Most of us will never understand how difficult it is to get traded from one team, one city, one group of teammates to another almost overnight.
The easy response is to say, “That’s why pro athletes get paid the big bucks.”
Yes, that’s true. They get paid handsomely. But once you get past that, think about it on a personal level. Getting a call from your boss telling you to pack your things, sell your house, pull your kids out of school and – by tomorrow or the day after – hit the ground running at your highly-competitive new job halfway across the country.
Kyle Korver has been dealt – three times to be exact, including his arrival in Cleveland in a deal that sent Mike Dunleavy, Mo Williams and a protected 2019 first rounder to the Hawks on January 7.
It’s not surprising that Korver has routinely been acquired by top-level teams looking to put themselves over the top. He is definitely a man with a very particular set of skills; a set of skills he’s acquired over a very long career.
For any player who’s made the midseason move, it’s rarely a quick transition. And that was certainly the case for Korver – who joined the Wine and Gold in Salt Lake City in the midst of their longest roadie of the season – and went 2-for-10 from the floor, and 0-for-5 from deep, over his first two outings.
But by his third game with Cleveland, the 13-year veteran found his range, going 7-for-10 from the floor, 4-of-6 from long-range in a win over the Kings in Sacramento. And he’s been true to form ever since – shooting .463 from the floor and .464 from beyond the arc in the subsequent 12 games.
The Cavs didn’t worry after those first two games. They know exactly what the former Creighton standout could do, especially after facing him and his Hawks in their previous two postseason runs.
Does facing Cleveland in those high stakes contests give him a different perspective now that he’s a Cavalier?
“I guess I have played against these guy a lot,” said Korver. “I’ve seen the level that they’re able to go to and how they execute. And I definitely have a feel about them, how they play. I know what’s hard to guard and what they’re looking to do. So it does help, for sure. But I haven’t really given it much thought.”
When J.R. Smith went down in late December, the Cavaliers were determined to remain in the Eastern Conference’s top perch. So David Griffin, as he’s done throughout his tenure as GM, made the move to acquire one of the greatest three-point threats in league history.
The Lakewood, California native has canned 1,984 triples over the course of his career – good for 8th on the NBA’s all-time list, 5th among active players. His .429 percentage from long-range is also 8th on the league’s all-time list, 3rd-best among active players.
He’s hit at least 100 three-pointers 11 times over his career and he’ll make it seven straight seasons when he hits his third bomb over the next few days.
When he arrived, LeBron James described Korver as joining five of his teammates – (including Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Channing Frye and James Jones) – to have the “ultra-green light.”
The King’s advice to Korver upon his arrival: “The first thing I told him when he walked into the locker room the other day is: If you want to fit in, shoot the ball every time you get it. Shoot the ball as soon as it touches your hands.”
Korver can’t help but smile when he thinks about that much leeway.
”I try to balance that,” he said. “I’ve never played the jack-it-up kinda game; that’s just not who I am. But they do want me to be aggressive and I try to shoot the open shot. I don’t think I’ve passed up too many open looks. I’m trying to fill the role they want me to. They want me to be aggressive, they want me to put ‘em up.
”Obviously LeBron, Kyrie – they command so much attention that there are a lot of catch-and-shoot opportunities. But yeah, they told me if you get the ball and there’s not somebody in your jersey, put it up.”
After some initial hesitation and some time to work himself into flow of the offense, the lithe marksman has looked completely comfortable in his role – netting double-figures in a season-high-tying three straight games, averaging 14.7 points on 50 percent three-point shooting over that span.
Overall, he’s averaged 10.5 ppg off the bench in his last dozen outings with Cleveland.
An Eastern Conference All-Star in 2015, Korver still holds the NBA record for three-point accuracy in a single season – shooting .536 from long-range with the Jazz back in 2009-10.
Three seasons before that, he led the NBA in free throw percentage, going .914 from the stripe with Sixers in 2006-07. He’s a career .879 shooter, including an .882 mark this season.
But he’s done more than just help himself from the line. He’s worked with his new teammates, specifically Tristan Thompson, who was struggling mightily from the line before Korver gave him a tip or two.
”I (gave Tristan) just a couple simple, fundamental things,” explained the veteran shooter. “I’m sure he’s heard it a bunch of times, but sometimes when it comes from a teammate it comes across a little differently. I was trying to get him to get under the ball a little more, get the ball up in the air a little more. Try to get him some thoughts of little, kind of, tricks of what might make sense in his head. But he’s still going out there and shooting them.
”I love stuff like that. I love thinking about mechanics and having your mind agree with the mechanics. Sometimes you can shoot it correctly, but your mind doesn’t think that it’s right. So it’s like how do you get your mind to trust that that’s the right way to shoot it. It’s a bunch of little things that have worked for me over the years and I just try to share some of those.”
It’s been working. After a rough stretch that saw the Cavs’ starting center go 2-for-12 over a three-game span, he’s gone 11-for-14 since.
Even as he’s gotten more comfortable with his new teammates, it’s still odd to have such an embarrassment of riches when it comes to shooters spreading the floor – and one of the game’s greatest passers locating them accurately.
“I’ve played with a couple good shooters, but I’ve never been on a team where there’s been three, four, five, six good shooters. And I’ve always thought that nothing gets you open more than being surrounded by good shooters. That’s just more guys that they don’t want to rotate off of that command attention.”
And with that many shooters and drive-and-kick guys, he’s found himself more open than he’s ever been. Of course, even that has been an adjustment.
”It’s just a different mindset – just knowing that for a long time that a lot of my shots were being contested,” said the 2015 Sportsmanship Award Winner. “In Atlanta, we ran a motion offense so, obviously, I was on the move a lot. And here, sometimes I’m standing alone in the corner and I’m thinking: ‘Man, is this all I’m supposed to do?!’ Like, ‘I’m gonna get this good shot if I don’t move?’”
Fourteen games in, Korver has started settling in with the Wine and Gold. And his family is starting to settle in to Cleveland after a whirlwind time around the trade.
“I’m fortunate that my wife has been a champ in all this – she’s been amazing,” explained the 36-year-old shooting star. “Because I was the one on the long road trip when I got traded. My parents came and watched the two older kids in Atlanta. She went to Cleveland with the baby, kinda figuring out what life’s gonna look like. She actually beat me there to Cleveland.
”It’s definitely a transition for the family. I have little kids and in some ways that’s good, in some ways that’s bad. You don’t have to pull them out of school or anything like that and that’s nice. But also the kids need a lot of care and there’s a lot of things to figure out. So, it’s been good and I’m feeling more and more comfortable by the week. And I’m really excited for what’s about to come.”