How quickly can Philadelphia 76ers develop Furkan Korkmaz?

The Philadelphia 76ers brought wingman Furkan Korkmaz to the NBA this year for good reason. Now, how quickly can they develop him to NBA caliber play?

The Philadelphia 76ers has a well-storied 2016 NBA Draft. After selecting Ben Simmons at number one, the team had two additional first round picks to select. They chose Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot at 24, and Furkan Korkmaz at 26. Both TLC and Korkmaz had all the makings of an NBA “3 and D” player, but neither was NBA ready out of the gate. So the team brought on Luwawu, and allowed Furkan Korkmaz to spend a year overseas.

A year later, the team has a promising young player in Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. But what of Furkan Korkmaz? Well, we’ll find out soon enough, as the team has signed him this season.

Now, don’t think of that signing as some sort of reach. The Philadelphia 76ers know what they are getting in Korkmaz. He is a very talented young man who has significant upside at perimeter shooting

But that will take time to develop in the NBA. The question is, how much time?

Musical Minutes

If you think back to last season, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot found himself in a similar situation.  The young man needed minutes to develop, but the roster was stacked with players in the same boat. In the end, the team broke the logjam by assigning TLC to the Delaware 87ers to get more playing time.

That didn’t last long, as injuries necessitated the team to recall Luwawu in order to absorb minutes for the 76ers.

In five summer league games in Las Vegas, Korkmaz delivered with 14.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals on an average of 25.6 minutes per game.

He’s raw, and he’s young. But he has some serious upside.

Buried in depth means developed slowly

While Furkan Korkmaz is versatile enough to fill roles at either small forward or shooting guard, don’t look for much playing time at either position early in the season.  That will take some getting used to for the Philadelphia 76ers fans.

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The past three year period for the team has been marked with rapid development and deployment of rookies. After all, the roster was a turnstile of faces, each auditioning with the team for a chance to be a more permanent role as the team improved.  History proved that not many remained with the team.

But now, this year, the dynamics have changed significantly.  The team has plenty of capable players on the roster, so playing time is not handed out just for showing up.  That means rookies do not see the court often. And that means, rookies like Furkan Korkmaz develop more slowly.

Fast food or slow cooker development?

So that leaves this.. is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, judging by last year’s impact with TLC, I’m leaning to the former. The adjustment period to the NBA is a huge leap for young men. Now, add the complication of language, distance, and culture differences and you’ve got quite a mouthful to swallow.   The Camden training facility is state-of-the-art, and the coaches are very adept at developing players. The true key to developing young players is more coaching minutes than playing minutes.

Furkan Korkmaz will see playing time in the 2017-2018 season. The reason he was signed this year is to gauge his talent level as the team sorts through resigning players. If he is talented enough, he will be promoted to a more significant role next season.  I expect he will do so easily. But as far as a significant playing time this year? Perhaps late in the season.

Slow cooker is better cooking

Now, will not please some fans to accept a slower pace of developing rookies. But it’s the pace of winning teams.  And the fact is that there is not much wiggle room in the playing minutes this season if all players are healthy.

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But we should not be concerned as to the pace of Furkan Korkmaz’s development.  The team has a year to work with him, develop good techniques and scheme his skillsets into the playbook. He has all the tools, and with solid coaching will become a solid player on this roster.

But that takes time. Time the fans of the Philadelphia 76ers may not be willing to surrender easily in the future.  But this is one more time that patience pays off in huge dividends.