How Kyle Korver’s been helping Kessler Edwards complete his game

The Nets second round pick in the 2003 Draft is finally showing some promise!

As Brian Lewis writes Saturday, Kessler Edwards’ emergence as a 3-and-D candidate is due in part to coaching he’s gotten from Kyle Korver who the Nets drafted then famously sold to Philadelphia for $125,000. As legend tells us, some of the money was used on a fax machine (to be clear, it also collated.) Korver went on to be the NBA’s best 3-point shooter, leading the league four times in percentage and once in threes made.

It was Korver, Edwards tells Lewis, who helped him sort out some kinks in his form, one reason he fell till the 44th pick last July.

“Just making my shot more smooth, taking out a lot of the unnecessary movements – I used to do a whole lot of stuff, even just like with my face,” Edwards said describing how Korver has helped. “[The coaching is] telling me to stay relaxed when I shoot so I could be smooth.”

Edwards, who’s shooting 39 percent from deep for the season, had a form scouts saw as herky-jerky but the Nets saw something else, his confidence in taking threes.

“I know there was a lot of doubt with me coming in with my shot,” Edwards said. “I thought I’d be good with the shot I had. But once they changed [it], once I started hearing different things, I saw that it was working, so I just stuck with it.”

“To be honest, he’s improved his motion by 50 percent,” Steve Nash told Lewis. “He’s really done a great job of making his motion much more streamlined and efficient. He’s shot the ball very well.”

Edwards is not the only one who’s apparently benefited from Korver’s work. Nic Claxton is shooting above 63 percent from the line this month, a big improvement from last year when he didn’t make half his free throws. Day’Ron Sharpe who shot 50 percent from the line at North Carolina is shooting 91.7 percent (!) in June.

All that improvement of course is a big confidence-builder across other aspects of the game. After all, putting the ball in the hoop is the whole point of the game. Edwards says he believed that he’d get a shot this year, but has been surprised by how quickly the opportunity came. He believed he could do it.

“I thought it was going to be later in the season – definitely didn’t think I’d be starting, doing all this at this time,” said Edwards, who has started the past nine games. “But I knew with my skill set and how I play that I’d be able to find a way to contribute. … I’m finally starting to get into a rhythm.”

• Inside Nets draft steal Kessler Edwards’ emergence and shot-doctor sessions with Kyle Korver - Brian Lewis - New York Post Sports+
• Rookie Kessler Edwards has emerged as the Nets’ 3-and-D wing - Kristian Winfield - New York Daily News