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.
While he was a key member of the Raptors staff, he was never elevated to a full-fledged assistant coaching position like the one he’ll have with Eddie Jordan in Washington.
Assistants to head coach Sam Mitchell on Toronto are Alex English, Jay Triano and Mike Evans, who replaces Jim Todd, now with Milwaukee.
It’s unclear whether the Raptors will fill Hopla’s job with someone to work specifically on shooting or whether they’ll fold the job into training and strength and conditioning.