Chot welcomes Chip’s offer

Coach Chot Reyes, who is in Detroit on a four-day immersion visit to learn from Pistons coach Larry Brown, said recently he welcomes Denver Nuggets assistant coach for player development and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) veteran Chip Engelland’s offer to assist the national squad.

"More than his exceptional shooting ability, Chip will help us because of who he is, more than what he does," said Reyes who will check out two highly-touted Fil-Ams in Los Angeles and confer with Hall of Fame coach Pete Carrill in Sacramento before coming home next week.

Reyes described Engelland, a Duke University graduate, as "a player of intelligence, character and teammanship." He said Engelland’s influence on the national cagers will be "very positive."

In an e-mail to The STAR, Engelland offered to help the Philippine team "in any way, shape or form." He said working with the country’s best players would be "fantastic."

Engelland, 43, said: "I would love to visit Manila. Most importantly for me would be to visit (coach) Ron (Jacobs) and my teammates. Looking forward to seeing you on your homecourt soon."

As for the Nuggets chances to make it to the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs, Engelland said, "We’re fighting the (Los Angeles) Lakers and Minnesota for a playoff spot with the (Los Angeles) Clippers still in striking distance."

Denver broke an eight-year playoff drought last season but was eliminated in the first round by the Timberwolves. Before the All-Star break, the Nuggets hired George Karl to take over as head coach.

In 1993, Engelland parlayed his remarkable shooting touch into a profession. He became known as the US’ foremost shooting doctor, working with the likes of Steve Kerr, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Larry Hughes, Corey Maggette and Chamique Holdsclaw.

As a wide-eyed 14-year-old kid, Engelland was a ball boy for legendary coach John Wooden’s UCLA team that won the NCAA title in 1975. The varsity stars included Marques Johnson, Dave Meyers, Richard Washington, Andre McCarter and Ralph Drollinger that year. He went on to lead Los Angeles high schools in scoring at Pacific Palisades then enrolled at Duke. As a Duke senior in 1983, Engelland scored over 1,000 points. His college coaches were legends Bill Foster and Mike Krzyzewski.

From Duke, Engelland took his sneakers to the Philippines where he lived for three years. He cherishes his memories of the Philippines and said "Filipinos are the greatest fans in the world."

Engelland said he chose to become a naturalized player "like many others in the basketball world" and never regretted the decision. He would’ve been eligible to play for the national team in 1987. Engelland suited up for the Northern Cement guest amateur team that won the 1985 PBA Third Conference crown and for San Miguel Corp. in the 1985 Jones Cup and the 1985 World Clubs Championships in Gerona, Spain. He averaged 27.5 points in 78 PBA games in 1984 and 1985.

Engelland said his San Miguel jersey from the Jones Cup tournament is a prized possession. He poured in 43 points for San Miguel to lead the Beermen to a 108-100 overtime win over the US in the 1985 Jones Cup finals. The US was coached by Purdue’s Gene Keady and bannered by future pros Kenny Gattison, Harold Pressley, Joe Wolf and Kevin Henderson. Among Engelland’s teammates were Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic and Hector Calma.

Engelland’s wife Jessica joked that he sometimes sleeps in his San Miguel jersey to keep the memory alive. They were married last year.

Jessica is from Detroit. They met when Engelland worked for the Pistons as a shooting consultant in 1999-2000. Engelland joined the Nuggets staff two years ago.

Engelland primarily works with the younger Nuggets. Writer Stuart Miller said he teaches them how to shoot while they have time to think about it, by themselves firing away in practice.

"Ultimately, players must maintain their mechanics while battling defensive players, fatigue and the pressure of an NBA game so Chip gradually adds movement, shooting off a dribble, defenses and finally, game situations," continued Miller. "He’ll use video to encourage visualization of what each player does right. Pure shooting technique is not enough so he’ll gradually teach techniques for getting shots off. For instance, a quick release doesn’t mean rushing the shot but catching the ball with your feet set and your body at its lowest point ready to jump so the ball spends less time in your hands. He knows creating new habits can be slow and scary so he also teaches players to trust him and the process to understand that coaches don’t just look for immediate results."