Philadelphia 76ers Furkan Korkmaz changes the Philadelphia 76ers 2017 NBA Draft strategy in three important ways
The Philadelphia 76ers selected shooting guard Furkan Korkmaz with the 26th pick of the 2016 NBA Draft. In fact, at the time he was touted as a very close runner-up to Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot as a”Three And D” prospect.
His shortcomings simply arose from being too raw. On the team with Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Ben Simmons, and of course 24th selected Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, “TLC”, the team simply did not have enough coaching resources to develop the tremendous upside of Korkmaz. So the Sixers made the right choice be electing a draft and stash.
Swarm and Sting
Despite “thinning the herd”, the team struggled to find time for those who remained. Ben Simmons fell to injury before the start of the season. Joel Embiid played 31 games on minutes restrictions. And even Dario Saric alternated starts at power forward until settling in late in the season. But as the team worked through those issues, TLC struggled to find the basketball court.
The More Things Change…
Since that time, the team now has the opportunity to bring Furkan Korkmaz to Philadelphia for the 2017-2018 season. But this team will have rookie Ben Simmons debuting, Joel Embiid entering is 32nd NBA game, and even Dario Saric still competing for a starting role.
Even Luwawu-Cabarrot is not settled in just yet at the shooting guard role. Despite a late surge in playing time and production (the team was running out of healthy bodies), he only averaged 17.2 minutes per game. Now, the team may be looking to add Korkmaz to the mix to determine his NBA potential.
Colangelo says Furkan Korkmaz may be able to play in Summer League. Depends on national team / U-20 commitments. Still not determined.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 5, 2017
But why here? Why Now?