“Korver Screen”
Term: Korver Screen
Definition: a pin-down or pin-in screen set by a player who was expected to receive a screen.
How It Works: In the diagram above, 4 comes to the corner to set a pin-down screen for 2, an elite shooter (think Kyle Korver). But then 2 screens for 4 to pop out to the 3-point line.
See Also: Cyclone, rip DHO, Spanoulis
Origin of the Name: The Korver screen was popularized by Kyle Korver, who used the move with the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. A teammate would come over to Korver as if to set a screen for him, but then Korver would turn into the screener.
“We call it the ‘Korver Screen’ when he screens the big and Kevin (Love) pops back, getting out,” Tyronn Lue, the head coach of the Cavaliers, said in 2018. “They switch, Kevin has smaller guys on him. So that played a factor in his shooting ability.”
Why It Works: A theme of a number of these posts, from rip DHO to Cyclone, is that good shooters make excellent screeners. The high level of attention shooters like Kyle Korver, Klay Thompson, and Duncan Robinson attract from their defenders leave those defenders unwilling or unable to provide help defense on a screen. The Houston Rockets, for example, used James Harden to set ballscreens for Jeff Green during the 2019–20 NBA Playoffs when Harden was face-guarded off the ball.
But like a Cyclone — which is a backscreen set by someone who is expected to receive a down screen—Korver screens also have the element of surprise. Every screen Kyle Korver sets is not necessarily a Korver screen. The ballscreens Harden set for Green were not Korvers, for example. The screen that precedes the DHO in a Spanoulis action is also not a Korver.
Specifically, Korvers are pin-downs (or pin-ins) instead of backscreens; the cutter who uses the Korver screen pops out toward the 3pt line. And Korvers begin with a fake screen: The would-be screener becomes the cutter.
Korvers often involve a guard and a stretch big, creating a size mismatch if the defense switches the screen. In this next clip, Kelly Olynyk, a 6–10 big who makes 37% of his 3s, begins to set a screen for Duncan Robinson. But Robinson is top-locked, so Robinson sets a Korver screen for Olynyk to pop out for a 3:
Korvers can be designed plays or an in-play read to counter the defense’s pressure. Here, Olynyk prepares to set a pin-down for Robinson:
But then Robinson pins in Olynyk’s defender instead:
More Examples:
