Why the Philadelphia 76ers Should Draft Furkan Korkmaz

Why the Philadelphia 76ers should try to trade into the middle of the first round to draft Furkan Korkmaz.

With the 2016 NBA Lottery only days away and the Philadelphia 76ers’ top pick, or picks if the are lucky enough to get the Los Angeles Lakers pick this season, it’s easy to over look the potential the 24th and 26th picks can bring the team. I already suggested in a previous article that the Sixers should try trade both late first rounder picks they received from the Maimi Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder to move up in the draft to take Denzel Valentine. While I still believe the Sixers should attempt a version of this trade on draft day, I now believe Furkan Korkmaz would be a much better choice than Valentine.

Above is a highlight video showcasing Korkmaz’s elite shooting ability, good athleticism, and a few clips from a dunk contest he won. The reason I started this paragraph with a highlight video instead of his statistics, is that there isn’t much to go on. Korkmaz played two seasons of BSL and Euroleague basketball for Anadolu Efes, but has received limited playing time in both seasons. Korkmaz played about 12 minutes per game during the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons. Looking at his stats, his ability to maintain an over 40 percent 3 point shooting percentage in 91 games helps enforce the idea that Korkmaz can be a great shooter.

Korkmaz is 18 years old, plays shooting guard, has a height of 6’7”, weights 185 pounds, is capable making pull up jump shots off the dribble, is a decent ball handler, and would be great in catch-and-shoot situations, which would be needed for a Sixers team built around a low post center in Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid or a point forward in Ben Simmons. This article by Jonathan Wasserman and draftexpress.com’s video displaying his strengths, is what really got me thinking Korkmaz could be a perfect fit with the Sixers. As Wasserman points out in his article, there is a possibility that Korkmaz becomes the 2016 draft’s Devin Booker.

Booker was the youngest player in the 2015 NBA Draft and was projected to go anywhere from 10 to 17 based on the mock draft you’re looking at. Coming out of Kentucky he was known as a great shooter that wasn’t great at anything else, but was young enough to improve most of his weakness. He was drafted 13th by the Suns and vastly over perform most people’s expectations earning the second spot in CBSsports.com’s final rookie power ranking and the fifth spot in USAToday.com’s. While it is possible that Korkmaz turnouts to be closer to Nik Stauskas than Booker, he is a shooting guard that the Sixers could get outside of the lottery and without trading one of their centers or lottery picks. Draftexpress.com and CBSsports.com’s mock drafts expect Korkmaz to last until the 17th pick, with nbadraft.net seeing him selected with the 10th pick in their mock draft. I could see the Memphis Grizzlies, who hold the 17th, being open to a trade, but that trade would likely have to include Robert Covington.

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A trade of Covington and the 24th pick the Sixers received from the Heat for the Grizzlies’ 17th pick, would be a fair trade for both sides. The Grizzlies recently committed a lot of money to a now 31 year old Marc Gasol, so they could be willing to trade for a player that with some NBA experience and they desperately need a decent small forward. It might be possible to give them Covington with the 26th pick instead the 24th pick or Covington without an added first round pick, knowing the Grizzlies were desperate enough to trade a future first round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for Lance Stephenson during the 2016 trade deadline. As a fan of Covington, I’m not excited about my own idea to trade him. He was the Sixers’ best D-Leaguer, the player that showed giving ten day or partially guaranteed contracts to random guys off the street can be a good strategy, and one of the few players that Sam Hinkie added that seemed to have a future with the team. After watching him struggle and take a step back for most of the 2015-2016 season, I would be open to trading him for the 18 year old from Turkey.

Before the Sixers engage in trade scenarios involving Korkmaz, they need to find out if it’s possible for him to play at least average defense. As it stands now, Korkmaz his an open door to the basket. His lack of awareness combined with his skinny frame, allows players to easily drive past him. Korkmaz is athletic enough to stay in front of most shooting guards if he focus on improving his awareness and gains enough weight to survive a center or power forward setting a Demond Green like screen, he could be come an acceptable defender someday. Korkmaz also struggle to get to the free throw line, but that isn’t that big of a deal with space around the basket likely being occupied by at least one of the Sixers’ big men.

Next: Philadelphia 76ers await game changer Joel Embiid

While I suspect the majority of NBA fans will have no idea who Furkan Korkmaz is on draft day, he is a player Sixers’ fans should pay close attention to.