How an NBA ‘Shot Whisperer’ Transformed Kawhi Leonard into a 3-Point Fire Hazard

SAN ANTONIO — People forget, but Gregg Popovich had to be talked into approving a draft-night trade for Kawhi Leonard. To Popovich’s credit, it took just one season for the San Antonio Spurs coach to recognize Leonard’s potential.

A year after Leonard became a Spur on June 23, 2011, before the first practice of a 2012-13 season (a season that would produce a trip to the NBA Finals), Popovich declared the San Diego State product the future face of the franchise.

The audacious prediction shocked experts. In truth, Popovich had already been professing Leonard’s incredible potential. Before Leonard headed to Las Vegas to train with USA Basketball in advance of the London Olympic Games, Popovich gushed about the 15th overall pick’s desire to become a truly great player. His work ethic called to mind Tim Duncan, the bedrock of the Spurs dynasty.

“We all know they’re different players,” Popovich told me at the time. “But his approach to the game, his professionalism and willingness to listen and learn reminds us of Tim.”

Nearly everyone had seen Leonard’s potential as a great defender, and the recent announcement that he has become an ultra-rare back-to-back winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award bore that out. But nobody, Popovich included, could have seen a season in which he would make 44.3 percent of his three-point shots, finishing right behind J.J. Redick and Stephen Curry in long-distance accuracy.

Making a Two-Way Star

How does a player who drew a predraft comparison to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Gerald Wallace as a best-case scenario become one of the most accurate shooters in the league, overall and from long range?

Enter Spurs shooting coach Chip Engelland.

His reputation as the league’s premier “shot doctor” borders on legendary. Portland Trail Blazers assistant general manager Bill Branch, a scout for the Denver Nuggets when Engelland was the team’s director of player development from 2003 to 2005, had an up-close look at the master’s techniques.

“A lot of us call Chip ‘The Shot Whisperer,'” Branch said. “He’s great with shot mechanics, but his secret is building the confidence of everyone he works with. There’s nobody better at that aspect.”

Engelland’s reputation—and job security—was cemented when former client Steve Kerr tried to hire him away from the Spurs after replacing Mark Jackson on the Warriors bench.

After Leonard joined the Spurs and signed his rookie contract—San Antonio sent highly-valued point guard George Hill to the Indiana Pacers for his draft rights—Engelland had only a few days to impart some shooting knowledge. The collective bargaining agreement between the league and the National Basketball …

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