Philadelphia 76ers 2018-19 season preview: Is Furkan Korkmaz ready to contribute?

Can the Philadelphia 76ers expect anything from Furkan Korkmaz in his second season?

Furkan Korkmaz put together an impressive showing in Summer League, leading the Philadelphia 76ers in scoring and dropping 40 points against the Boston Celtics. He was a tad inconsistent — which has been an issue throughout his career — but the flashes were promising nonetheless.

Now, moving into his second season, people are beginning to ponder Korkmaz’s role. He didn’t see the floor much in year one, but a strong summer and the Sixers’ need for shooting could push Brett Brown to give him some run.

At 6-foot-8, Korkmaz has a lot of desirable NBA traits on the wing. He’s a fluid athlete and plus shooter, while his passing chops were on full display in Vegas. Whether or not he’s ready to contribute right now is questionable, but the talent level is there.

With Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova gone, the Sixers’ second unit does lack knockdown shooting. The defensive upgrades from Wilson Chandler, Zhaire Smith and Markelle Fultz should offset that, but getting another high-end shooter in the rotation would be beneficial.

That’s the role Korkmaz can ideally fill. His career-long inconsistency (both with the Sixers and overseas) has partially been due to limited opportunity. He hasn’t always received enough playing time to establish a rhythm offensively.

The best example of that would be his performance overseas with the Turkish National Team this summer. In a recent game against Germany, the 21-year-old exploded for 23 points, leading them to a win over Dennis Schorder’s Germany team.

When given an expanded role — with the national team and in Summer League — we’ve seen Korkmaz elevate his level of play. There’s reason to believe that he could contribute if given real minutes with the second unit.

The only issue, aside from inconsistency concerns, is Korkmaz’s defense. Even in Summer League, he looked overmatched on that end, lacking the footwork and core strength to keep up with more explosive wings.

Korkmaz’s size and fluidity gives him a solid defensive ceiling, but he’s nowhere near effective at this point in his career. He needs to continue adding strength, something that was known coming into the 2016 draft.

If anything, Korkmaz’s defense should be the deciding factor in keeping him off the floor to start next season. Landry Shamet is a more polished weapon right now, while the Sixers’ elite defense would be wise to avoid Marco Belinelli-esque detractors — especially once the postseason arrives.

A considerable number of Sixers fans were quick to pop the Kork after Vegas — and understandably so — but don’t expect much from Korkmaz next season. He’s still working through his kinks on defense, while the offense isn’t good enough to overcome that. Not yet, at least.

2017-18 stat line: 1.6 PPG / 0.8 RPG / 0.3 APG / 0.1 SPG / 0.1 BPG / 28.6 FG% / 29.4 3FG% / 50 FT% (14 games)

Rough 2018-19 stat line projection: 3.5 PPG / 1.0 RPG / 1.0 APG / 0.2 SPG / 0.1 BPG / 40 FG% / 32 3FG% / 75 FT%