Detroit Pistons vs. Utah Jazz - Oct. 28, 2015

Detroit Pistons shooting coach Dave Hopla directs drills for Detroit Pistons forward Reggie Bullock (not pictured) before their NBA game against the Utah Jazz at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills Wednesday, October 28, 2015. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

AUBURN HILLS -- It's lined with pages of Xs, checkmarks and ink-splashed notes, with a piece of paper labeled "2015" taped to the front.

"Ask me a date, any day" Dave Hopla says, "and I'll tell you if I shot that day."

An inquiry of March 13 sends the Detroit Pistons' new shooting coach skimming through his notebook.

Sure enough, there's an entry. YMCA. Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Since he was 16, Hopla has tracked his shots. Every one. And now, they're almost all makes.

Hopla holds the world record for the most NBA 3-pointers made (18) and free throws made (25) in a minute with one ball and one passer. He's considered one of the world's greatest shooters, with testimonials from some of the NBA's best and his own records -- regularly making around 98 percent at his camps -- to back him up.

"I went to a camp and there was a coach there, and he says, 'If you're serious about getting better, you need to keep track of your shots,'" the 58-year-old Hopla said. "I thought I was the only kid in the world not keeping track of my shots. Back then, I did whatever coach told me."

Stan Van Grundy hired Hopla over the summer, after the Pistons finished 27th out of 30 NBA teams in field-goal percentage. And franchise center Andre Drummond is a career 40-percent shooter from the free-throw line.

Enter Hopla, the franchise's first shooting coach.

'Got a camp ... want to come?'

For Hopla, a New Jersey native who now calls Maine home, shooting coach wasn't exactly his dream job.

He grew up in Baltimore and played basketball throughout high school but never had the height or size to break through. He didn't crack the varsity basketball team until his senior year, and it took many hours in the gym perfecting his shot to get noticed by Division II Chadron (Neb.) State College.

From there, he had stints in Europe and South America and in the CBA.

But it was his strenuous workouts, featuring a succession of ball-handling, passing and shooting drills, that first caught the eye of U.S. coaches.

"I came back (from overseas) one year and my old high school said 'Dave, you want to come in and speak at the camp?'" Hopla remembers. "I said, 'What am I speaking about?' He said do your workout.

"And then when I was there, another coach said 'I've got a camp next week in Annapolis, do you want to come?' This is great. I'm getting paid to do my workout."

His shooting drills soon caught on, and he still gives regular presentations around the country and produces instructional shooting videos. At one camp, he shot 263 of 263.

When Hopla was hired by the Toronto Raptors in 2006 -- the Pistons are his fourth NBA stop -- his introduction to the team came in the form of a 45-minute demonstration. He shot 295 for 295.

"Guys on the roster were calling me Mr. Perfect," Hopla said.

He's worked with the likes of Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen, and both have left ringing endorsements, and was first introduced to Vince Carter when Carter was in 10th grade.

And then there's "The Shot Doctor" Herb Magee, a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and one of four collegiate basketball coaches in history to win 1,000 games. He, too, perfected his shot at a young age, on the courts of West Philadelphia and West Catholic High School.

Magee, 74, is in his 48th season as head basketball coach at Division II Philadelphia University, and was one of those coaches Hopla credits with turning him into a shooter.

"It just evolved into a situation where I did it over and over and over again," Magee said. "I imagine that, unbeknownst to me, Dave was one of those campers way back."

The two lecture at the same basketball camp in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains every summer and cross paths on occasion. Recently, Magee said he stayed after to watch Hopla, who proceeded to make it through his demonstration without missing.

"He was an incredible lecturer and a wonderful shooter," Magee said. "He made 'em all. Shooting jumpers and stuff like that. He's very, very good, very talented guy."

The call from SVG

It was June, and Van Gundy, fresh off a 32-50 record in his first season as head coach and director of basketball operations for the Pistons.

He had money in the budget, and Detroit had shot 43.2 percent from the floor, fourth-worst in the league.

The Philadelphia 76ers already had offered Hopla a job, but the uncertainty of the organization, from the losing to the rift between the ownership and coaching staff, made him hesitant.

So the Pistons swooped in, and he was hired.

"We've done a lot of things, in terms of changing a lot of things trying to help our players," said Van Gundy, also pointing out the addition of a nutritional consultant and extra person in sports medicine. "Dave was one, I think he's the best shooting instructor there is out there."

Hopla was immediately summoned to Santa Barbara, California, to work with Drummond, a young, vibrant center with the tools to be great but a free-throw shot that hampered the Pistons down the stretch in games.

Drummond entered the season as a 39.7-percent career free-throw shooter. And as his offensive game expands -- and teams employ the "Hack-a-Drummond" strategy -- the number of free throws he shoots each season continues to rise.

"Every free throw, I'm with him," Hopla said. "At the end, we break it up ... every time we get a break in practice. We'll do some before practice, if we get a break -- when he's fatigued -- and then we'll get another break.

"Just so you're not there all at once. Because in a game, you're not making 50. You're there to make two, to make one."

Hopla says he's already narrowed Drummond's base at the line, streamlined his dribbles before each shot to three (he was all over the place before) and introduced the "three Fs."

"Focus, follow through and finish," Hopla said. "I showed him all of this makes. Perfect follow through, shoulders are steady, hands don't go all crazy. Elbows above the eyebrows, toe to the target. All simple things."

Said Drummond: "It's about getting repetitions up, that's really it. It's something I've been working on since May."

Drummond started off 18 of 31 (.580) in Detroit's first three games, but has slumped to 22 of 54 on the season (.407) on the season after Monday's game against the Golden State Warriors.

Hopla's message?

"I told him the other day, you're going to take a step back," he said. "Let's get back on the bicycle. Don't make one miss affect your next. That's one of the big things I told him. You've got to split for us. You've got to split."

After a recent practice, Hopla remained on the court with forward Ersan Ilyasova. The first-year Piston needed to make 10 straight 3-pointers from the corner and wing to leave. It took some time, and at times made for heavy frustration, but it was a requirement.

Through seven games -- and a 5-2 start -- the Pistons are 19th in the league in field-goal shooting. Van Gundy remains confident it will continue to turn around, and Hopla has the support of the players.

"He's like my second dad out here," rookie Stanley Johnson said. "When you first come in here, you don't know how a shooting coach could help you. You don't know how much time you have with him. But he does a great job of watching practice, watching games, watching you shoot before games, to define his work with you."

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