If Amen Thompson could shoot. If Alperen Sengun could shoot. If pigs could fly…
Well, that wouldn’t benefit the Houston Rockets in any immediate way.
It’s been one of the two biggest questions surrounding this team. If you’re talking Rockets, it’s “do they have a franchise player?”, and it’s “Can Thompson and Sengun co-exist if neither is a strong three-point shooter?”. Those are closely related questions, in that if either of the two did develop into a reliable shooter, they’d likely be an unimpeachable
franchise-caliber guy.
Luckily, the Rockets just gave them the best possible chance of making it happen by hiring famed shooting coach Chip Engelland.
Rockets hire league’s most esteemed shooting coach
Look at this glorious post from my dear internet friend Paulo Alves.
That’s as close to proof of concept as you’re going to get. Either it’s a remarkable coincidence, or Engelland has methods for teaching basketball players how to improve their three-point shooting that are better than the other available methods.
I am no shot doctor. To my eye, Sengun’s form on standstill jump shots is fine. He doesn’t have the fluidity to hit contested, off-the-dribble threes, but that’s not the goal. The goal is for defenses not to want him to be open from beyond the arc. That should be low-hanging fruit for Engelland.
Thompson shoots threes like a petulant child eating broccoli. He doesn’t want to, but he knows he has to. He deserves (a sliver of) credit for willingly putting up threes instead of Ben Simmons-ing his game, but he’s got a long road to three-point respectability. If Engelland can get him there, it’ll be his crown jewel.
Hey, you know what else? Everyone on this roster would benefit from being a better shooter. Everyone in the NBA could benefit from being a better shooter. It’s unlikely that Engelland will waste any time (for varying reasons) on Kevin Durant, Fred VanVleet, or Steven Adams, but everyone else is fair game.
Jabari Smith Jr. is good, and a few percentage points away from excellent. Tari Eason is…eh?, and a few percentage points away from good.
How about Reed Sheppard? He hit 39.4% of his 7.0 threes per game last year. If he could hover around 45% on comparable volume, he’d be among the best shooters in the NBA.
The Houston Rockets are winning the 2026-27 NBA championship, correct?
Rockets will benefit from hire
Jokes aside, expectations should be slightly tempered.
The process of rebuilding a jump shot is presumably tedious. The Rockets may reap more rewards in 2027-28.
Moreover, we can’t attribute every improvement under Engelland’s watch to Engelland alone. Every player in the NBA wants to improve their shot and is trying to do so whether they’re working with him or not. Some of these guys would have improved anyway, although I do think it’s fair to point to the mountain of evidence as near-proof that Engelland does something.
This is a fantastic hire. It’s encouraging that Tilman Fertitta was willing to shell out. Engelland was presumably expensive. Once the Rockets start to see results, it could have a profound impact on the team.
Imagine if one of their two best young players could shoot.
