NBA trade season begins in earnest
author: jhett folk | contributor
Not known for his defense, but still deadly/Keith Allison via Flickr
Korver the first domino to fall as trade season begins
Apparently winning the series against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals wasn’t enough for the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron and company wanted to add one more piece to go after back-to-back championships. As you most likely have heard, fellow basketball fans, the Cavs have gone out of their way to pick sharp-shooting, three-point connoisseur Kyle Korver from the Atlanta Hawks. The former funeral home worker is looking to give the Cavaliers a slightly new dynamic in the deep ball game. Three-point shooting has become an extremely important and efficient manner of winning basketball games in the 21st century, and Kyle Korver is one of the most successful three-point shooters in NBA history.
It was clear that the Cavaliers were trying to address this very specific hole in their play, as their leader of three pointers made per game is big, 6-10 power forward Kevin Love, before bringing in Korver. A little unconventional in the sense that guards tend to lead this category for their respective teams. Though not a knock on Love, Korver has been far more capable as a three-point shooter in his career. Not only has Korver averaged more three-pointers made per game in his career (2.0 compared to 1.5), but his field goals made percentage from downtown is a whopping 42.9 per cent compared to Love’s respectable 36.6 per cent. There is a reason this guy is known as ‘Threezus.’
Golden State, known rivals of the Cavs, is absolutely proficient in three point shooting. Having two of the eventual greatest three point shooters of all time in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson surely helps their cause in this sense. If the Warriors were to have one weapon in their arsenal that could sink Cleveland’s hopes of a repeat championship, it is likely their three-point shooting abilities. In adding Kyle Korver to the roster, the Cavaliers look to potentially match the Warriors shot for shot rather than having to play elite defence to prevent any type of mass scoring out of G-State. If this were to be the case, it could lead to one of the most epic one-on-one showdowns in NBA Finals history between Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Picture it: Korver and Kyrie Irving going deep ball for deep ball with Curry and Thompson, role players like Tristan Thompson and Draymond Green doing their parts, and both teams looking to their former MVPs, elite forwards to close each game of the series out. May the better scorer win is essentially the concept here. If Korver can be the integral part of the Cavs offence that has been missing, these two squads may produce an even better finals than last year’s spectacle. To say Korver is the difference between the Cavs repeating or not, is a bit of a stretch but, it certainly is a nice response acquisition to the Warriors signing of Durant. Warriors in 7.
