00:00The Rockets made an interesting acquisition, and it's not on the court.
00:03It's not a shooter, although he's going to help shooting.
00:06If you're familiar with basketball, you might know of Chip Engelin.
00:08He played in the league a little while back.
00:11He's 60-some years old, but he is kind of looked at as the shot whisperer.
00:16Shot doctor.
00:17Shot doctor for sure, and the Rockets add him as an assistant coach to this team.
00:21I mean, a lot of people, and I think they rightfully so, look at this and they go,
00:25that is an amend Thompson hire.
00:26That is a hire to get amend Thompson to that max level because you know that he can do all
00:31the other stuff.
00:32He just needs to be able to develop a jumper.
00:34And so you kind of started some questions that came up as the Rockets acquire this,
00:39and I kind of want to roll through these if you don't mind.
00:40Yeah, man.
00:41Let's go.
00:42Let's start with the one that you just mentioned because everybody talks about –
00:47because in San Antonio for 17 years, and then he was in Oklahoma City and has helped these guys,
00:52and people are posting the shooting percentages, how they've increased under him for these particular guys.
00:57Yeah, because he's worked with – in the last four years, he worked with the Thunder.
01:01So if you think of some of the shooters that they have, like Lou Dort.
01:04Lou Dort.
01:05He's increased a lot.
01:06It did increase a lot.
01:07Now, it did slide back a little bit last year, which I found to be interesting,
01:10but in his time there, Lou Dort was not a particularly good shooter in those first few years.
01:16And then, I mean, he's shooting in the high 30s and low 40s for a couple of seasons as well
01:21during that time period.
01:23And even free throws.
01:24SGA, his free throw percentage went up eight or nine points.
01:28That's huge.
01:29He went from like 80-81% to 89% as a free throw shooter.
01:33That's huge.
01:34But that's not what I was thinking about.
01:36Okay.
01:36I was thinking about one guy that he helped a lot, Kawhi Leonard.
01:40That is the one because he used to – long time with the Spurs.
01:43In fact, that's probably where any association with him and Emil Odoka was fostered.
01:47Yes, they knew each other there.
01:49But Kawhi Leonard infamously missed a couple of very important free throws at Miami during the finals.
01:57I believe it was his rookie year, maybe his second year.
02:00And ultimately, the Heat ended up winning that series, getting the ball.
02:04I think that was the famous –
02:062013.
02:07Yeah, yeah.
02:08Ray Allen.
02:09Ray Allen shot in the corner.
02:10But previous to that, Kawhi missed a couple of free throws.
02:13And he was not a good free throw shooter his rookie year or not as good.
02:18And now Kawhi Leonard is knocking down threes and knocking down free throws and MVP and MVP of the finals.
02:24Excuse me, MVP of the finals.
02:26And all that.
02:27That's a man Thompson.
02:29That's a man Thompson.
02:30Yeah, this is chiefly for that guy because – I don't know if he actually even had the conversation,
02:36but one of the questions that has been over this offseason is, can you give a man Thompson a max
02:41contract or should you?
02:42And he is an immense talent in this league.
02:44I mean, there's people that look at him and go, yeah, man, this is an incredible young star.
02:48But a clear, clear deficit in his game is an inability, rather, to shoot the basketball.
02:54And I don't know if you know, basketball, you kind of need to shoot, especially in the modern iteration.
02:59You can't just be a dude that drives and gets downhill, especially if you want to be a singular focused
03:04guy,
03:05like a guy that maybe teams can be built around.
03:07If he can shoot the ball, especially from, like, mid-range, but this is a guy that could open up,
03:11as you mentioned with Kawhi Leonard.
03:12Kawhi Leonard's a three-level scorer now.
03:14And it felt like for a time period that he was going to be a just-get-to-the-wreck
03:18type guy and just defense guy.
03:19Right.
03:20And that's where it almost feels like a man Thompson is.
03:22So if you allow your mind to expand, imagine the MVP or the, like, you know, all-star type caliber
03:28things you can get out of him.
03:29The thing I'm interested about is, I know that he's worked in player development and it can be a little
03:33one-on-one.
03:34I'm curious how far this goes.
03:35Because there's a lot of other dudes that I think could benefit on this team.
03:38Well, let me ask you some of these other questions.
03:40Please.
03:40I think it speaks directly to that.
03:42What are realistic expectations across the board for this guy?
03:46He's not just going to work with a man, you know, by no stretch.
03:49I mean, there's Jabari, there's, you know, a lot of players.
03:53Jabari or Tari are two I thought of.
03:54But then I would, if I had to power rank guys I want him to work with.
03:58Because this is the thing, and you know this about coaching staffs.
04:00Like, I do wonder, player development can work a little bit wider.
04:03But usually there's an assistant that's assigned to three players.
04:08And they work specifically with them.
04:09And so assuming the possibility is that that's the way this works in order to give them real time to
04:15work with them.
04:15If I could only pick two or three to work with him, it's a men-Thompson.
04:18And it's actually Alper and Shingun.
04:20Because this is something we talked about.
04:22Those two guys being non-shooters really limits what you can do moving pieces on the board, on the floor.
04:29Imagine if you get a men-Thompson in, hopefully by mid-season's time, you get him shooting a very good
04:35mid-range.
