Utah Jazz forward Boris Diaw is one of the funniest players in the league today. He shares outrageous stories which have some truth to it and is not afraid to crack jokes whenever he can.

On a recent podcast, the 34-year-old French international shared another hilarious story about how his former shooting coach with the San Antonio Spurs, Chip Engelland, helped him improve his efficiency from the field. Instead of the usual drills given to players, Engelland used a different approach on Diaw which proved to be effective.

The duo worked together on his shooting together with a stuffed animal that makes a funny sound that Engelland holds during practices from start to finish. Apparently, it helped Diaw focus and improve his stroke.

“The year after he (Engelland) had to find something else (other than the wine photo), and so at that time, I released a book with National Geographic that's called Hoops to Hippos … I did eight years in a row taking safari pictures, and so as a result, I had a book coming out called Hoops to Hippos. So he found something that he told me was an Internet sensation. It was a farting hippo.

“He would bring the farting hippo to shootaround, and so to end the session, every time I make the last shot, he would just hold the hippo and make it fart … It was to start and to finish.”

It may not be the conventional way, but since it worked for him during his tenure with the Spurs, the coaching staff and his teammates did not complain.

Diaw was a 50.8 percent shooter during his five seasons in San Antonio including 54.8 percent from two point shots and 36.7 percent from three-point distance.

Maybe other shooting coaches can find other alternatives to help players improve with their jumpshots. If it worked for Diaw, there's no reason to think it won't do wonders for other players as well.