The Sixer Sense
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Philadelphia 76ers: 10 best non-lottery first-round picks in team history

By Lucas Johnson

Philadelphia 76ers, Tyrese Maxey, Furkan Korkmaz Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia 76ers, Tyrese Maxey, Furkan Korkmaz Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Marreese Speights (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
Marreese Speights (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images) /

8. Furkan Korkmaz

After Ben Simmons gets traded from the Philadelphia 76ers, Furkan Korkmaz will be the team’s second longest-tenured player on the roster behind Joel Embiid. Korkmaz slowly developed from the end of the bench type of player into a serviceable sharpshooter off the bench.

He’s not good defensive, but as indicated in the paragraph above he can shoot from deep. He has career averages of 8.0 points on 37.7 percent shooting from deep. With a new three-year deal, the 24th pick from the 2016 NBA Draft appears to be in the team’s future plans moving forward. If he continues to improve he could be higher on this list in the future.

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7. Marreese Speights

To be honest, if Marreese Speights was drafted in 2018 instead of 2008 when he was selected 16th pick, he’d probably be a lottery pick. Speights was a pretty good stretch big man during his time in the NBA, but he wasn’t used as much as he should have. He played 10 seasons with the Sixers, Memphis Grizzlies, Cleveland Cavaliers, Warriors, Clippers, and Magic.

For his career, the 6-foot-10 big man averaged 7.9 points and 4.1 rebounds on 35.6 percent shooting from deep. If he was drafted in an era that would have embraced his 3-point shooter, more, Speights would have had a much higher usage rate. With that in mind, he still wasn’t the best option at that spot in that draft.