Taking too much away from an intrasquad scrimmage is dangerous, but Furkan Korkmaz gave Philadelphia 76ers fans reason for excitement Sunday afternoon.
The Philadelphia 76ers held an open scrimmage in the Palestra Sunday afternoon, in which Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz-headed teams gave the fans some quality entertainment before the Eagles game. Simmons looked good and Fultz showed off his bag of tricks, but one name in particular managed to stand out in an unexpected way: Furkan Korkmaz.
After a dreadful Summer League run, the course for Korkmaz’s rookie year felt almost predetermined. He’s still painfully skinny by NBA standards, and a rough performance in Vegas seemingly locked him into a G-League-heavy plan going into his first season with the Sixers.
He managed to turn some heads in Sunday’s scrimmage, though. While stats weren’t kept up with officially, his performance on both ends of the floor made him one of the squad’s more productive players on the day, from a good looking 3-point stroke to defensive energy that caught more than a few people off guard.
It’s obviously not a great idea to put any significant stock into a scrimmage like this one. Everyone was operating at three-fourths speed, and Korkmaz was afforded some extra freedoms that wouldn’t necessarily be given in a full-blown NBA contest. He did, however, show the types of improvements that’ll be needed if he wants to scrap together some legitimate playing time next season.
At 6-foot-8, Korkmaz has the tools needed to be effective on both ends. He has a quick, high release on his jumper, which allows him to spot-up and get shots off quickly over contests. He showed ample confidence shooting the ball from NBA range Sunday afternoon, and that’s one of the bigger adjustments for any shooter making the transition to professional ball in the States.
He also had his interior game on display, attacking closeouts and hitting a couple of nice floaters in the lane. He’s a bouncy athlete with some overlooked explosiveness off the bounce. He might not overwhelm someone in isolation, but he can get to his spots and carve out space at a fairly high level.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of his performance, however, was his defense. His frame will put him at an immediate disadvantage against a lot of NBA athletes early on, but his length does allow him to switch between positions and play effective defense on the basis of energy alone.
He was a pest in isolation, while his ability to slither into passing lanes and disrupt what would typically be simple passes is something that can force an offense out of rhythm. He’s obviously putting in the work needed to get some looks from the coaching staff, and his shooting could be valuable enough to warrant a shot ahead of somebody like Nik Stauskas — who struggled significantly on the afternoon.
There are some hurdles Korkmaz will have to clear physically, but he showed the type of promise that the coaching staff and fans alike wanted to see at this stage in his career. The Sixers have some depth in front of him with Justin Anderson and fellow 2016 draftee Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, but Korkmaz — at the very least — made an extremely convincing case against Stauskas tonight.
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He’s still just a young 20 years old, to boot.