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By: Dan Steinberg
The Wizards’ new assistant coach, Dave Hopla, has to be the most intriguingly bizarre assistant coach in the NBA. This is a man whose Web site brags that he is considered by many to be the top shooter in the world, regularly knocks down 495 out of 500 shots, and once made 35,332 out of 35,979 shots during a lecture series. That’s 98.20 percent. When I jump out of bed in the morning, I don’t even hit the ground 98.20 percent of the time.
By: The White President
Years ago I attended George Mason University basketball camp headed by Paul Westhead. Each day we had a guest speaker, including some NBA stars like Washington Bullet Doug Overton. (WOW!)
One day our speaker was not an NBA player, so all the kids were upset. It was a shooting coach that was going to teach us how to shoot. The guy came in and introduced himself and started to lecture about the importance of shooting. During his entire lecture, he swished foul shot after foul shot. He missed 0 shots in fifteen minutes, and was talking the entire time.
The Washington Wizards announced today the hiring of Ed Tapscott as Director of Player Development/Programs and Dave Hopla as Assistant Coach/Player Development on Head Coach Eddie Jordan’s staff. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Doug Smith
Sports Reporter
The Raptors are minus a staff member.
Dave Hopla, who joined the team as a basketball development consultant last season, is leaving to become an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards, NBA sources told The Star.
Widely known as one of the better shooting coaches in the NBA, Hopla joined the Raptors staff last November after earning a reputation by working with such star players as Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen and Sue Bird of the WNBA Seattle Storm.