Spurs announce staff additions and promotions for basketball operations
Team announces new additions to the training and scouting department ahead of media day
After what seems like one of the longer off-seasons in recent memory, the San Antonio Spurs are reporting to training camp. Ahead of media day, the team released a flurry of announcements. One of those included all of the promotions and additions to the basketball operations staff.
On Monday the Spurs announced that Kaleb Thornhill was added as VP of player development and organizational growth, Jimmy Baron joins the team as a shooting development coach and Josh Brannon has been promoted to player development from the Spurs video room.
In the video room, Kenny Trevino was promoted to head video coordinator, while Jon Harris and Ryan Oliver were promoted to assistant video coordinators.
In the Spurs medical and performance group, the team added Guy Nicolette, MD as director of sports medicine. They also added Beth Morford as a soft tissue specialist and Guillaume Alqueir as athletic performance coach.
Baron was an addition that was reported on earlier this summer. He was the head skill coach at the well regarded prep school, IMG Academy from 2020-23. Prior to that he spent 10 years in player development across the U.S. and played overseas for 11 years. He played college ball at the University of Rhode Island, where he holds the Atlantic 10 record for three-pointers made (361.) San Antonio was one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league last season (34.5%.)
Thornhill got his start in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and the Miami Dolphins, where he created the NFL’s first Business Combine. Prior to joining the Spurs, he established the Pro Athlete Community, with the mission to help current and former NFL player sharpen their business acumen, develop life skills, and provide them with mentorship. With new star Victor Wembanyama joining the team, his experience will be invaluable in helping him navigate his newfound celebrity.
Nicolette brings more than 20 years of sports medicine experience to the Spurs. He served as executive director of University Health and a team physician at University of California-Berkeley and spent 16-plus years as a team physician and director of the sports medicine fellowship program at the University of Florida.
Alquier spent the 2022-23 season as a strength and conditioning coach for Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 in the LNB ProA French League. You may recognize that as the team Wembanyama played for last season. Prior to that he spent five years as strength and conditioning coach for Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez also in the LNB ProA French League.
The 2023-24 season will kick off with media day on October 2, and preseason games beginning on October 9. The first game of the regular season is October 25 against the Dallas Mavericks.
