Five Take-Aways From Basketball Shooting

By Dave Hopla

We need to get back to basics. By “we”, I mean the world of basketball. If you take a step back for a minute and look around at the state of the game, you might notice a lot of nonsense. I could go on and on about what I mean by “nonsense”, but here I am talking about matters relating to approach to play. There are a lot of people out there that promote over-complicating the game. Why is that? I have some ideas, but I am also comfortable saying, I don’t know. So let me just be nice here and suggest we have forgotten about the pure aspects of what makes the game of basketball what it is. And that may be because the game is hard. It’s one of the hardest games on the planet. The skill set that one has to master in order to play at the highest level is so insane that even the highest level players themselves can’t explain what makes them so great most of the time(even though they sometimes try).

The basketball world would be doing themselves a huge favor if they glamorized the fundamentals a little bit more.  I can already hear the contradiction of that last sentence: glamor and fundamentals don’t really go together. Maybe that‘s the problem I was looking for. It’s kind of hard to emphasize the boring stuff that makes you better in a world that celebrates the instant gratification of the glamor moments. But what’s ironic about that is that so few people emphasize a sound fundamental foundation, that the one’s who do are bound to have a competitive edge.

I am going to stop myself from going on too much of a tangent and just offer up one huge suggestion for you, if you are a coach, player, or parent: get Dave Hopla’s book, Basketball Shooting, and let’s get back to figuring out how to get the ball to go in the hoop.

1. Dave Hopla is a Basketball Lifer

Dave Hopla is someone who knows what he’s talking about. This goes a long way with me. I am always on the look out for learning new things about a variety of subjects, and I don’t have time for scammers. That is not Dave. If you want to learn more about his background, check out his website bio HERE. I also found this cool interview that he did in Ireland, it’s on youtube HERE.

2. Dave Hopla is a True Coach

The first two chapters of Basketball Shooting are on Shooting Philosophy and Visualization.  If you want to be great at something-anything-you need to consciously think about your mindset. You need to internalize your Why. Otherwise, you are leaving way too much to chance when things get hard. And that is inevitable in this game.

3. Take Inventory!

I am constantly preaching a “take inventory” mindset. What I mean by that is think about what you are doing. Very early on in the book, Basketball Shooting, Dave includes a shot technique evaluation checklist. This is a powerful tool for many reasons, not the least of which could be for a coach to evaluate players in an objective, non-personal way. He also preaches keeping stats of your own personal work out. This tactic can also provide powerful feedback that contributes to motivation. How do you know if you did better than yesterday if you don’t track it?

4. Practice Drills

This book is full of drills that can be done individually or with a team. The copy that I have also came with a 50 minute DVD as a supplement to the book.

5. Bank Shots: A Lost Art

I don’t know if I could pick a favorite part of Basketball Shooting, but if I had to it would be the bank shot section. This is a prime example of an aspect of a player’s game that could set them apart from the crowd if they spent just a little time dedicated to it. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: coaches don’t have time to emphasize this type of fundamental aspect of the game. At least the consistent time that is necessary to actually get better. If a player were to work on what Dave Hopla writes about in the bank shot chapter, they would put themselves in a good position to surprise a lot of people. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a youth player consistently attempt and make bank shots?

 

 

Link to Basketball Shooting, by Dave Hopla on Amazon:

 

 

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