TRIPLE THREAT
CLEVELAND – Kyle Korver wants to preface a discussion about shooting — his sublime three-point shooting in particular — with a caveat.
“It’s a journey, and I don’t pretend to have the whole thing figured out, because I feel like there’s still a lot to learn,” the humble Cavaliers shooting guard told USA TODAY this season.
If he doesn’t have shooting figured out, he’s as close as an NBA player is going to get. A 43.1% threepoint shooter for his career — his total of 2,213 made threes is fourth all time — Korver arguably saved Cleveland’s season with four threepointers, including two late in the fourth quarter of a 104-100 Game 4
first-round playoff victory Sunday against Indiana.
“I won’t say mastered,” said Lakers coach Luke Walton, who was in Korver’s
2003 draft class. “But he’s come close to mastering his skill set of being an absolute knockdown shooter, and when you can do something better than everyone else in the world, then you’re going to play for a long time.”
He has admirers throughout the league and in his locker room.
“His feet are always set and ready to go. His mechanics are the same. They never change,” teammate LeBron James said. “You can tell he’s put in that work over the years. True professional. Work ethic. He knows he’s an NBA player, and that’s been No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 on his list every single year.”
At 37 — an age when players are on the decline — Korver still makes an impact. This season, he made 43.6% of his three-pointers, tied for sixth in the league.
“As long as your body is holding in there, you should become a better shooter,” Korver said. “I do feel like I’m better. I don’t know if my numbers are better.”
He led the team in plus-minus — the Cavs scored 274 more points than their opponents with Korver on the court — and of players on the Cavs roster all season, he had the best net-efficiency rating. He might be the third-most important Cav after James and Kevin Love.
Former teammate Channing Frye called Korver a rarity: “There’s only two or three guys who do what he does and that’s create a double team without the ball.”
Three years ago when he played for Atlanta, Korver shared his 20-point checklist with USA TODAY. It identifies the key factors that make his shot one of the best in NBA history: 1. Wide stance.
2. Exaggerated legs. 3. Drop through heels. 4. Engage core. 5. Slight bend at waist. 6. Up strong. 7. Elbow straight.
8. One hand. 9. Fingers spread. 10. Slight pause. 11. Elbow up. 12. Land forward.
13. See the top of the rim. 14. Ball on fingertips. 15. Strong shot. 16. Shoulders forward and relaxed. 17. Ball and arm risen straight. 18. Hold the follow through.
19. Keep the release point high. 20. On turns, square shoulders.
“I tried to be as detailed as I could,” Korver said. “As you look at it, some things pull closer towards you. Some things fade away. It’s like that all the time. It’s just kind of the way it is. My understanding of each of these things seems to keep evolving and you spend a lot of time focusing on an area.
“For me, especially as I get older, I feel pretty good about what I’m doing mechanically. It’s about training my body to groove certain things.”
Some points on the checklist have morphed into one such as “drop through the heels” and “engage core.”
“It’s something that’s hard to verbalize, but I pretend that I’m trying to pinch something in my hip,” Korver explained. “And when I do that, I naturally have to use my legs, and I know that to do that well I have to bend through my heels and then I feel my hip more. I’ve knocked out two birds with one stone.”
Point No. 13 — “see the top of the rim” — has evolved into making sure the ball goes higher than the backboard on his shot. Is the ball actually going higher? “In my head it is,” Korver said. “That helps me see the rim better.”
Korver’s focus on lifting weights — deadlifts in particular — has provided him with a counterintuitive process. “A proper lift for me the day before a game is more important than getting 300 shots or 500 shots up,” Korver said.
Korver has a belief system that works for him.
Another great three-point shooter, Cavs teammate J.R. Smith, is the antithesis. “His mentality is impressive,” Smith said. “He has a tremendous checklist that he goes through when he shoots. Fortunately, I don’t think as much. I just try to get it up whenever I can. He shoots the same way every time no matter what, and for me, that’s hard. I take wild shots and stuff.”
Korver entered the NBA at the early stages of the three-point revolution, a time when coach Mike D’Antoni’s Suns fired threes. The Suns led the league in three-point attempts in 2004-05 with
2,206. This season, that would’ve ranked 26th.
Korver led the league with Quentin Richardson in three-pointers made
(226) in 2004-05. At the time, it ranked as the seventh-best single-season effort. It’s now 31st.
Korver, who comes from a basketball-playing family, was a second-round pick the year James was picked No. 1. His longevity is an incredible testament to his dedication to basketball and his body. While playing for Utah, Korver had multiple surgeries. His body wasn’t right. He discovered Peak Performance Project in Santa Barbara, a sports and science facility that uses a data-driven model to help eliminate weaknesses in the body. Korver met his wife and had children.
“I got into a better routine in life let alone basketball and started locking in on the details of my body, the details of shooting, the details of life,” he said. “I feel that’s where you can find excellence, in the details.”
In the past decade, Korver has made the fourth most three-pointers behind Stephen Curry, James Harden and Smith.
It helps to play alongside James, who demands so much attention from defenders that three-point shooters can find open shots.
“I’ve always had to work hard for shots,” Korver said. “I can run all over the place and end up with six shots and had to work for all six of them. But now, I usually get a couple where, ‘Oh, one found me. I didn’t have to find it.’ That’s what LeBron does.”
Korver’s presence also opens opportunities for James, and that’s why Cleveland needs Korver to make threes.
“I’ve always believed the better the players I’m surrounded by, the better I am,” he said. “I’ve never tried to think of myself as anything different. I know who I am as a basketball player, and I’m never going to try to pretend that I’m more or less, but definitely not more.”
It’s resulted in a 15-year career and his direct influence on how the game is played today with spacing and threepointers.
“If you would’ve have told me at the beginning (of my NBA career) that I’d still be playing at this age and getting to play on this team and have this type of role,” Korver said, “I would have never imagined that career.”