Chu Leaves NBA to Join SMU Hoops Staff
Highland Park alum Zach Chu will return closer to home for the next stop in his basketball coaching career.
Chu has been hired as the chief strategist on the staff of new SMU men’s coach Andy Enfield, a new role to leverage his experience with analytics and incorporating technology into game management.
Chu graduated from HP in 2011. He was a two-sport standout in basketball and tennis — in which he won three state championships — and later played college basketball as a walk-on at the University of Richmond.
After graduating in 2015, he quickly moved into coaching, first as an assistant specializing in player development with the Texas Legends of the NBA G League and later with the Dallas Mavericks as an analytics liaison.
When former Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle was hired with the Indiana Pacers, he brought along Chu as a manager of game strategy and analytics. He was on the Pacers staff for the past three seasons.
Chu also worked for one season as an intern with the Los Angeles Clippers and was part of a Nike overseas initiative in China. His father, Daniel, was an assistant coach at the University of Miami during the 1980s.
