Kyle Korver And Aging Gracefully

Despite last season’s bump in the road, Kyle Korver has aged gracefully as an NBA player. If Korver is healthy he is poised for a bounce back season.

Before he was getting DUIs and making movies about Jesus, Mel Gibson starred in a series of action movies called Lethal Weapon. The series spawned two very good movies, two unnecessary movies, and an even more unnecessary television series, but that’s not the point.

The movies focused on the trials and tribulations of two police officers in the Los Angeles Police Department. Gibson’s costar in the movie was beloved character actor Danny Glover. Gibson played the angry renegade Martin Riggs, while Glover played the straight-laced Roger Murtaugh.

Murtaugh became famous for one catchphrase in particular. Whenever he and Riggs were about to engage in some sort of shenanigans or dangerous police work, Murtaugh would exhaustedly mutter, “I’m too old for this s***”.

Most human beings can relate to Murtaugh’s sentiment. As we age the things we once did with ease become a bit more challenging. We start to wonder if those activities have become more trouble than they’re worth.

It doesn’t matter if it’s playing pick-up basketball, throwing back a few beers with the guys or wrestling with your brother in the backyard during family reunions.

All types of ridiculous or not so ridiculous physical activities apply. At some point you have to ask yourself; why the hell am I still doing this?

If mere mortals like me can feel like they’re too old for certain things, just think about how professional athletes feel when they begin to age out of the game they’ve played their entire lives.

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The jumper that was once so pure becomes less consistent. The quickness that once helped them create space to get off a shot starts to dissipate. When playing defense, their feet suddenly feel as if they’re sinking in quicksand as younger, faster players blow by them to the basket.

Time and age eventually conquer even the best athletes. None are immune. In the last two years all-time greats like Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash have felt the cruel blade of the basketball executioner.

Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Kyle Korver hopes that last season was an aberration and that, despite his increasing basketball age, he can stave off the aforementioned executioner as long as possible.

In 2014-15, his age 33 season, Korver had the best season of his career. In doing so he proved himself to be the best three-point shooter in the world not named Stephen Curry.

Korver shot a sizzling 49.2 from three-point range, made 221 total three-pointers and he even made the All-Star team. His floor-stretching prowess was a huge factor in Atlanta’s 60-win season.

In the playoffs something happened that would end his magical season and perhaps slow him down heading into 2015-16. In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals Korver got tangled awkwardly with Cleveland’s Matthew Dellavedova while going after a loose ball.

Korver suffered a high ankle sprain, which would end his season.

During the offseason, he would have surgery on that gimpy right ankle; later in the offseason, he would undergo surgery on his right elbow to remove “loose bodies.” Two surgeries in one offseason would be a bad sign for any athlete, let alone one with 12 NBA seasons under his belt.

Korver struggled last season, failing to conjure up the same magic he had the previous season. He averaged only 9.2 points per game and shot 39.8 percent from outside. His total field goal percentage sunk to 43.5 percent from 48.7 percent and he looked to be step slower on defense.

He went from one of the best shooters in the world to just another guy.

It wasn’t just Korver who struggled offensively for Atlanta last season. The ball moving, three-point launching juggernaut of the previous season had regressed into the 22nd-ranked offense in the NBA (105.1 points per 100 possessions).

Atlanta still made the playoffs, but they went from 60-win Finals contender to 48-win run of mill Eastern Conference playoff team.

By his usual standards Korver had a bad year, but he still had an above average season in terms of three-point shooting. He made nearly 40 percent of his three-point attempts and approached double figures in scoring despite having a very limited offensive game inside the arc.

It wasn’t pretty, but it’s not like he was Sasha Vujacic out there.

Looking back, it should have been obvious that Korver was going to struggle last season. The injuries were just too overwhelming.

He still played in 80 of 82 games and contributed to yet another playoff team in Atlanta. He could have sat games out or made excuses, but all Korver did was show up to work and give his best effort.

As Ted Mosby so accurately pointed out in the cult classic television series How I Met Your Mother, any time Roger Murtaugh lamented that he was too old for something he proceeded to do the exact thing he was lamenting.

As he enters this season, at the ancient basketball age of 35, Korver will continue to do just what Murtaugh did before.

We have to remember that it’s tough predict Korver’s decline on a traditional aging curve. Until last season Korver was still improving as a player. Shooting is a skill that tends to age well and Korver had the best season of his career at 33.

I’d be willing to bet that last season’s decline was more a product of injuries than aging.

If Korver returns to the court completely healthy next season I see no reason why he won’t bounce back. He’s nearly a 43 percent three-pointer shooter for his career, as long as he approaches that mark he remains a threat in a league that values outside shooting more than almost anything.

This will be a season of change in Atlanta. Al Horford is in Boston. Jeff Teague is in Indiana. This Hawks team will feature Dennis Schroder starting at point guard and newly signed Dwight Howard starting at center.

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Korver figures to fit in perfectly around a Schroder/Howard pick and roll. Howard was at his best when he played in Orlando, during that time Stan Van Gundy used him as a rim running monster that would wreak havoc in pick and roll sets.

The key to Howard’s effectiveness was his insane athleticism, but also being surrounded by deadly three-point shooters.

Atlanta has capable, if not outstanding, shooters in the starting lineup with Schroder, Kent Bazemore, and Paul Millsap but none can match Korver. If winning is going to be a part of this new era of Hawks basketball Korver is going to have to knock down shots.

There are more questions than answers for the Hawks this season and Korver remains one of them. 2016-17 is the final season on his current contract and it seems possible that this will be his final season with Atlanta.

With NBA franchises handing out cash like it’s monopoly money a good season could mean one last big deal for Korver.

More Hoops Habit: Atlanta Hawks: 2016 Offseason Grades

Will this season be the beginning of another late career renaissance from the three-point shooting assassin or will this mark the beginning of the end for one of the best shooters of the last 20 years?

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