If the Philadelphia 76ers want to make a deep Summer League run, Furkan Korkmaz has to show up.
It’s mid-July, meaning the basketball season — well, Summer League — is heating up. The first couple days of tournament play are done, with the 30th-seeded Philadelphia 76ers already taking out Deandre Ayton and the Phoenix Suns.
To be frank, the Summer Sixers aren’t great. Outside of their frontcourt rotation, depth and consistency are lacking. Zhaire Smith, their best prospect, has shown flashes, but he needs more talent around him to maximize his production.
The Sixers weren’t supposed to beat the Suns. Phoenix was basically playing their actual lineup minus Devin Booker and Trevor Ariza, making their defeat especially confounding (not that Summer League matters long term).
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Now that the Sixers have beaten the Suns, though, some fans are looking for a lengthy Cinderella run in Vegas. The Sixers have the ability to make that kind of run if one player can step up on a regular basis: Furkan Korkmaz.
The Sixers’ entire roster has gone through hot and cold spells in four Vegas games. Jonah Bolden has hit impressive highs and demoralizing lows, while Smith can blend in with the crowd in the absence of NBA-caliber playmaking.
Much like the regular season Sixers, the Summer League squad has desperately lacked perimeter scoring and self-creation. Demetrius Jackson and Askia Booker have taken on point guard duties, but both are volume scorers with severe limitations.
Korkmaz is the only other player who, on a semi-consistent basis, has created offense off the dribble. He has flashed nice passing skills and hit some impressive stepbacks from deep, it’s just a matter of showing up for every game.
In the first Vegas game, Korkmaz dropped 40 points and the Sixers almost beat a quality Celtics team. In the next two, Korkmaz went a combined 1-18 from the field. The Sixers were blown out both times. In the fourth game, against Phoenix, he shot 7-15 and scored 18 points.
When Korkmaz is playing well, the Sixers are a competitive team. When he isn’t, the offense sputters and the Summer Sixers become the most inept team in the tournament — one worthy of the 30th seed.
As the Sixers gear up to face the Milwaukee Bucks on July 14, Korkmaz will once again be the deciding factor. At 6-foot-8, his upside as a floor-spacing wing with improved playmaking chops is tantalizing. If he can put the pieces together, he has a legitimate path toward minutes in the regular season.
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Finding consistency is the last big hurdle in Korkmaz’s development. He can still get stronger and has the basic tools for success. He just needs to prove that he can bring some form of tangible production on a nightly basis, or else his young career will stagnate as the Sixers progress without him.