Dave Hopla - The Greatest Three Point Shooter in the World

Jack Zucker discusses meeting record setting three point specialist, Dave Hopla

During the UCLA basketball camp that I attended, the other campers and I had the pleasure of meeting the current best three-point shooter in the world, Dave Hopla. Hopla has worked with many NBA franchises as a shooting coach, including the New York Knicks, Washington Wizards, and Detroit Pistons. In addition to working with franchises, Hopla also coached many famous players, including Kobe Bryant and Gilbert Arenas.

During this lecture, where he made twenty-two straight three-pointers, two hundred fifty out of two hundred fifty-five threes, while shooting ninety-eight percent, he discussed some tips on having a more effective shooting form and shared some past stories, including when he was on junior varsity as a junior in high school, to rising to All-American on the varsity team just one year later as a senior.

In this article, I will talk about how amazing it was to meet him, the questions I asked, and some facts about him.

The Questions I Asked

After giving us a discussion about shooting better, some campers were able to ask questions during the Q/A session. I didn’t get called on, but I still went over to Dave Hopla to ask him.

The first question I asked was who he believes is the greatest basketball player of all time. After his quick response of Wilt Chamberlain, I was stunned. I would have thought he would have said a more recent player like Michael Jordan (whose shoe brand sponsors Hopla) or someone like LeBron James.

The second question I asked was who his greatest college basketball player was. He didn’t have an answer as he believes there are so many great players that have changed the history of college basketball.

Finally, my third question, the last question I asked was what is the biggest skill you need to have to become a good three-point specialist. “The Shot Doctor” said, “You just need to make the shots.” Hopla believes that you need to make the shots in order to keep making more as confidence and trust build up inside.

Fun Facts

• Hopla didn’t shoot well at all until he became better at age 16

• He has worked with numerous NBA stars including Kobe Bryant, Gilbert Arenas, Klay Thompson, Carmelo Anthony, and Dirk Nowitzki

• He broke former NBA MVP Steve Nash’s record for most corner threes in a minute with sixteen (only had one passer)

“Always gonna have my shoulders squared; it doesn’t matter where your feet are, even your hips, but if your shoulders are squared towards the basket, it has a good chance of going in. I can’t take credit for that, Dave Hopla said that.” - Klay Thompson

“He did a shooting clinic, he didn’t miss the whole time!” - Klay Thompson

(Quotes said on Podcast P)

The Story that Stood Out to Me

After telling many stories about his way to becoming the world’s most efficient man from behind the arc, there was one story that I wanted to mention that specifically stood out to me.

This story was about Dave Hopla’s gain of motivation after being cut from the varsity team. Hopla was on JV as a junior in high school, while most of his peers, I assume, were on the highest level of high school basketball. After making varsity by impressing in his junior varsity games, Hopla was quickly cut as he was the twelfth man on a ten-uniform team. When he was the twelfth man, he was always upset that he would never play. Until one day, Hopla’s dreams finally came true. He was now the tenth man after two of his teammates had to sit out due to either sickness or injury. On the bench with the ten-jersey squad, “The Shot Doctor” played only six hundred seconds the entire season. Finally, after this, he was cut and returned to junior varsity. Then, after playing impressively again, Hopla was finally moved back up to varsity as a senior. This was due to the work he put in to get better during the summer. Unlike last time, Dave Hopla was finally scoring on his varsity team and was included on the All-American team for Maryland. He also made All-Metro Third Team in Baltimore, technically making him a top fifteen player in the city.

This story taught me to always think positively because, as Dave Hopla said during the lecture, positive thinking leads to positive success.

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