Road to Duke
Arthur Edward Engelland III was born May 9, 1961, in Chicago, and raised in Pacific Palisades, California — a coastal neighborhood tucked between Malibu and Santa Monica, where the basketball courts are outdoors and the sun never seems to quit. His family called him Chip.
In seventh grade, Chip was shooting on an outdoor basketball court when a high school tennis coach walked over. The coach told the boy to keep his elbow in, his wrist bent, and take nothing but shots from five and six feet out. You learn the game like golf, the coach said — from the cup back. The advice stuck. It would define his life. Five years later, Engelland passed along the same advice to another gangly kid shooting baskets on the same outdoor court. That kid’s name was Steve Kerr. Kerr went on to shoot 45.4 percent from three for his career, win five NBA championships, and coach the Golden State Warriors dynasty. Engelland taught him to shoot on a blacktop in Pacific Palisades when they were teenagers.
In 1975, when Chip was fourteen, he served as a ball boy for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins — Wooden’s final championship team, the last of ten national titles. A kid from Palisades fetching towels and rebounding for legends. In high school, he dated Jeannie Buss, who would grow up to become the president and co-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. Basketball, in Chip Engelland’s world, was never far from greatness.
At Pacific Palisades High School, Engelland led the city of Los Angeles in scoring as a senior in 1979 — roughly 30 points per game. He earned a scholarship to Duke, arriving in Durham for the 1979–80 season under head coach Bill Foster. One year later, Foster left and a young coach from West Point named Mike Krzyzewski took over. Engelland played for both — the last coach of the old Duke and the first coach of the new one. He was there for the transition that changed everything.
At Duke
Chip Engelland lettered four seasons at Duke, from 1979 to 1983. As a freshman under Bill Foster, he appeared in all 32 games, averaging 4.0 points and contributing to Duke’s run to the NCAA Elite Eight, where they fell to UCLA — the same program where he’d been a ball boy four years earlier. When Krzyzewski arrived in 1980, Engelland’s role expanded. He was the shooter. He shot better than 50 percent from the field in each of his final three seasons and better than 85 percent from the free-throw line. His career three-point percentage was an extraordinary 55.4 percent.
He scored more than 1,000 points in his Duke career. He was named team captain his senior year, 1982–83 — a season in which Coach K was still building, still losing, still convincing recruits and fans that the program was heading somewhere. Engelland was one of the believers. He played through the losing seasons. He stayed when staying required faith. By the time he graduated, the program had not yet reached the heights that would come with the Godfather Class the following year. But Engelland had helped lay the foundation. He was one of Coach K’s first soldiers — a player who bought into the system before the system had proven anything.
What he was building, though, was something beyond his own playing career. Every drill, every practice, every hour in the gym was refining an understanding of shooting mechanics that bordered on scientific. He didn’t just shoot well. He understood why he shot well. The elbow alignment. The release point. The follow-through. The mental rhythm. That tennis coach’s advice — from the cup back — had evolved into a philosophy. He called himself a better teacher than player. He was being modest about the playing and prophetic about the teaching.
After Duke
Chip Engelland went undrafted in the 1983 NBA Draft. He played professionally for nine years, beginning with two seasons in the Philippines, where he became a naturalized Filipino citizen and played for the national team. In the 1985 Jones Cup championship game against the United States, Engelland scored 43 points in a double-overtime victory. Filipino fans nicknamed him “The Machine Gun” for his rapid-fire shooting. He adored his teammates — Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic, Yves Dignadice, Tonichi Yturri. Decades later, returning to Manila for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, he said the Philippines would always hold a special place in his heart.
He returned to North America and played six seasons in the Continental Basketball Association — the Topeka Sizzlers, San Jose Jammers, Omaha Racers. Minor-league basketball in minor-league towns. He won a CBA Three-Point Shootout. He shot better than 50 percent from three for his professional career.
In 1993, he launched a basketball camp called Chip Shots, focused entirely on shooting mechanics. His first high-profile client was Steve Kerr, playing for the Bulls alongside Michael Jordan. When Kerr hit the championship-winning shot in the 1997 Finals, the foundation of that jumper had been laid on a blacktop in Pacific Palisades.
Grant Hill came next. Introduced by Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins, Engelland rebuilt Hill’s jump shot from scratch. Hill, already a four-time All-Star, stood at a racquet club with seven-year-olds at summer camp, his hand behind his back, learning to shoot again from five feet out. From the cup back.
Detroit hired Engelland as a shooting consultant. Denver as director of player development. Then San Antonio called in 2005. Popovich wanted him to fix Tony Parker’s jump shot. Engelland told Parker to remove the three from his game entirely and focus on the midrange. Parker’s field goal percentage jumped from 41.9 to 54.8 percent. Parker became a Hall of Famer.
Then came the masterwork. Draft night 2011: the Spurs traded George Hill for Kawhi Leonard, the 15th pick out of San Diego State. Leonard shot 25 percent from three in college. The night after the draft, Leonard rushed to San Antonio. The NBA lockout was about to hit, giving Engelland only 72 hours. In those three days, he altered Leonard’s release point — from over his head to in front of his face. They drilled the new mechanics, and then Leonard was on his own for months. When the lockout lifted, Leonard’s transformation was evident. Rookie year: 37.6% from three. Fourth year: 44.3%. Finals MVP in 2014, scoring 29 on 10-of-13 shooting. They used Kobe Bryant’s mechanics as a model.
Steve Kerr, coaching the Warriors, tried to hire Engelland away. Quin Snyder, the former Duke player coaching Utah, also pursued him. Popovich wouldn’t let him go. Three NBA championships: San Antonio 2007, San Antonio 2014, Oklahoma City 2025. In 2022, after 17 seasons with the Spurs, Engelland joined the Thunder, where he worked with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren. In 2025, the Thunder won the title.
Where Is He Now
Chip Engelland is 64 years old. He is an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder, three-time NBA champion, and the most respected shooting coach in NBA history. He is married to Jessica Grunow. Two sons, Press and Path.
The list of players whose shots he rebuilt reads like a Hall of Fame ballot: Steve Kerr, Grant Hill, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, Manu Ginobili, Shane Battier, Richard Jefferson, Dejounte Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He didn’t just fix shots. He fixed careers. The Spurs’ entire draft philosophy for nearly two decades was shaped by his presence — they could draft raw players with questionable jumpers because they knew Engelland could fix them. When he left, analysts questioned whether San Antonio’s approach would have to change.
He was born in Chicago. Raised in Pacific Palisades. A tennis coach taught him to shoot on an outdoor court in seventh grade. He passed the same advice to Steve Kerr on the same court. He was a ball boy for John Wooden’s last championship team. He dated the future president of the Lakers. He led Los Angeles in scoring. He played for the last coach of old Duke and the first coach of new Duke. He scored 1,000 points and captained the team during a losing season because he believed in what Coach K was building. He went undrafted. He scored 43 points for the Philippine national team and they called him The Machine Gun. He played in Topeka and San Jose and Omaha. He taught Steve Kerr to shoot and Grant Hill to shoot and Tony Parker to shoot and Kawhi Leonard to shoot. He turned a 25-percent three-point shooter into a Finals MVP. Three championships. The Shot Whisperer. And it all started because a tennis coach walked over to a twelve-year-old on an outdoor court and said: you learn the game like golf — from the cup back.