04:36I'm not even going too far.
04:37Because I think it's a lot to expect a dude to come in in August.
04:40He's not a miracle worker.
04:41Yes, exactly.
04:42Like, he's not waving a wand here.
04:43But in August coming in, and then by the time you start camp, to be like,
04:47all right, now I want to see a three-point shooter.
04:49That's insane.
04:49If you think that, then you're doing this entirely wrong.
04:52But I do think that you could see a progression where this year,
04:56a men-Thompson by mid-season could be a much more solid mid-range shooter.
05:01I think that that's huge.
05:02And then we know Alper Shingun has the basis for a shot.
05:05We've seen him move towards that a little bit, but it just hasn't progressed.
05:09If you can have him stretch as well, things open up.
05:11I think that year two is where I'm really looking for the progress to happen
05:15in shooting for this team, largely all around.
05:18And how does this affect Reed Shepard, was another thought I had.
05:21That's a great point.
05:23He's a shooter that doesn't play great defense.
05:25Right.
05:26Actually, can I give you this?
05:28And I know that we're a little pushing it, but can you give me Shane Battier?
05:31You remember Shane Battier.
05:31He played all around this league, played on this Rockets team.
05:34He's been in this studio.
05:36100%.
05:36A three and D, one of the iconic three and D players.
05:40Well, before he didn't have the three.
05:42This was him talking about his run in with Chip England.
05:44I was at summer camp at Duke.
05:47I'm Chip England.
05:48You know, if you don't mind, I got some feedback for you.
05:52He's like, you're not going to make the NBA with that jump shot.
05:55Tell me more.
05:56He said, well, every time that you go up a pick to your left, you're going to have to
06:00bring the ball back to the defense on the right side of your face.
06:04And so literally, you can't play on half of the floor with these defensive athletes that
06:09the NBA adds.
06:11And so I'm like, okay, that makes sense.
06:13And so he's like, you know, if you're willing, I think we can change your shot to become more
06:19efficient, quicker, and you'll be able to use both sides of the floor.
06:23You know, a novel idea.
06:25And so he said, I'll be here at 8 o'clock tomorrow if you want to get started.
06:30He told this same speech to a teammate of mine.
06:33He said, I'll be here at 8 o'clock tomorrow to work.
06:37I show up.
06:38My teammate does not.
06:39And the rest is history.
06:40Your teammate also make it to the NBA?
06:41He did not.
06:42He had to do that last part.
06:43That was a lot.
06:44He did not.
06:45But efficient, quicker.
06:47Do you know what Shane Battier shot during his Duke career from three?
06:52I do not.
06:5241.6%.
06:53He wasn't a bad shooter.
06:55But this is...
06:56It's Duke.
06:56It's wide open.
06:57It's Duke.
06:57It's wide open.
06:58But then this is also a dude who can look at a dude who's even a good shooter and go,
07:02I can make that better.
07:03And does.
07:04Yeah.
07:04That's the thing that I think gets also interesting in what you're bringing up for Reed Shepard.
07:08It can make it better.
07:10But if these other guys improve 2%, 3%, 4% might be the highest.
07:14By the way, that's about the best you can realistically hope for.
07:17Like 4% better, 5%.
07:19There's some guys that now...
07:21There's some outliers.
07:22Yeah.
07:22But if these other guys are improving, that's more minutes.
07:28That's being on the floor.
07:29That's what I was thinking about.
07:30Like more guys defensively.
07:32Yeah.
07:32That's being on the floor.
07:33Not afraid to take him out.
07:35Or, yeah.
07:36Not afraid to leave him in.
07:37You know, in certain situations.
07:39Because we need the Reed Shepard jolt or whatever.
07:41I think it might affect Reed Shepard in a weird way.
07:43Yeah.
07:43Now, we'll talk more about this as we go.
07:46I was asking around with my meager contacts in NBA spaces.
07:51Chip England isn't like...
07:52He's a shot doctor.
07:54He's a player development guy.
07:55He isn't like a...
07:57I'm going to come in and help offensive game planning.
07:59That's at least...
07:59Correct.
07:59If he is, that's something that I have not heard from folks.
08:02So, I still look at E-mail Doak and go,
08:05I don't love this offense.
08:06But every offense gets so much better if dudes can shoot.
08:09You know what I mean?
08:10Like every offense looks much better if guys are knocking down shots.
08:13And so, to that end, I think that this is a huge addition.
08:15And honestly, this is the type of thing that makes me go,
08:18I feel significantly better about the game plan for this offseason.
08:22Because even...
08:23We heard...
08:23A lot of people have been mad about hearing...
08:25This is about the only thing that makes you go, okay.
08:27Yes.
08:27You've been mad about hearing, hey, we're expecting player development.
08:31This is an actual move that pushes towards that player development.
08:35And then you can go, okay, we can lean on this to some degree.
08:37It made me feel better about Amin Thompson, for sure.
08:39For sure.
08:40For sure.
08:40Now, the work is to be done.
08:42So, interesting ad for the Rockets.
08:45Chip England comes in as an assistant for this coaching staff.
08:48And he's going to help these dudes knock down shots, hopefully.
