Chot Reyes wants shooting coach for Smart Gilas

Philippine team coach Chot Reyes plans to tap Chip Engelland for another tour of duty in the national five—but in a different capacity.

Reyes is entertaining thoughts on hiring the former PH team gunslinger as a shooting coach to sharpen the outside firepower of the squad in its bid to make it to the World Championship event next year.

Instead of training certified gunners like Jeff Chan, Gary David or Larry Fonacier, however, Engelland will be teaching shooting rudiments to 7-foot behemoth Greg Slaughter of Ateneo.

“After (his playing stint with) Ateneo, I will have him shoot three-point shots for one hour every day until September (next year),” Reyes said of Slaughter.

“We are thinking of hiring a  shooting coach just for that, and Chip Engelland is definitely a good candidate.”

Reyes said that getting a guy as big and tall as Slaughter to consistently make the outside shot would give the Philippines a huge edge in international competitions.

The teams that Smart Gilas-Pilipinas played against in the Jones Cup in Taipei and the Fiba Asia Cup in Japan all have big men able to nail the three-point shot at a consistent rate.

“The good thing about that is, we not only open up (the enemy’s) defense, but if Slaughter is able to make the three-point shot, then he and Marcus (Douthit) could play together and give us a big frontline,” Reyes explained.

Engelland dazzled international foes of the Philippines as a member of the Northern Cement program in the 1980s before going on to pursue a career as a shooting coach.