Know Thy Self - A Look at Kyle Korver

We've been running a series of articles getting to know our competition in the Eastern Conference for the upcoming season called Know Thy Enemy. While those are continuing, I realize that some of you only want to read about the Hawks. Furthermore, can you Know Thy Enemy if you don't Know Thy Self? Well the Hawks roster has changed quite a bit, so leading up to training camp you may want to get to know the Hawks a little bit better. Let me say that these aren't from interviews and the information presented is cobbled together from the Internet sources. Some of what is presented would be considered trivial and some will hopefully be informational. I hope you enjoy it and feel you know your Hawks team a bit better in the end. We're going by eldest first, so let's get to know Kyle Korver.

Twitter: @KyleKorver

Nickname: K2

Born: 3/7/1981 in Lakewood, CA. Grew up in Pella, IA

Lakewood is next to Long Beach, southeast of Compton which really blows the stereotypes. One bit of Lakewood trivia is that the first Denny's was opened in Lakewood in 1953. Normally I would focus on birth city, but the Korvers really call Pella, Iowa home. Pella is known primarily for Pella Windows (and doors), but is also very proud of their tulip production. Pella is not without famous citizens. Wyatt Earp spent most of his childhood in Pella. Musically, Dave Keuning, the guitarist for the Killers, is from Pella.

College: Creighton Blue Jays

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Creighton is probably best basketball school in Nebraska (sorry Cornhuskers). Kyle led the Blue Jays to 4 straight NCAA tourney bids from 2000-2003. Several famous basketball players and coaches came from Creighton like Bill Fitch and Paul Silas, but I consider the most famous athlete from Creighton to be Bob Gibson, the Hall of Fame pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Personal Notes: Kyle is avid golfer and strangely also enjoys frisbee golf. He's married to the singer Juliet (Richardson). K names are a theme with the Korvers as indicated by his siblings Kirk, Kaleb, and Klayton. Kyle's mother, Laine, once scored 74 points in a high school basketball game. I read that Kyle doesn't like the Ashton Kutcher comparisons. In 2010, Kyle set an NBA record for highest 3 point percentage at 53.6%.

ESPN Top 500 rank: 186 just behind Gerald Henderson (184) and Vince Carter (185), but just ahead of Rip Hamilton (187) and Kirk Hinrich (188)

Wingspan: 81.5”

basketball-reference.com sponsorship price: $75 - think of this as a Q-rating for basketball. Better known players have higher rates because in theory their stat page will get visited more often.

Horoscope: As a Pisces I found this free sports horoscope for the year: Physical problem may restrict exhibition of optimum performance in the latter part of the year; however will not be too serious to be worried. The year may overall become very strenuous but possibility of additional income from some secret ways may not be ruled out (long playoff run or 3 point contest?)

Chinese Zodiac: Born in the year of the rooster. Roosters are deep thinkers and always conscious about attaining their objectives. They are complementary to each other in intellect and habits.

Outlook for this year: Rooster people will get rid of the bad luck in the past rabbit year and gradually be on the approach of good omen in this dragon year. After the change of luck, roosters will have many good things happening.

Workplace Compatibility:
Work best with tigers (Lou Williams, Al Horford) and dragons (Jeff Teague, Mike Scott)
Not so good with ox (Josh Smith, Anthony Morrow, Johan Petro), snakes (James Anderson), and rabbits (Damion James)

Stats: This block is a combination of data from basketball-reference.com and 82games.com to give an idea of the playing style and effectiveness of a player.

Quick Analysis: Jump shooter, excellent from long distance. Offensive rating shows strong production per 100 possessions. Defensive rating is a reflection of playing for a team with good team defense. Doesn't get to the line much and is a decent ball handler. The rankings are out of 478 players listed on basket-reference.com for last season with no qualifying minimums to provide some context for the numbers.

Hopefully, you feel you know a little more about Kyle Korver than before. Let me know what you think of the series in your comments.