AS he approached a handful of local media after Team USA practice at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday night, Chip Engelland politely tried to brush off the attention toward him.
“Why me? Get some of these other players and coaches here,” the Americans’ shooting coach said with a smile.
After all, there’s a constellation of NBA stars on a USA Basketball team that’s in Manila for the Fiba World Cup, eager to atone for its dismal seventh-place finish in the 2019 edition in China.
But Engelland still shines bright for Filipino fans, especially those from the 1980s when he was among the naturalized players who reinforced the Philippine team and Northern Consolidated (NCC), both under the late great Ron Jacobs.
Almost four decades later, the warm reception hasn’t changed.
“The best basketball fans in the world are here in the Philippines, so to be here and the World Cup being here, it’s an honor to be here,” he said.
“I couldn’t be more excited. I feel I’m home again. It feels really good,” added the 62-year-old coach, who’s part of Steve Kerr’s illustrious staff that also has someone with Filipino blood in Erik Spoelstra.
READ: Former PH team player Chip Engelland part of Kerr's Team USA staff
Engelland reminisced about the good ol’ days when he was the best outside threat for the national team in its 1985 Fiba Asia Championship conquest in Kuala Lumpur and the Jones Cup in Chinese Taipei the same year. He also anchored the NCC team that won the PBA Reinforced title and gave a US selection a big scare in the Intercontinental Cup in Girona, Spain the same year.
“I have great memories, first of the great players of the PBA, my teammates with NCC and San Miguel,” he said.
“I remember our great owner, Mr. [Danding] Cojuangco, who I miss and we all do. He supported us. Great coach we had, Ron Jacobs, our team manager was Henry Cojuangco, so we miss him. My dear friend in the team, Alfie Almario, so I have a lot of memories. Many are happy and some are sad ones because life happens,” he added.
It’s Engelland’s first time back in the Philippines since 2007 when he held a shooting clinic for San Miguel players, but he has kept in touch with his former teammates, including Jong Uichico. They plan to see each other during the World Cup.
READ: Why Gilas owes Ron Jacobs a debt of gratitude
“I’ve seen him (Uichico) in the States and he’s been a great coach here. Allan Caidic, I’m going to see Samboy Lim this week, so I can’t wait to see him. Our team will have a little reunion,” Engelland bared.
“I’ve been in touch with Jeff Moore and Dennis Still in the United States, two very important players, Franz Pumaren, very important player, Yves Dignadice, so I’ve been in touch with everybody because that was a special team,” he added.
“It was great to play with some of the young players of the national team and then they became stars of the national team. That felt good to hear that they all because famous within the country and around Asia.”
READ: Why Samboy is the quintessential Filipino basketball hero of our time
Engelland regretted that his own naturalization bid technically didn’t come to fruition after falling short of a residency requirement.
“I was in the process. I wasn’t here long enough. Our team split up during the [Edsa] revolution. Mr. Cojuangco left for a little bit. Eventually he came back, but our team never got back together. So the process I was in didn’t happen,” he admitted.
After his stint in the Philippines, Engelland received acclaim as a “Shot Doctor” who became part of the Gregg Popovich’s coaching staff with the San Antonio Spurs for almost two decades, before moving on to the Oklahoma City Thunder also as an assistant coach last year.
Do Filipino snipers need to call him for consultation?
“The Filipinos can shoot,” Engelland insisted. “That’s what Ron Jacobs, the first thing he told me and I saw it with our great NCC team, saw it watching the PBA, then eventually we got to play in the PBA, then I got to play with players.”
“I saw Mr. Jaworski, the first game I got to play against Sonny Jaworski, I made sure I went up, paid my respects because he was my favorite. Just said, ‘You’re my favorite player’ and he was nice to me after that,” he added with a devilish smirk. “I respect the basketball here, the great coaches, Baby Dalupan, all the great coaches, Cone, and many others.”
Asked what advice he would give the current Gilas Pilipinas team in its bid to make the home crowd proud and become the best-placed Asian team to earn a spot in the Paris Olympics, Engelland kept it simple.
“Every game counts. Every point counts, with the system they have, so you have to play every basket. You have to play hard from the beginning and every point counts,” he said.
Engelland will remind Team USA the same thing in their bid for redemption.
During breaks, he’ll continue to enjoy the warm Filipino welcome he has received since – wherever he went.
“In the States, I get recognized by Filipino fans. They’re very nice. I’ll be having lunch and they’ll say, ‘You’re having lunch,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, come join me.’ And we have a good time because they follow basketball like no other country. Some other countries are really good and great fans, but the best are here,” he concluded.
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