What ever happened to . . .

[EIC]

. . . that shooting coach that Pop brought in to teach the guys (particularly Parker) shooting fundamentals?

I seem to remember years ago that Pop brought in a specialist on shooting fundamentals to help everyone, but particularly to help Parker develop an outside shot. As memory serves, he was British.

Obviously, a major issue with the Spurs is a lack of outside shooting. But for Parker in particular, I feel that his lack of reliable outside shooting is a major hinderance to his game. An ideal guard should have the ability to drive to the lane and get points in the paint (as Parker is not afraid to do), but also hit pull-up jumpers and the like on the perimeter.

Tony is not a good shooter and I feel that this forces him to rely too much on driving to the hoop to make plays, which causes a lot of wear and tear on his body and an inordinate amount of injuries. This is true of Ginobili as well, but to a lesser extent. Improving outside shooting would help us spread the floor and would cut down on injuries.

I seem to remember that Parker's shot got a little better for a brief period of time after working with that shooting coach. Anyone know if he is still with the team?

[honestfool84]

he's a Spurs assistant: Chip Engelland

[DesignatedT]

parker has improved his shooting drastically over the years. I love his mid range jumper these days.

[ducks]

tp strength is attack
pop tells him to attack
against suns he shot well outside the game he hit 2 threes
the other two games his shoulder hurt and all his shots were short

[Cane]

Chip's also trained Grant Hill this past summer. Wonder who else he's helped outside the Spurs organization.

[ducks]

layups 90% going in
jumpshot 50% if you are lucky

[DesignatedT]

Chip's also trained Grant Hill this past summer. Wonder who else he's helped outside the Spurs organization.

shane battier, larry hughes and steve kerr have all used chip. not sure who else.

[Kori Ellis]

Chip's also trained Grant Hill this past summer. Wonder who else he's helped outside the Spurs organization.

Grant Hill has been using Chip since his Detroit days.

Other players I know that used him are Juwan Howard, Steve Kerr, Larry Hughes and Shane Battier. There's a lot more. He was a "shot doctor" for tons of players before he started working with the Spurs.

[EIC]

layups 90% going in
jumpshot 50% if you are lucky

You're definitely right about that. I'm not saying that Parker shouldn't be aggressive, just that getting an outside shot would make his game so much more complete. I don't think that a player can be "taught" to have the killer instinct necessary to throw himself at the basket the way TP does; you either have it or you do. But shooting seems like something that can be refined.

More importantly, I think that being a more legitimate threat from the perimeter can only open things up in the paint. It's kind of the way having a strong running game opens up the pass and vice versa in football. For example, I've notice that as he's gotten older, Kobe is less apt to drive into the paint and relies more on outside shooting. He will do his little jab step, then pull up for a fadeaway jumper. But the defenders don't respect the jab step as much anymore because they know he does not go into the paint as much. So most of Kobe's shots are contested (though he is still good enough to make many of them).

Parker sort of has the opposite problem: Defenders are not as afraid of his outside shooting and so they seem less willing to respect his shot by coming out of the paint.

Anyway, in light of the Spurs' shooting woes at the perimeter and the free-throw line, I was wondering if maybe we'd recently lost our shooting consultant. Makes me miss Kerr, Horry, and Bowen.

[EIC]

he's a Spurs assistant: Chip Engelland

Thanks for this. It appears he is a Los Angeles native. I guess it was his last name that made me think he was British. I knew something about him was associated with England!

[carina_gino20]

. . . that shooting coach that Pop brought in to teach the guys (particularly Parker) shooting fundamentals?

I seem to remember years ago that Pop brought in a specialist on shooting fundamentals to help everyone, but particularly to help Parker develop an outside shot. As memory serves, he was British.

Obviously, a major issue with the Spurs is a lack of outside shooting. But for Parker in particular, I feel that his lack of reliable outside shooting is a major hinderance to his game. An ideal guard should have the ability to drive to the lane and get points in the paint (as Parker is not afraid to do), but also hit pull-up jumpers and the like on the perimeter.

Tony is not a good shooter and I feel that this forces him to rely too much on driving to the hoop to make plays, which causes a lot of wear and tear on his body and an inordinate amount of injuries. This is true of Ginobili as well, but to a lesser extent. Improving outside shooting would help us spread the floor and would cut down on injuries.

I seem to remember that Parker's shot got a little better for a brief period of time after working with that shooting coach. Anyone know if he is still with the team?

Tony's jumper has been money until he fell hard on his shoulder in Game 3. That's why he made so much damage inside the paint in Game 4, because his shot would have been off with that bum shoulder.

Chip also helped Hill with his jumpshots last summer.

[wildbill2u]

Forget about Parker. At least he's improved.

Duncan has the worst shooting form on FTs in the league. He's worthy of a hack-a-Tim strategy. Whatever happened to "willing to work to improve my game" as a promise needed even from your superstar? I saw Manu speak candidly about what he was going to work on during the summer in the end of season interview.

C'mon Tim! Cowboy up!

[Dex]

Chip can't turn Matt Bonner, George Hill, and Roger Mason into Robert Horry, Michael Finley, and Brent Barry.

[m33p0]

Forget about Parker. At least he's improved.

