Philadelphia 76ers: Point guard Furkan Korkmaz isn’t a new development
The Philadelphia 76ers are 1-0 in the Tyrese Maxey-era.
Now granted, that era has lasted precisely one day and may come to a screeching pause if Ben Simmons suits up for the home opener on Friday, but at the moment, the Sixers are coming off of a 20 point win, the team got two made 3s from their point guard, and can’t nobody tell a fanbase on Could 9 nothing.
Indeed this was the sort of game Philly needed to at least internally push forward as a (near) unified unit. They got points from all over the roster sans notable goose eggs from Danny Green and Isaiah Joe and even got some surprise production out of Maxey, Georges Niang, and Andre Drummond.
But quite possibly the most entertaining development of the game was Furkan Korkmaz‘s seemingly overnight transformation from a pure shooting wing to a deceptively effective backup point guard.
Did Point Korkmaz catch you by surprise? Well, it really shouldn’t have, as he’s been playing the position on the Turkish National Team for some time now.
Point guard Furkan Korkmaz may not be a passing trend for the Philadelphia 76ers.
As recently as last season, if Furkan Korkmaz got a bit too dribble-y, you knew the Philadelphia 76ers were in for some trouble.
While Korkmaz has never been a turnover machine per se, as he’s never averaged more than a turnover per game over an entire NBA season, the more dribbles he took, the worse his shooting percentage became on average.
Don’t believe me? Well, check his field goal percentage versus dribbles here.
To disqualify “Turkish Air” even further from an on-ball role, Korkmaz had never recorded a single double-digit assist game at the NBA level and has only surpassed five in a game on three occasions over 211 total contests with the Sixers.
Factor in a pedestrian passing package and a statistically middling midrange game, and the idea of Korkmaz being anything more than a rotational shooter felt father unrealistic… until it happened.
That’s right, with only one point guard on the active roster thanks to Ben Simmons’ suspension and both Shake Milton and Grant Riller appearing on the injury report, Doc Rivers re-incorporated one of the wrinkles he deployed in the preseason by giving Korkmaz the ball as the team’s lead guard.
The results? Well, they were pretty, pretty, pretty, good.
Despite only playing 20 minutes of action, good for the sixth-highest mark on the team, Korkmaz burst onto the scene with 22 points, a steal, and, most crucially of all, five assists while knocking down all four of his shots from both the line and beyond the arc. Korkmaz set up opposing guards at the top of the key, kept opposing defenders guessing, and willingly drove to the basket with an eye for open looks.
Korkmaz drained dagger 3s like he was Seth Curry, drove to the basket with purpose like Tyrese Maxey, and tried to throw down posterizing dunks like a certain former member of the Chicago Bulls once the game became well out of hand. Really, the only thing he didn’t do was don his signature Darth Vadar mask but had Rivers not pulled him in the final minutes of the game, it would have been surprised if that made an appearance, too; that’s just how confident Korkmaz was for 12ish minutes in the second half.
Surprising? Yes… unless you’re a fan of the Turkish National Team, then it should look pretty routine.
That’s right, Korkmaz has been playing for Turkey’s national team in some capacity since 2013 and really turned in some quality ball for the club as they attempted to make Olympic waves right after being bumped from the playoffs in Round 2. While Korkmaz’s team wasn’t without other NBA talent, as both Ersan Ilyasova and Cedi Osman are also members of the team, the Sixers winger was primarily tasked with running the point, where he turned in plays like this for Orhun Ene’s squad as the team’s primary offensive engine.
Between you and me, I don’t think Point Korkmaz is here to stay or something the team can rely on long-term, but if Rivers can get some secondary playmaking out of his 6-foot-7, 202-pound guard/forward, it’ll go a long way to making the 2021-22 iteration of the Sixers a whole lot more offensively dynamic.
dark. Next. Did Ben Simmons affect Collin Sexton extension talks?
Make no mistake about it; the Philadelphia 76ers should unquestionably still look to add another point guard at some point in the not-too-distant future, as their offense at times looked a bit more labored than you’d like to see. Adding a player with hundreds of games of experience setting up other players could be vital for the development of Tyrese Maxey and help Joel Embiid to get the ball a whole lot closer to the basket than was customary on Opening Night. But even if that’s the best course of action to remain competitive in the East, the development of Furkan Korkmaz as a complete offensive weapon is still a welcome development in a pivotal, transitional season.