There was something better waiting for Kyle Korver.
The Hawks guard spent much of his summer trying out for Team USA. However after the lengthy process to represent his country, Korver was one of the last three cuts in advance of the FIBA World Championships. The next day, the final squad left for Spain and the two-week tournament. Team USA went undefeated and won the tournament in impressive fashion to earn an automatic berth in the 2016 Olympics.
Korver returned home to be with his very pregnant wife. The couple is expecting their second child any day and two extra weeks with his family was a blessing.
“It was a long experience to not make it at the end,” Korver said. “It was good. We are having our second baby … so it was good to be able to come back home, be with my wife and daughter and get ready. Things were rolling too fast. You don’t want to just have your baby. You want to be there for your kid. There is always a silver lining and being able to relax finally and focus on family for a good bit before (the upcoming birth) happens did that for me.”
During training camps in Las Vegas, Chicago and New York, Korver ran with the NBA’s elite. Although he saw limited action in exhibition games, the experience can only help for the upcoming season. Hawks teammate Paul Millsap was in training camp for a week and called the experience the highlight of his summer.
Korver said his normal routine is to shoot during the offseason but not play a lot of full-court basketball. The Team USA experience changed his approach coming into the upcoming season.
“In my own opinion, I don’t feel like I always play that well in training camp,” Korver said. “I feel like I’m in good shape but because I don’t play a lot of five-on-five in the summer time I always feel a little rusty. I never feel like I’m quite in rhythm. So being able to play five-on-five for a bunch of weeks, I think it’s going to put me in a better spot for this season.”
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said it’s too early in training camp to say the time with the national team yielded specific results. However, he too noted the Korver came to camp in better all-around basketball condition.
“He’s grown so much as a player, I think, over the past two, three four years of his career,” Budenholzer said. “To have that honor and that confidence is good for him and good for us. He’s a heck of a player. You see it in practice. His rhythm is a little bit better.”
Korver was solid for the Hawks last season. He appeared in 71 games and averaged 12.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, a career-best 2.9 assists and 1.0 steals in a team-high 33.9 minutes. He led the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage (.472) and was 12th in 3-pointers made (185). He set the NBA record for consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer at 127.
Korver was on the court, trailing the play, during the Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas when Pacers forward Paul George suffered a gruesome broken leg and was lost for the season. Korver didn’t immediately know the severity of the injury but it soon became clear that George wasn’t getting up.
The severity of George’s injury didn’t change Korver’s mind about participating in the tournament. “This is what we do. We play basketball,” Korver told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution soon after.
Budenholzer was also not concerned that his starting shooting guard could suffer a similar fate and be lost for the season.
“Injuries like that can happen any time, any place,” Budenholzer said. “Our guys are working most every day on individual skills and playing five-on-five and pick-up games. I think you can’t live in fear. I’m a big believer in improving in the summer and that was a big opportunity to improve.”
