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Hi All-

I'm a fan of another team, so I don't get to watch much of the Hawks. I'm not here to pepper you with fictitious trade proposals. I'm just looking for some information about Kyle Korver's game.

Obviously, he is one of the association's most prolific shooters and that much can be gleaned from looking at his Basketball Reference page. Questions I have include...

Does he play small forward exclusively? Can he play the 2?

Can he create his own offense off the dribble or does he need to be in spot up situations to thrive?

What kind of athleticism does he have?

Is his defense as bad as his early career reputation? Has it improved over the course of his career? Is he a poor man defender, but passable team defender?

Is shooting his only skill? His rebounding and passing stats are somewhat weak which make me think he is a one trick pony...

Any other thoughts, anecdotes, opinions that seem relevant to discussing Korver's game are welcomed. Thanks guys (and girls)

Quick answers to your questions:

- He plays both the 2 and 3, although nowadays the line between the two spots is getting thinner and thinner

- He really thrives in spot up/catch-and-shoot situations. He can put the ball on the floor a couple of times as he comes off screens or when he catches people with pump fakes, but he doesn't do too much off the dribble.

- When you consider his role (wing shooter) and age (33), he actually is fairly athletic... for his role and age

- I'd say he's a slightly below-average man defender, but an above-average team defender. He has good awareness and while he doesn't lock guys down or generate steals, he funnels them towards the help, and his rotations are also good.

Bonus video:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO_Vx8Oeydo[/youtube]

- He's mainly there as a shooter, but I wouldn't say he's a one-trick pony. As a passer, he doesn't net many assists, because he's usually the one that finishes the play, and also because he doesn't have the off-the-dribble skills to penetrate and create more assist opportunities. However, he's an unselfish passer and generally finds open guys. He's great in a equal-opportunity system like ours.

His rebounding is bad, that's true.

Final thoughts: I love having Korver on the team. He's a true vet who plays smart, flowing basketball. I think he's basically the platonic ideal of a sniper.

I would say he is much like Ray Allen at this point in Allens career. Catch and shoot , spot up guy. Plays much better Defense than Allen which isnt saying much.

I think he has very high IQ like Allen.

He really isnt that great at rebounding

I was actually impressed with korver rebounding in the pacers series. I dont know the stats but I remember him grabbing quite a few contested boards.

I was also impressed with his man to man defense on stevenson. Korvers biggest strength on defense is that he stands his ground and doesnt get tricked by ball fakes. I though he did a better job on Stevenson than washington did.

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Just have 2 things to add to the other commenters:
- Korver is known as one of the hardest workers in the league off the ball on O. He seems to run the entire game on O taking his guy through traffic under the basket until he ends up with a look from the arc. He also typically makes the smart pass if he's covered coming off a pin down which makes him a more scary shooter since it's hard to help on him.
- As far as team defense, I don't remember who (Teague?) but we had one player who commented that Korver was the 1st guy who ever hashed out the defensive plans with the other players on the court. Now, this is probably more of an indictment against the coaches we've had (specifically Woodson and Drew) than anything else, but it does go to show that Korver is a heady defender if that the athlete that should others are.

this article does a good job of summarizing korver's impact on both sides of the court.

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/1/15/5 ... a-all-star

Videos from the article.
defense
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8pJDCfoxs8[/youtube]

offense
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzzuigiHIaA[/youtube]

Yungsta404 wrote:this article does a good job of summarizing korver's impact on both sides of the court.

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/1/15/5 ... a-all-star

Videos from the article.
defense
[...]

This is really good stuff - thanks for posting it.

He's a great shot blocker. Ask Hibbert lol