It's just that sometimes you get the feeling Jerry Sloan would prefer to have a cardboard cutout of Korver stationed on the wing, rather than the real thing.

This pairing of a natural shooter and a conservative coach is still something of an uneasy alliance, as Korver joins in his first Jazz training camp this week.

"I don't have any rules," Sloan was saying before Tuesday morning's opening session at Taco Bell Arena on the Boise State campus. "I think guys pretty much understand what's a good shot."

In other words, there are rules, if not absolute commandments. Korver says he never was told not to shoot at any time since joining the Jazz in late December, but there certainly were some nonverbal cues. Already splitting time with guard Ronnie Brewer, Korver spent more time on the bench late in the season, and the biggest variable seemingly was the very thing the EnergySolutions Arena crowd loves most about his game: the three-pointer in transition.

That's where this gets interesting, because anyone who has followed Sloan's teams for 20 years knows that everything he appreciates about basketball is inversely proportional to entertainment value. So here we have a coach who was known much more for his defense than his shooting as an NBA player and a shooter who would never be described as difficult to coach, yet thrives on launching threes on the break.

"I used to shoot a lot of 'em - like, a lot-a lot of 'em," Korver said, remembering his early pro days in Philadelphia. "That was one place where I really held back last year, which Coach Sloan's probably happy about."

Korver laughed when he said that, more embarrassedly than mischievously. But he's also promising to be himself this season.

"I'm excited . . . not that I'm coming down and trying to jack threes on the break all the time, but that's also part of what I do. I want to do a little more of that this year."

Oh, boy. This could be fun - or not.

Contrary to the impression he creates at times, Sloan does realize that three is more than two. He values center Mehmet Okur's long-range shooting ability in a half-court set and last season authorized the Jazz's most three-point attempts in franchise history, at a rate that increased after Korver's arrival via a trade.

"The way [Korver] plays, you've got to release the restrictions a little bit," said longtime assistant coach Phil Johnson. "He's kind of got the green light."

Kind of.

Sloan still struggles with threes taken while potential offensive rebounders are trailing the play, and for that, we can all blame some unnamed Chicago Bulls of the early 1970s.

"I played with a couple guys who shot whenever they got the ball, and it's very frustrating," Sloan said. "It's just something that's always been in my head: 'At least, give me a chance to try to rebound. That's where I make my living.' "

So he's looking out for the big guys who are "caught in the middle of the world" if Korver misses a three in transition and the other team is suddenly running back down the floor.

Which ultimately brings us back to the Sloan rule for threes: Take 'em, just make 'em. Korver is on board with that. While the Jazz's offensive moment - as opposed to the 76ers' spot-up, kick-out style - enabled him to shoot far better than ever from two-point range (.575) after coming to Utah, his three-point percentage (.388) was a career low. The discrepancy was even bigger in the playoffs, and he's promising better results from long range.

"I was brought here to shoot, and I didn't shoot that well," Korver said. "That's something I'm going to fix."

Presumably with more shooting, not less.

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* KURT KRAGTHORPE can be reached at kkragthorpe@sltrib.com. To write a letter about this or any sports topic, send an e-mail to sportseditor@sltrib.com.