MAKING AN ALL-STAR CASE
The Hawks (23-8) have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and are tied for the fourth-best mark in the NBA. Despite the team success, the Hawks don’t have a top-30 scorer in the league.
As it appears by the current All-Star balloting, the Hawks won’t have a player voted a starter for the game. There will likely be at least one Hawks player named as a reserve to represent the Eastern Conference based on the team’s success.
But who will it be?
An argument can be made for each of the five starters. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will state the case for each in a five-part series.
Thursday: DeMarre Carroll
Friday: Kyle Korver
Saturday: Paul Millsap
Sunday: Jeff Teague
Monday: Al Horford
Kyle Korver is no longer a 3-point specialist off the bench.
One of his former coaches, who saw him mostly in that role, knows it now.
“Just playing more minutes, the more minutes have really helped him. It’s interesting. I should have (given him more minutes) in hindsight,” the normally stoic Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said with a laugh recently of his former player.
Make no mistake, Korver still is a 3-point specialist. He just doesn’t come off the bench any longer. Since joining the Hawks, Korver has started 162 of his 176 games, including the past 102.
Korver leads the NBA in 3-point percentage at .520 (91 of 175). He led the league last season at .472 (185 of 392). He also holds the record for best percentage in a season at .536 (59 of 110), set in the 2009-10 season with the Jazz.
The shooting guard is flirting with the 50/50/90 mark this season of shooting better than 50 percent from the field and 3-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line. He is the only player in the NBA shooting at least 49 percent from the field (.498) and 3-point range (.520) and 90 percent from the free-throw line (.938). He ranks third in the league in effective field-goal percentage at .679, which takes into account all three percentages.
Korver has made four or more 3-pointers in a game 12 times this season. He has made five or more five times after accomplishing that feat seven times last season. Korver remains well over 50 percent from 3-point range despite going a combined 3-for-13 in games last week against the Bucks.
In addition to leading the league from behind the arc, Korver ranks second in free-throw percentage. He has missed four of his 65 attempts. One of those misses snapped his franchise record for consecutive free throws made at 50.
“Every year he gets better and better,” Thibodeau said. “It’s a tribute to the way he works at it, studies, prepares, his offseason conditioning work he puts in. It’s incredible. It’s not an accident what he’s doing. Everyone knows it’s coming. He knows how to get open. He plays for a team whose shooting complements its stars. And he’s a star in his own way. He has always embraced his role. He has always played for the team.”
Thibodeau was an assistant coach for Team USA this summer. Korver was the last player cut before the team went on to win the gold medal in the World Championships.
Korver has increased his scoring average. He has averaged 13.0 points per game this season, up a point from last season and the second-best average of his career. He has scored in double-figures in 21 of 31 games, with five 20-plus point outings.
What makes Korver most valuable to the Hawks is the attention he draws from the opposition. He spaces the floor that enables the offense to works effectively. If not enough attention is paid to Korver, he has proved he can knock down an outside shot. If too much attention is paid to him, it opens the offense up for the other four players on the court.
Perhaps Celtics coach Brad Stevens put the Korver dilemma best.
“He averages 13 points per game, right?” Stevens asked before a Hawks-Celtics game last month. “But you go into the game and you have to treat him like he averages 30, or else it could be 30.”
Much has been made of Korver’s defense during his career. However, he ranks tied for 15th in the NBA with a plus/minus ratio of plus-198.
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