The Oklahoma City Thunder are finally seeing some of the theoretical pieces of their lengthy rebuild come to life. What started as a journey with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a thousand first-round picks has now yielded pieces that could form an exciting core.
Alongside SGA, they've added dynamic, positionless talents in the jumbo sized point guard in Josh Giddey and the prototypical unicorn 7-footer in Chet Holmgren.
But now comes the hard part – developing their young, malleable pieces into the best version of themselves. Their most recent addition could go a long way in making that happen as Thunder GM Sam Presti has hired Chip Engelland to be the team's newest assistant coach.
ESPN Sources: The Oklahoma City Thunder are hiring Chip Engelland as an assistant coach. Engelland, considered the NBA's preeminent shooting coach, spent 17 years with the Spurs where he's considered to have had an immense impact on Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker, among others.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 27, 2022
Chip Engelland's reputation before joining the Thunder staff precedes him, given such high-profile success stories working with the San Antonio Spurs as Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard.
Parker never turned into a volume three-point threat, but his accuracy from deep improves by leaps and bounds towards the second half of his stint with the Spurs. His outside shooting percentages skyrocketed in the 2010s, even exceeding 40 percent for two seasons. Parker even surpassed the 35 percent mark in five of his eight seasons in San Antonio during the decade, something he managed to do just once in the aughts.
Leonard joined the Spurs organization largely labeled as a non-shooter with a clunky looking shot that stood out even more due to his large hands. He immediately went from a 25 percent three-point shooter in college to a 38.4 percent marksman in his seven seasons in San Antonio.
The OKC Thunder could certainly use Chip Engelland's talents to help turn potential into production. The team was dead last in three-point shooting percentage last season, clocking in at just 32.3 percent in total while still taking the seventh most shots from distance at 37.4 attempts per game.
Josh Giddey is the obvious main target given his poor outside stroke. He shot 26.3 percent on nearly four attempts last season and could amplify his playmaking ability if he can turn defenses honest with an improved shot.
Then there's Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who are both above average shooters but neither would be considered your conventional three-point specialist. They both wield unique releases and could benefit greatly from slight tweaks and consistency adjustments to maximize their shooting potential.
It goes without saying that the role players on the roster could also stand to benefit greatly to provide spacing for their key guys. The team just locked up Lu Dort to a massive extension as their three-and-D fixture, but he's yet to shoot above 35 percent from distance.
They have a bevy of young players who've shown offensive flashes but none of whom have proven to be deadeye shooters, which is essential in today's NBA. While Chip Engelland likely won't be a magical solution to their shooting woes, any and all improvement could go a huge way in pointing them in the right direction.
After an offseason with several roster-building moves for Sam Presti, this subtle addition could pay huge dividends for the Thunder in the coming seasons.
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