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THE BEST SHOOTER IN THE WORLD A WORDS. JA CK JENSEN T 54 YEARS OLD, he may not look the part, but there's little evidence to debate it otherwise: Dave Hopla is a better shooter than you. You, me, my little brother, those guys stroking it from deep on the Mavericks – it's a safe bet that form-wise and percentage-wise, Hopla's got us all beat. It's not a title that the pro- fessional shooting instructor who's worked with everyone from Kobe Bryant to Gilbert Arenas actively boasts, but when you've routinely hit 500-of-500 shots in clinics for the past 23 years, you've definitely earned the distinction. "I don't just shoot 500 because I don't know when I'll stop, and what I end up at, I end up at," says Hopla about being able to shoot perfectly from the field for an entire clinic. "I had one camp up in Massachusetts that I was 512-for-512 and the next camp I was 495-for-496, but I missed my eighteenth shot. "I have had 200 and some perfect clinics." For Hopla, his beginnings through basket- ball weren't so much glamorous as they were surprising – especially when you consider the dude's shooting prowess. In college, he hooped for Chadron State Col- lege in Nebraska. From there, he played some overseas ball in Europe, which led to a coaching gig at a community college in Baltimore, which sort of then parlayed into instructional shooting camps and lessons. From there, he went on to work stints with the Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and finally back to coaching clinics around the world. More recently, Dallas center Brendan Haywood flew Hopla out for some private shot instruction during the Mavs' Western Conference Finals series against Oklahoma City, and Hopla says Dwight Howard may be the next pupil in line for his services. A perfect shooting stroke is a skill to be honed and continually crafted with proper mechanics and repetition. It's well known that the disdain of past greats and basket- ball purists has always been that players to- day neglect the fundamentals of the game. Kids are more focused on crossovers and windmills than free throws and bank shots. True – and Hopla understands the limita- tions with the attention span of today's youth – but there will always be an open spot on any team for a lethal jump shooter. That is, if they're willing to work for it. "Here's the thing," says Hopla. "I get more stuff sent to me – I got big basketballs, I got small rims, I got balls with hands painted on them, balls with stripes, I got splitters for my fingers, I got straps for my hand, I got a Frisbee – all of this stuff to make your- self a better shooter. See, everyone's looking for a quick fix. But you have to go in and you have to put the time in. If you want to be the greatest shooter of all, there are two things to do: You shoot the ball correctly, and then the second thing you do is you shoot it correctly more than anybody else in the world. Then you'll be the greatest." Easy enough, right? Hell, that's how guys like Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki and Ray Allen have all been so continuously suc- cessful shooting the ball during their time on the court – they outwork and outshoot the guy next to them, and they do it cor- rectly. Hopla himself contends that guard George Lehmann, a 6-0 journeyman from the late '60s and early '70s in the ABA/NBA heyday was the best shooter that he's ever witnessed. And if you watch both Lehm- ann and Hopla's respective YouTube vid- eos – yeah, Lehmann's form is still readily available to study on the interwebs – there is a real eerie similarity in the pace, form and accuracy of both shooters. They both methodically warm-up from different spots around the floor, both square their toe-to- 32 the-target on each bounce, and both have a ridiculous consistency for finding the bot- tom of the net on each shot. As for today's NBA, though, no one's got the step on Allen, in Hopla's opinion. "Ray's got picture-perfect form and every- thing," he says. "I think if a kid wants to learn how to shoot, they should try to emu- late Ray Allen's shot. And Ray can shoot the ball deep, he can shoot it mid-range and he can get a shot off the bounce." Another big mantra of Hopla's teachings is charting your shots – something he's been doing since age 16. And to aid those shooters hungry to get better, but lack a pen and paper handy, he's created a new smart- phone app for players practicing on-the-go: the iHopla. The app, which Hopla claims has already sold a couple thousand downloads, gives you different shooting workouts, while also data tracking both your makes and misses. Yet, even with another gadget handy at your disposal, nothing's going to improve your shot more than desire. "You've got to put the time in," says Hopla. "That's why I tell people, you got to keep track of your shots. If you're going to do something repetitively, you got to know you're getting better. That's why you keep track of your shots. When you see yourself getting better, you gain confidence. Con- fidence leads to success, success leads to confidence, and it's an ongoing cycle. And then when you see yourself getting better, you want to practice more." PHOTO. PAUL SAVRAMIS