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SALT LAKE CITY — It’s not uncommon to see Kyle Korver and Quin Snyder together following Jazz practices running through a few sets. Korver runs around screens set by Jazz assistant coaches as Snyder instructs him where to come off them, where to move and where to catch the ball.
At least it looks like Snyder’s the one doing the instruction.
“He’s taught me more about how to try and use him in our dialogue,” Snyder said.
It’s easy to see Korver’s influence on the Jazz on the court. He pulls defenses to him, opening things up for just about everybody else. And the man can still flat out shoot — Korver had 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the 3-point line in Utah’s win over Denver on Thursday. But his shooting is just the beginning of Korver's impact on the Jazz organization.
In 2008, while getting tested at Peak Performance Project (P3) in Santa Barbara, Calif., Korver noticed something that made his stomach turn: When he jumped, his left knee would turn in, almost knocking his right knee. He figured that was the reason behind some of the discomfort he had been feeling and the source of some of his injuries. So in the middle of an NBA career, the jump-shooting specialist relearned how to jump.
“I have never heard of that,” Snyder said. “Just moving his knee out so his base was better. The point is, he is always trying to get better.”
Everything about Korver’s shooting stroke is scientific — he can tell you exactly why the shots he makes go in and why the ones he doesn’t don’t. And he has the same commitment to his training, to his body, to his body’s mechanics — to, well, everything.
“You see it all the time, it's like he’s 21 years old trying to improve his game,” Snyder said. “Any incremental gain he can have.”
Adding that to a roster of players that Snyder has often lauded for their desire to work hard and get better has been near seamless — even with some large age gaps.
When he was traded to the Jazz, Korver knew he was walking into a younger locker room. Before he got to Utah, the Jazz had just three players on the north side of 30 — Thabo Sefolosha, 34; Joe Ingles, 31; and Ekpe Udoh, 31.
“You try to come in and listen more than you talk at the beginning, try to get a feel for who everyone is,” Korver said. “Try to find the similarities that you have with different guys and you kind of start there.”
A majority of Korver’s teammates are more than a decade younger than he is. Korver, who will be turning 38 next month, is actually closer to Snyder’s age (52) than he is to Donovan Mitchell’s (22).
That means that when he goes home after games or practices, he’s probably doing some different things than his younger teammates. But they all have one big thing in common: basketball.
They see how Korver tirelessly works in the practice gym and how he takes care of his body. There's a reason he's still able to run around screen after screen after screen.
“To have a guy like that that doesn't have to say anything,” Snyder said. “People see him working."
Maybe Korver hasn't had to say a word to earn the respect of his teammates or to teach them. But that hasn't stopped him from sharing a little, too.
“I think being an older guy, you try to pick your spots,” Korver said. “Maybe you had something you went through in your career and your life that you can kind of share that. You try not to overdo any of those things. I don’t want that relationship with guys — you want everything to be two ways.”
And he’s picked them right with the Jazz.
Royce O'Neale and Korver have shot in the same shooting group since Korver was traded back to Utah in late November, which might help explain O'Neale's sudden 3-point prowess.
O’Neale was shooting 25 percent from 3-point range on 1.3 attempts per game in November, the month leading up to Korver’s arrival. Since Korver arrived, that number has jumped to 43 percent. And O'Neale is shooting more, too, averaging 3.1 attempts per game in February.
So what has Korver taught him?
“That's a secret,” O’Neale said. “I can’t tell y’all that.”
He did expound a little by saying Korver has shown where to place the ball and where to look when shooting, but mostly he’s just helped his confidence.
“You try to cheer people on, you start there,” Korver said. “You just try to be a fan of your teammates, help when you can.”
O’Neale and Korver will often have shooting contests against each other post-practice — with O’Neale winning more than few. That’s something that Korver’s former teammate Lou Williams can’t say — because he never tried to go against him.
“I can't shoot with Kyle,” Williams said. “I won’t even pretend like I can.”
Not many players in history can — but that didn’t stop Korver from having a positive impact on Williams.
“He’s a consummate pro, great teammate, great locker room guy,” said Williams who played with Korver in both Philadelphia and Atlanta. “He’s just a good person. He is always going to show up. He is always going to have a positive attitude and be a good leader for the young guys.”
And he’s done that with the young Jazz roster, mainly just by being who he has always been.
“I think he’s made everybody a little better,” Snyder said. “That’s hard to do across a spectrum — from the coaching staff to the players. He truly is a student of the game.”
Snyder added, almost as an afterthought, “He’s obviously added a lot to us on the court, too.”