Duncan has the worst shooting form on FTs in the league. He's worthy of a hack-a-Tim strategy. Whatever happened to "willing to work to improve my game" as a promise needed even from your superstar? I saw Manu speak candidly about what he was going to work on during the summer in the end of season interview.

C'mon Tim! Cowboy up!

it's tim's case.... it's all mental

[Bukefal]

It would be nice if TP got some time with Chip again before the start of next season.

[bigbendbruisebrother]

Chip can't turn Matt Bonner, George Hill, and Roger Mason into Robert Horry, Michael Finley, and Brent Barry.

No, but I sure wonder if he can't help the rest of the team hit some goddamn free throws. Timmy was a very good free throw shooter in college and in his early pro career. You would think that free throw shooting wouldn't deteriorate with age. It's bizzare. When the Spurs were up 20 in game 3, I kept waiting for Gentry to bust out Hack-A-Tim. Tony's free throw shooting was sketchy at times as well.

We were swept, but none of the games were blowouts. Every one could have been (should have been) won at the line.

You would think Chip would be of some help in this area.

[Dex]

No, but I sure wonder if he can't help the rest of the team hit some goddamn free throws. Timmy was a very good free throw shooter in college and in his early pro career. You would think that free throw shooting wouldn't deteriorate with age. It's bizzare. When the Spurs were up 20 in game 3, I kept waiting for Gentry to bust out Hack-A-Tim. Tony's free throw shooting was sketchy at times as well.

We were swept, but none of the games were blowouts. Every one could have been (should have been) won at the line.

You would think Chip would be of some help in this area.

Honestly, I would think so, too. If you've got one of the best shot doctors in the league, you'd think someone would have had the lightbulb idea to let him work with Tim.

It seems like I remember reports, at times, that they were trusting Tim to fix the problem, since they didn't want to go the whole "re-tool" ordeal. Other points, it seemed like Tim had obviously put work into his shot and was getting better results, and I kind of assume that Chip had some hand in that. I can't confirm whats either here nor there.

It would be really interesting to know what input, if any, Chip has had with Tim. Hell, how hard is it to tell the guy that if he puts zero legs into his shot, he's going to get zero lift and clang rim.

[CubanMustGo]

it's tim's case.... it's all mental

Bullshit. You shoot FTs with as little arc as he does, they have to be just about perfect to go in. You cannot tell me that putting some air in the damn shot wouldn't help.

[Kori Ellis]

It would be nice if TP got some time with Chip again before the start of next season.

He works with him every summer - so I'm sure it will be more of the same this year.

[Kori Ellis]

Bullshit. You shoot FTs with as little arc as he does, they have to be just about perfect to go in. You cannot tell me that putting some air in the damn shot wouldn't help.

I always hear that in practice that Tim has very good form, arc, etc and hits at an 80-90% clip. I'm not sure what happens in games :lol

[Riverwalkman]

I always hear that in practice that Tim has very good form, arc, etc and hits at an 80-90% clip. I'm not sure what happens in games :lol
I'm pretty sure not only Duncan sucks on freethrow in games. Even Shaq can do 80% in practice, this is what I heard a couple years ago. It's like you throw in 3 point in practice, but won't even think about it in games.

[Pauleta14]

layups 90% going in
jumpshot 50% if you are lucky

+1

The thing is that he can't shoot 100% of layups in a game and even less during the PO, even if he can do many other things, all the team see him a a threat in the paint and he can't attack the basket as he used to, adding the fact that he (still after 9 years!) doesn't get any respect from the refs...

He has to (and did well) be a reliable shooter, and as he gets olders, he'll obviously will take more JS than layups...

You have to keep your body healty during 82 irrelevant games before the real thing begins...
He can't and shouldn't attack the rim as much as he used to...

[Pauleta14]

I always hear that in practice that Tim has very good form, arc, etc and hits at an 80-90% clip. I'm not sure what happens in games :lol

I noticed that his mecanic has only 1 "step", from the bottom, to the release, that means he doesn't have the possibility to adjust his "trajectory" during the "process"... (I hope I'm clear, my english is far from prefect:lol)

Most of the efficient FT shooters have at least 2 "steps", they don't "throw' the ball straight to the basket...

So when Timmy is in a good "flow" it's great, if not, he has less "tools" to adjust his shot than most of the players...

Maybe (probably) I'm wrong and it stays a mystery...:lol

[sa_butta]

I always hear that in practice that Tim has very good form, arc, etc and hits at an 80-90% clip. I'm not sure what happens in games :lol
It makes not sense to me that he could have good form in practice and not in games, he just needs to get into a comfort zone of shooting free throws.

[K-State Spur]

You're definitely right about that. I'm not saying that Parker shouldn't be aggressive, just that getting an outside shot would make his game so much more complete. I don't think that a player can be "taught" to have the killer instinct necessary to throw himself at the basket the way TP does; you either have it or you do. But shooting seems like something that can be refined.


Lordy, have some of you only been fans since January?

Parker's shot is night and day from where it used to be. It used to be every bit as bad as Rondo's, and now it's a reliable weapon. In 2007, Nash went under every screen and Parker KILLED them for it.

I doubt he'll ever be Larry Bird, but with the help of Chip, he's become a very competent mid-range shooter (when HEALTHY). Hell, it was just last year (or maybe 2 years ago) that Pop finally allowed him to re-instate the 3 ball into his game as well.