The Pros and Cons to a Sixers Reunion with Kyle Korver
The Philadelphia 76ers still have a couple of spots open on their roster. As is stands now, their starting lineup will almost definitely be Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Al Horford and Joel Embiid. The bench includes Raul Neto, Shake Milton, Zhaire Smith, Matisse Thybulle, Kyle O’Quinn, James Ennis III and Mike Scott.
One of the more glaring weaknesses for the Sixers on paper is their shooting depth. After losing JJ Redick, the team will take a significant hit when it comes to their three-point game and they really do not have reliable three-point threat off the bench.
Korver Reunion?
One name that has been top of mind in Philadelphia over the past few days is Kyle Korver. The veteran sharpshooter was dealt to Phoenix shortly after being acquired by the Grizzlies over the last week. The Suns have officially waived Korver and he will become an unrestricted free agent when he clears waivers on Wednesday evening. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there are three teams considered as frontrunners to sign Korver. Philadelphia is one of them.
Suns are planning to buyout the partially guaranteed contract of Kyle Korver, league sources tell ESPN. Lakers, Sixers and Bucks are frontrunners to sign Korver once he clears waivers, sources said.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 3, 2019
Korver, 38, has been known for his three-point shooting during the entirety of his 16 seasons in the NBA. He spent the first four years of his career in Philadelphia. He put on a show during his rookie year at the All-Star Game Three-Point Contest and has put up a 42.9 percent career mark from beyond.
The Sixers don’t have any cap space left, but can sign Korver to the veteran minimum. Adding him to the bench would be helpful for the team’s shooting depth, but defensively he is a liability. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of a Korver reunion with the Sixers. We will not discuss his looks at length in this piece, because we all know that is a pro.
Pro – Shooting
This is the obvious one. Even at 38 years old, Korver can knock down three’s on a regular basis. The Sixers bench could use that. Raul Neto has a 37.7 percent career percentage from three-point land but has struggled to stay healthy. Neto shot just 33.3 percent from beyond last season. James Ennis showed flashes of being able to hit triples. He struggled in his time with the Sixers, though. Ennis shot 30.6 percent in 18 regular season games and 28.1 percent in the playoffs.
Mike Scott is the only guy off the bench right now with a lot of success from downtown recently. Over the last two seasons, Scott has a 40.2 percent mark from beyond the arc. He was also teammates with Korver in Atlanta. Zhaire Smith, Shake Milton and Matisse Thybulle don’t have enough experience for us to know whether or not they will develop a respectable long-range shot yet.
Kyle had a down year from three and it was still just below 40 percent. He has shot above 43 percent in six of the last eight seasons and is a career 87.8 percent shooter from the free throw line.
Con – Defense
Korver can still knock down long-range shots at 38 years old, but more times than not he is a defensive liability. Marco Belinelli got played off the court during the 2018-19 playoffs because of his defense. That would likely be a similar situation for Korver. Defensive Rating estimates how many points a player allowed per 100 possessions he individually faced while on the court. Korver’s defensive rating over the past three playoffs have been 115, 113 and 115. Belinelli was a 110 in 10 playoff games for the Sixers. Not a great comparison for Korver.
Korver’s defense started to go downhill during the 2016-17 season. He went from defensive ratings of 108, 106 and 105 from 2012 through the 2015-16 season to 111, 114 and 111 the next three years. His defensive box plus/minus numbers are between -1.5 and -2 over the past few seasons. The only silver lining for Korver’s defensive issues over the past few years is that the Sixers have a team built on a foundation of defense. They have young guys off the bench that defend well already. Tobias Harris, an average defender, is their worst one in the starting lineup.
Korver’s defensive inefficiency could be masked, but there’s not doubting it could become an issue come playoff time.
Pro – Veteran Leadership
There is another trend the Sixers have been following during free agency other than just adding big men to the roster. They have been adding professionals. Both Tobias Harris and Al Horford are two phenomenal locker room guys for the young players on the Sixers. Korver would just add to that. Philadelphia has young talent in Zhaire Smith, Matisse Thybulle and Shake Milton that could only benefit from Korver’s presence.
Korver was nominated by the Utah Jazz in 2019 for NBA’s Teammate of the Year Award.
“As soon as he came here, I started bombarding him with questions,” said Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell. “He’s a great teammate, great guy, great guy off the floor. It’s really cool to have a guy in his 16th year who is so down to earth and so willing to give that advice.
Kyle was traded to the Jazz in the middle of the season, but had no issues fitting in and setting an example.
“Coming into a team during the middle of the year, he’s been able to do a lot of things, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes more vocally. … He’s not thinking about it. It’s just how he conducts himself,” said Jazz head coach Quin Snyder.
Rodney Hood’s father commended Korver at the start of the 2018-19 season for his professionalism. Cleveland was 0-6 to start the year and there was a lot of uncertainty among the players of who might get traded. Korver’s experience and level-headedness in these situations make him a strong person for young players to learn from as their careers develop.
Con – Player Development
Brett Brown has used the dribble hand-off with JJ Redick during his time in Philadelphia. If Korver joins the Sixers, we could see more of that. The DHO was always a dangerous weapon for the Sixers, but it sometimes made their offense one-dimensional. You could argue that Korver has a very similar skillset to Redick and that success could end up with Kyle getting more minutes than the young guys on the roster.
This is really a hypothetical situation. At 38 years old, Korver would not be starting. He has averaged around 20 minutes per game over the last two seasons between the Cavaliers and Jazz. It would likely have to be less if he joined the Sixers.
In a recent story for The Athletic, Rich Hoffman took a stab at what the Sixers rotations could look like.
The backup point guard will be either Raul Neto or Shake Milton. The backup wing could potentially be Korver, Zhaire Smith or Matisse Thybulle. The two young guys in this scenario need to get playing time. They have shown flashes of real potential in Summer League and will have an opportunity at minutes this season. At the same time, we haven’t seen enough of them to know whether or not they will become shot creators. Right now, they aren’t. Korver, like Redick, not only creates shots due to his range, but the sheer movement opens up other options on offense too.
In Conclusion
Adding a player like Kyle Korver to your team will only help the shooting depth. He is familiar with the organization as well. He started his career in Philadelphia and played in Atlanta with Elton Brand, Mike Scott, and Al Horford.
Is adding him worth it though at the expense of Zhaire or Thybulle getting less of an opportunity? Is Korver’s defensive ability worth the risk? Only time will tell if he joins the Sixers, but if it only costs the vet minimum to add him, the pros may slightly outweigh the cons for a team with championship aspirations.
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