It was June 25, 2011. "It was kind of remarkable if you look back at it," Elfus said. His style of coaching lends itself to completely changing a players outlook and significantly raising their ceiling. Kerr and Engelland would sit alone on the bench in the Portland practice facility after everybody else had left. Subsequently, he lettered four seasons at Duke University, scoring more than 1,000 points for coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils and being named the team's captain in his senior year.[1][2]. Engelland: "Just to be patient, not get too down. Longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant and shooting coach Chip Engelland will leave the franchise at the conclusion of his contract, per a report Monday from Bleacher Report. He knew the benefits would be down the road.. Its very tough. Chip Engelland, shooting guru and long-time Spurs assistant coach, has left the franchise to join the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ranking the five best players in Spurs history. Fortunately for San Antonio, though, theres only one Chip Engelland. Did you know you were getting a player this dedicatedwhen the Spurs drafted him? He was getting tested. And then we used Kobe Bryant. Today Chip Engelland is sixty-years-old. In terms of how Engelland can change Minnesotas outlook, there are several players that would benefit from his coaching expertise right away. It's unclear when. At some point, it becomes yours. Kerr wasnt playing many minutes. Both turned into productive shooters under Engelland after entering the league not known for their shooting capabilities. With Kawhi it wasn't a makeover, it was more of a tune-up, changing the release point. The promise is there for the Australian-born standout, who is one of nine players in NBA history with career averages of at least 12 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists per game. Back in 2011, with the NBA lockout looming on July 1, the Spurs hurriedly signed Kawhi Leonard and ushered him to the gym for four days to work with legendary shooting coach Chip Engelland. [1][3] In 2022, Engelland signed as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he works today. Texas mom accused of killing her children has history of violence, South Texans want to know who's behind the 'Booty Patrol' truck, 'Naked and Afraid' lets San Antonio mom show off survival skills, Costco to open first $15M store in Central Texas this March, PHOTOS: Massive alligator spooks locals along a South Texas road, Here's what you should know about Round1 in San Antonio, Rooftop bar Cowboys and Cadillacs to grace downtown New Braunfels, The Kawhi Leonard companion: A Chad Forcier Q&A, Police: North Texas mother arrested after stabbing her 5 children, killing 3, Residents curious about 'U.S. ESPN Sources: The Oklahoma City Thunder are hiring Chip Engelland as an assistant coach. He wants to play and represent a country, and that's great," Engelland said . Who suggested a never-before-tried drill to Kerr? SAN ANTONIO - DECEMBER 13: Assistant coach Chip Engelland of the San Antonio Spurs looks on from the sideline during the game against the Los Angeles Clippers on December 13, 2005 at the SBC. Yet Leonard's development is the one most germane to the here and now, as the Spurs' quest to avenge their loss in the 2013 Finals might well have been lost if not for his breakout game. Round1 opens in San Antonio this Saturday. MANILA, Philippines - San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Chip Engelland, who became a naturalized Filipino in the 1980s, offered some words of advice for Brooklyn Nets big man Andray Blatche, the latest recruit of Gilas Pilipinas. Engelland has been with the Spurs since July 2005. "(Engelland) ingrained something in (Leonard's) head. Part of the reason hes something resembling a secret weapon is that Engelland doesnt seek the spotlight. "We had worked with Richard Jefferson in San Antonio before, and we felt that there were some similarities," said Engelland, who also is renowned for his work with the likes of retired Grant Hill (while a shooting consultant for the Detroit Pistons) and the Heat's Shane Battier, both fellow Duke alumni. It's easy to forget that Jackson was a damn good player in his day, averaging at least 18 points in five different seasons. Its impossible to come up with an exact figure, but lets throw an estimate out there based upon his work with Belinelli. Hes in San Diego, every day is perfect, and instead of three, he only goes to the gym twice. We came up with a couple things, and he was all ears. He didnt shoot a high percentage from 3 in college, and that was a shorter distance. In an interview with fan podcast "At The Line," Eubanks spoke about expanding his game away from the rim and working with the team's shooting coach guru, Chip Engelland. But since then, he's won two rings with the Spurs after titles in 2007 and 2014. (He wasnt the only notable NBA character in the stands there, either; Lakers president Jeannie Buss was the teams scorekeeper and Engellands girlfriend.) Engellands career as an NBA shooting coach started well before his time in San Antonio. At first, hes learning something and changing it. He scored over 1,000 points for the Blue Devils. So he and Engelland did whole workouts where Steve would shoot one shot, then go and sit down for five minutes. According to Woj, the coach will work to develop the shooting habits across the young roster of players including Chet Holmgren, Josh Giddey, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It was his three first-quarter three-pointers that helped spark the Spurs, but it was years worth of work and relationship building with Engelland that truly helped it happen. Engelland, 56, is the teams shooting coach. Before teaming up with the winningest coach in NBA history, Gregg Popovich, his hoops career was touched by some of the game's most legendary figures. Belinelli hit 44 percent of his 2-pointers before arriving in San Antonio; this year, he has hit a whopping 52.5 percent of those shots. In the NBA today, player development is more important than its ever been. He joined LeBron James and Luka Doncic as the only NBA players to record at least 600 points, 400 rebounds, and 300 assists before turning 20. Chip Engelland, the San Antonio Spurs assistant coach who has been working wonders with NBA players' jump shots since the late 1990s, found himself holding court with a half-dozen reporters at. His work with individual players is. Don't try to push it out to the 3-point line at first. I sent a letter to Bill Barnwell asking him that very question. Its tough because hes testing things. Before the season, ESPN Insider Kevin Peltons SCHOENE projection system used Belinellis prior performance to suggest that he would hit 44.0 percent of his 2-pointers and 39.4 percent of his 3s. They didnt reconnect until the 1993-94 season. Many blanched when the Spurs re-signed Splitter for $36 million over four years in 2013 to fend off interest from Portland. 