Furkan Korlkmaz should have a different role with the Philadelphia 76ers next year.
There’s little doubt that head coach Doc Rivers will use some of the players on the Philadelphia 76ers differently than his predecessor Brett Brown did. Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris are the main players that most will focus on, but how Rivers will use Furkan Korkmaz is important as well.
After riding the bench for the first two years of his career, Brown had little choice but to turn to the wing after the team was in desperate need of perimeter shooting. For the most part, Korkmaz delivered on that front, he averaged 9.8 points on 40.2 percent shooting from downtown.
There’s no denying that he can contribute on offense, but the one area he’s struggled for his entire career is on the defensive end. With that in mind, there’s little reason not to believe that his role will change under Rivers.
How Korkmaz’s role on the Sixers will change.
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For most of last season, Brown used Korkmaz as either the sixth or seventh man off the bench. Understandably so considering the value of his shooting was to that roster. However, the first round matchup against the Boston Celtics proved, if he’s not hitting shots, he’s not worth having on the floor.
There were times last season that Korkmaz was cold from the floor and was a negative for Philly. Now there’s a chance he will become a more consistent shooter, but still, it’s been rare occasions that Rivers has used players who were defensive liabilities during his stints with the Los Angeles Clippers or Celtics.
Players like Eddie House, J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford, and Lou Williams were the outliers in those cases. More than often cases, if a player is a defensive liability, they don’t usually play in Rivers’ rotation.
Korkmaz isn’t consistent enough as a scorer/shooter to be the same category as the players listed above. There’s a chance that Korkmaz is barely getting consistent minutes or completely out of the rotation next season if he doesn’t improve on either end of the ball.
Unless Korkmaz makes a big stride, it seems unlikely that the former first round pick will have a big role with the Philadelphia 76ers next season.