked about all off-season long is how shooting is going to end up being one of the main concerns, if not the main concern, for the San Antonio Spurs going forward. And we mentioned it last Thursday's livestream. By the way, livestreams every Thursday. We're trying to do it every week. This week, again, 6.30 p.m. Central, 7.30 p.m. Eastern. Be there. Set a reminder. Can't wait to see you. But we talked about it last Thursday, about how, you know, the Spurs shooting, maybe it was two weeks ago, is gonna be better than we anticipate because of a guy like D'Aaron Fox, who's gonna try and get back up to where his averages were just a couple years ago. Same thing with Devin Vassell. Passel's gonna have that leap. Wembley was trending towards being an above-league average three-point shooter until the blood clot. Sohan's put in the work. Harrison Barnes is great. Kelton Johnson's been shooting some nice threes this off-season. That has been a big thing for the San Antonio Spurs. Because, again— Oh, nope, not that. Because, again, we were 20th in the NBA in three-point percentage this past season. So why am I talking about shooting again? Well, it's because of Rashard Lewis. Having a guy— Look, look, we all know Sean Tucker. We all know Chip Englund. He's not with the Spurs anymore. But he was so important in helping develop our guys again. Kawhi is the main example, but it was more than just him helping develop our guys in terms of, you know, actually shooting. Not just the mechanics, getting a better form, but shooting these in-game situations. And while, yes, there's a lot of people that are qualified to do that, you don't have to have played in the NBA, being a guy like Rashard Lewis, who, by the way— Well, I'm just— I'm just picturing him with Wembley because Rashard Lewis, his release— I can't even show this here, but his release was, like, way over his head, like, up here, right? And so— I don't know if this actually makes a difference, but I feel like it does. I feel like I'm just talking about this now because can't you imagine Rashard Lewis, who was, like, 6'9", 6'10", releasing the ball way over his head at the NBA level, who was getting a ton, a ton of shots. I think for one season, he was, like, one of the highest-paid players in the NBA, maybe the highest at one point, regardless, which is crazy. I think that's true. Fact-check me on that. I think it was, like, for one year. But Rashard Lewis taking these shots, making these shots, and, again, seeing him work with Carter Bryant and drills already. It's probably in the thumbnail. Probably put it there. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. I guess that's on you to find out. But having him work with guys specifically like Wemby or other guys who are gonna have these spot-up roles, like a Carter Bryant, even like a Jeremy Sohan, is gonna be so important in getting the San Antonio Spurs that 3-point percentage up to even, like, league average, right? If we can get to 36.5%, 37% from 3, that's gonna be huge. And I think that a lot of these Spurs guys, they're on track to do it anyway. But adding a guy like Lewis, who is so well-respected for his 3-point talent at his size in the NBA, knowing how to get buckets, he won a championship with the 2013 Heat. Do you guys remember that? I feel like I can't get that finals out of my head ever. I sometimes wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night thinking about that finals. And I'm sure I'm not the only one, but Rashard Lewis was there. He saw it, hey. But he brings so much expertise to this team that I just love this addition because it works so well with the other additions we've made, right? Like I said, it all coalesces into one. And before I get into the newest signing, I wanna just highlight some of the other guys. This one that I brought up accidentally like 17 times already is Scott King. Not a signing, but a promotion, right? Scott King won the 24-25 G League Coach of the Year. Of course, he got promoted to the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach. And this to me, like not just Scott King, but the names I'll show in a minute, is one of the most quiet shifts of any team in the league this offseason. It's not something that's as tangible. Like you can't look at promoting Scott King and hiring some other guys as like, oh yeah, that's what, like it's harder to grasp that than we signed Luke Cornett to fill a massive need on the team because coaching can only do so much. It is very important. But at the end of the day, your players are what get you that result. Good coaching can level you up a bit. The best players can level you up even more. But still, it's important when you talk about coaching because, you know, we finalized the bench. Mitch Johnson finalized the bench in this era without pop now. Sean Sweeney, Corlisse Williamson, Scott King, and Tim Martin, all very, very