9. Forcier, 42, is responsible for other aspects of a players development. Chet, J-Dub are great shooters but the NBA translation is key. I evaluate shooters for the draft. You dont want to rush and try to get results in one day. 6. During the 1999-2000 season, he became a shooting consultant with the Detroit Pistons. For that story, I conducted extensive interviews with the Spurs player-development coaches, Chip Engelland and Chad Forcier. 17-foot-9-inch 3-point line to shoot 55.4 percent from behind the arc his senior year, went to dinner with his wife and Engelland, I couldnt hit a shot at the beginning of my career,, serious run at Nets point guard Jason Kidd in free agency, doesnt discuss the particular players hes working with, familiarizing himself with his new mechanics, NFL Week 8 Picks: The Weight of the Interim Label, Week 7 Picks: Welcome to Finding Your NFL Roots, We Went There: Clippers-Mavs and DeAndre Jordan Night in Los Angeles, Jalen and Jacoby: Discussing DeMarcus Cousins, the Thunder, and More, The Lowe Post Podcast: Howard Beck on Pursuing Kevin Durant, Five Minutes With Bulls Coach Fred Hoiberg, The Laughs, Pathos, and Overwhelming Talent of Jan Hooks, World Series Preview: Five Questions for Games Three and Four, 50 Scenes That Do Not Appear in the X-Files Revival. If you want to read more on Engellands path to the Philippines and the wildly entertaining world of Filipino basketball, you can check out the authoritative Pacific Rims by Grantland editor Rafe Bartholomew. The new mechanics stuck, and Leonard has been an offensive asset ever since, especially during last years playoffs. (Barnwells response is below.) Now heres what Rusty Simmons wrote about Bruce Fraser, who is an assistant coach for the Warriors under Steve Kerr and working with Steph Curry. Engelland is considering the best shooting coach in the NBA. No Summer League. Earlier today, I read an interesting article about Golden State Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser in the San Francisco Chronicle: The Curry Whisperer: Shot guru Fraser has MVPs ear.. Kawhi was straight up not a good shooter until he got into the Spurs org. He shot pretty far back behind his head, but he had good grip and he had some nice tools.". Bill Barnwell is a staff writer for Grantland. Then, hed return to the bench. Buford's career as he sought to fill the gaping hole at small forward vacated by Bruce Bowen. Assuming that Fraser did not tell Simmons the story about flying up to Portland to work with Kerr, developing a shooting drill that involved him sitting most of the time, reading a newspaper, Im left thinking that Simmons stumbled across, or knew, the anecdote about Engelland and mistakenly attributed it to Fraser. The San Antonio roster is full of players whose shots miraculously improved once they were under his care from Tony Parker to Patty Mills to Kawhi Leonard, the Game 3 star who made 10 of 13 shots for 29 points. Hes also become a much better free throw shooter, having hit 69.7 percent of his free throws before Engelland changed his shot and 77.2 percent of his freebies since.4 Altogether, since Engelland came to San Antonio, the only guard who has hit a higher percentage of his 2-point shots than Parker is Steve Nash.5 Chip Engelland might very well be the difference between Tony Parker, very good point guard, and Tony Parker, future Hall of Famer. Repeat six more times and youve got the leagues most unlikely and simultaneously most logical shooting workout., Fascinating, right? Among the 17 wing prospects the site evaluated before the draft, Leonard was 15th in points per possession, 16th in points per shot on jumpers, 15th in points per possession on isolations, and dead last in adjusted field goal percentage. We thought Kawhi could change, too. The NBA lockout was coming quickly that year, meaning players and coaches would have to part ways until there was resolution, so Leonard headed straight for San Antonio with Elfus and spent the little time he had left listening to the charismatic coach with the impressive track record. They were behind. With that in mind, its no small matter that one of the most coveted skills coaches in the NBA is about to make a departure from his current team. The two would chat on the sideline for six minutes and then Fraser would jump up and pass Kerr a ball at the three-point arc. He signed a two-year, $5.6 million deal with the Spurs to serve as a reserve guard and shooter, replacing restricted free agent Gary Neal, who wasnt retained by the team.7 Expectations were deservedly low. That would make Engelland worth more than $1million to the organization, and thats solely considering his work with Belinelli. He is currently an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association . [2] He was known by Filipino fans as "the Machine Gun" for his superb shooting skills. That was a nice statement for him.. "Shooting was a big. Click here to watch Jalen & Jacoby, Grantland Features, and video podcasts. "Watching him in San Diego, twice a day every day, taking hundreds of jump shots, made me realize that he bought in to it. Instead, Engelland put himself in Kerrs shoes to help refresh Kerrs mental timing. His team went a league-best 62-20, without a single player averaging 30 minutes per game and after an offseason in which the Spurs lost Popovichs two primary assistants.