The Atlanta Hawks have been arguably the best team in the NBA this season. They pride themselves on ball movement and good team play. They also like to space the floor and set up their shooters. The Hawks are an extremely deadly team, and one of the biggest keys to the Hawks setting up this good ball movement, team play, and floor spacing has been due to none other than the sharp shooting Kyle Korver. Korver has been the Hawks MVP this season due to his amazing shooting, his efficiency on the court, his ability to create open shots for his teammates and give them space, and his scoring threat in transition.
Kyle Korver has put up godly numbers from beyond the arc, and he has helped the Hawks get good spacing because of his great shooting. Since game one of the season, he has been doing big things. In the game against the Raptors, he went 6-7 from beyond the arc and scored 20 points in the game. Through the first 3 months, Kyle shot 50% or better from the arc every month. In fact, the only month where his percentage dips below 45% is February where he shot 39%. In the season as a whole, Kyle is shooting 49% from beyond the arc, 49% from the field, and 90% from the line. His 3PT% has been second in the league behind just Luke Babbit. He is also 3rd in the league in 3PM behind the Splash Bros. For a while, he looked like he would hit the 50-50-90 mark for the first time ever, but he has dropped below that and is not likely to go above with just one game left in the season. He would have to go 6-6 from three and 10-10 in all to get both percentages above 50. This is not impossible for the great Kyle Korver though, as he can shoot the ball remarkably well. Kyle Korver has spoiled us all season by giving us the definition of what a dead-eye sharpshooter is.
While Kyle Korver has shot amazing all season, that has not been the only way he has helped the Hawks set their franchise record in wins and become the one seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. He has been at the top of the league in many stats such as True-Shooting % (TS%), WAR (Wins Above Replacement), Offensive RPM (ORPM), and Real Plus Minus (RPM). These stats show how Kyle has helped his team to win games and just how efficient he has been offensively all season.
True-shooting is a % that factors in three point & and free throw %, and Kyle is having his best season ever, shooting 70%. That number is 10 percentage points better than his career average of 60%! What great shooting from Threezus.
Korver also has a great WAR rating at 12.15 which is third among shooting guards in the league behind just James Harden and Khris Middleton. His WAR is also 11th in the whole league, and the best among Hawks players. WAR is a number that estimates how many team wins can be attributed to the specific player, and players with a high WAR have obviously helped their team greatly. Korver has an extremely high number here, and it shows just how valuable he is to his team.
Machine Gun Korver also has great numbers in his ORPM, and RPM. ORPM is based on a players on-court impact on their teams offensive performance based on points scored per 100 possesions. Korver is 3rd among players at the 2, and 8th in the league with a ORPM of 4.55. He also leads all of his teammates in this stat. Simply put, when Korver is on the court, his team scores better than they do when he is off. Also, he has a very high RPM. RPM is a players estimated impact to his team based on a net point differential of 100 offensive and defensive possesions. It takes into account teammates and opponents. Korver is 10th in the league with this stat and 3rd among his positions. His RPM is 5.80. This stat shows that the Hawks tend to play better when he is on the court, and they outscore their opponents when he is on the court.
These stats all show how Kyle Korver has been EXTREMELY valuable to the Hawks this year, and when he is on the court, they tend to play much better than with him off of it, and they play better than the other team. There offense gets better, and they win games with Kyle.
Another thing is that Korver is extremely deadly off the ball. He is always moving off the ball, trying to create open shots. He often can get open, and only needs a few inches of space to get a shot off, and it often goes in. Even when Korver doesn’t get the ball, his movement creates open shots. The other team will often try to play help defense on Korver, and when they double or help onto him, it leaves someone such as Al Horford or Paul Millsap open. These two big’s shots often go in as they are quite efficient in the paint and midrange. Kyle Korver helps to make assists without the ball, which is one amazing thing that only few players can do. Here’s a video that shows this perfectly:
Korver helps in transition a ton. When the Hawks get into transition, they will often look for an open Korver coming from behind or in a corner uncovered. If he ends up covered though, the ball handler, which is typically Jeff Teague or Dennis Schroder, will have an easy drive to the lane where they will either convert on an easy lay in, or they will have a 2 on 1 where they can dish to one of the other players coming into the lane who will often have an easy layup.
Here’s three highlight video’s of Korver just to watch for fun from this season. The first two are when he dunked dunked in back-to-back games; his first time dunking since 2012, and the second is when he scored 11 points in 65 seconds.
Kyle Korver has been key for the Hawks all season long, and he has helped them win a ton of games and set franchise records. Korver in some ways has been his teams MVP, but any of the players on the starting five could contend for that. Machine Gun Korver has shot the ball well. Kyle Korver has had one of the greatest shooting seasons of all time, and he will look to continue shooting the ball well. He will also play just as efficient and post great +/- numbers. Lastly, he will get good spacing off the ball for his teammates to make shots in the paint and he will also hit transition threes. If Korver is able to do all these things, his team will be successful in the playoffs, and they will win a championship. So Kyle, from me and all Atlanta fans, thank you for being so successful for us all season and keep doing it. Bring us home a championship! All hail Threezus!
