Chip Engelland

So beyond just Tari being in a better mental head space, I'm watching his shooting.

To me, he's the guy who might have the most immediate Chip Engelland bump.

You know, ever since the Rockets hired Chip this off-season, there's been all this talk about what he can do for Sengun and Amen.

To me, at least in the immediate short term, that's a bit more pie in the sky.

And so hopefully him being in a better head space will help with that.

But I also think the fact that we had a pretty significant sample with Tari hitting threes at high volume, and now he's in even better shape, that's something to work with.

And so to me, Tari is the w- the low-hanging fruit for Chip Engelland to work with.

If you can get Tari more consistent from three, turn his...

Mm.

Chip Engelland, widely regarded as the premier shooting coach in the league, made his name for himself on the Spurs where he was for like almost two decades.

Kawhi Leonard was obviously his Mona Lisa, rebuilding that thing-

[laughs]

I think it totally counts.

I don't think you cheated.

Um, most Houston fans are looking at Chip Engelland be like, "This is an Assir Thompson hire." Or an Amen Thompson hire, sorry.

An Amen Thompson hire.

I believe in the young guys." Uh, big thing that, that hasn't gotten talked about enough, read this from The Chronicle the other day.

Chip Engelland was working with both Domantas Sabonis and Amen Thompson the other day, shooting coach that was famous from the Spurs and then worked with OKC and got their shooting up.

Now with the Rockets, he was working with Amen, uh, not only on his three-point shot, but also at the free throw line, which Ime Udoka said his free throw shooting was unacceptable.

Mm.

So one goes all the way back to when Coach K started.

Chip Engelland.

And the reason we know Chip Engelland is he's the, he's the shooting whisperer.

Yep, that's who I know him-

Teams bring...

Oh, okay.

The Rockets brought in Chip Engelland.

Right.

That's right.

Um, obviously, he made Doka in Houston, and then the Jazz made a run at him too.

Will Hardy was a longtime Pop assistant as well.

Um, but he's, he's with the Rockets, and you know, the Rockets recently put out on social media, you know, Chip Engelland at work, and you can guess who he was working with.

Somebody named Amen?

Let's start with the simplest route.

If you have a rising star that has a shooting problem, what do you do? You hire Chip Engelland, right? So the Rockets have brought in the famed shooting coach who was with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Of course, had Kawhi Leonard as kind of a star pupil.

A- and listen, this is a pretty big project for Chip, and he's starting with the Rockets here.

And to become the guy, to become an all-NBA player, he's really gonna need to improve in that.

I think, frankly, the sample and the volume, Jackson, is gonna be pretty important here, and I think that's something that can improve pretty quickly.

Um, Kawhi Leonard, before Chip Engelland, or in his first season with the Spurs, he takes 32% of his shots from the mid-range.

In his second season, after one full season with Engelland and an off-season, that becomes 51% of his shot diet, right? Last year, Amen Thompson, only 10% of his shots came from 10 to 16 feet, right? He's basically allergic to this mid-range area.