9. Furkan Korkmaz
PRESEASON RANKING: 15
The 6-foot-7, 22-year-old shooting guard almost found himself back in his native Turkey and out of the league in the offseason. After 76ers GM Elton Brand came in late offseason and offered Korkmaz a two-year minimum deal, Korkmaz was back in Philadelphia — despite requesting a trade last season and having his team option declined.
This season was going to be key for Korkmaz’s future in the league. At the end of last season, we ranked him as the 12th best player on the roster. To begin this season, he was at 15, only beating out Marial Shayok and Norvel Pelle, who were both on two-way deals. Now Furkan is up to No. 9 — here’s a look at how he got there.
In just the fourth game of the season (otherwise known as the game Embiid roughed up KAT) Korkmaz poured in 17. The next game he scored 11. But this might have been the game Sixers fans turned the corner on Korkmaz. The Sixers were trailing 128-126 against Portland. With 2.2 seconds left, Korkmaz took an inbound from Ben Simmons and found himself standing open in the corner.
After drilling the game-winner, Korkmaz went on to score in double figures in three of the next four games. He started the next game against Phoenix and scored a then career-high 20 points.
Furkan has provided the Sixers with three-point shooting they so desperately need. He’s shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond and hit seven threes in a game earlier this season against Memphis — where he put up his career high 34.
Defensively, Korkmaz has improved. He is still not the greatest defender and still gets beaten, but the signs of improvement are there. Korkmaz is averaging almost 10 points a game this season, but has struggled with consistency. He has gone three games without scoring and has been held under five points numerous times.
Furkan Korkmaz has improved greatly this season, and with more consistency he could find himself with more minutes. As of now it appears Elton Brand made the right decision bringing Korkmaz back.