well-respected people. And again, Scott King, we use the G League as development not only for players, but for coaches as well. And you know, the Spurs coaching family tree has spread out to the entire NBA. But Sean Sweeney is the biggest one here, I would say, right? A team that has so much defensive talent. You got guys like Sohan, and Wemby, and Castle, and that's really, I don't even need the name anymore. Even got Carter Bryant, of course, but Sohan, Wemby, and Castle. We have so much defensive talent, Luke Cornett. Sean Sweeney coming over from the Mavericks, from Jason Kidd's staff. This dude is a defensive mastermind. And to be able to put him with other guys, Did he win a title with the 0-4 Pistons? I think. Scott King, again, G League Coach of the Year coming up. Tim Martin. So many diverse skill sets that all work into one. But again, promoting Scott King, like I said, we use the G League not only for players, but for coaches. So who is going to fill his shoes? And this is where this new signing comes in. And again, it's just this pipeline that continues to profit for the San Antonio Spurs. Not to mention, continuing that Australia-to-San Antonio pipeline, which I absolutely adore. Michael Scott of the Spurs will hire Jacob Chance as G League Head Coach of the Austin Spurs. Chance was an assistant coach for the Australian Men's National Boomers, Melbourne United. He was also acting head coach for Australia's national team. And Jacob Chance is extremely well-respected. Check out this tweet from Sam Bassini that just highlights him. Chance is a stud, guys. Awesome basketball mind. Makes total sense that a smart organization like the San Antonio Spurs saw it in him and hired him. Cannot emphasize enough how much he is respected in Australia. Have absolutely brought him up before to NBA teams looking for great coaches here. And that is just such a glowing review from Sam Bassini who knows a lot about this situation, right? And a guy like Jacob Chance, you probably saw him in the thumbnail too, he's not that old either. He's pretty young. And to bring him into Austin, again, just a great basketball mind, smart team San Antonio, it just works so perfectly because right now, we're seeing, again, this pipeline from players from Austin trying to break into the NBA. Coaches from Austin breaking into the NBA. Again, Scott King bringing in the specialists that we need with Mitch Johnson's staff because Mitch Johnson, yeah, we know he likes that fast-paced offense, a lot of shooting. You bring in the defensive specialist in Sean Sweeney, which works a lot, some NBA experience, and guys like Corliss Williamson, even a guy like Rashard Lewis that we just brought in to help with that three-point shooting, and then bringing in an unbelievable basketball mind, great X's and O's guy, a guy that understands players as well, super well-respected. Again, acting head coach for their national team, Jacob Chance, for our G League team. Like, we're talking a guy that, again, has had his name brought up for NBA coaching jobs. You're looking for good coaches? You can look at him. Now, has he actually been in great consideration? Doesn't seem like it yet. Doesn't seem like teams have really gone out of their way. Hey, can we bring in Jacob Chance? But the fact that we're the ones to bring him in, get him into the organization, is just another sneaky, quiet move that San Antonio continues to do, and these are some of the most important ones. You know, is this coaching change going to magically turn us into, like, 10, 15 wins better than expected? No, let's temper our expectations here, but at the same time, I think it's very fair to get hyped over this, to get excited over these minor changes, because at the end of the day, they will have major impacts if it all goes right, and I have full faith in the Spurs front office, in these guys we hired, to fill the roles, fill the niches that we need on this team, and honestly, I just can't wait to see some Spurs basketball. There's hype videos for when we drop, and it's so high, and, like, there's so many different things. I'm excited to see these new coaching changes. I'm excited for the future, not just this coming year, 5, 10, 15 years down the road. Just hope that arena gets fixed up, because I don't know what I would do if that doesn't, but, for now, it's all sunshine and rainbows, and I almost choked on my own hype, so, you know what? We'll just have to call it there. That'll do it for this episode of Spurs Digest. By the way, hit that subscribe button. Yeah, look, you made it nine minutes into this video. Just check if you're subscribed, because a lot of you guys aren't, like, still well over half of you, and we're almost at 10,000, so thank you for tuning in every single day. Don't forget, livestream Thursday night, 6.30 Central, 7.30 p.m. Eastern. I'm your host, Josh Goss. I'll catch you in the next one.