The Philadelphia 76ers will, of course, be relying on guys like Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris to lead the way, but they will need other guys to step up and provide some help. That is what the supporting cast is for.
That means, coach Brett Brown will have to rely much more on guys like Shake Milton, Josh Richardson, and even unsung guys like Furkan Korkmaz. The third-year pro from Turkey has taken a huge step forward as a shooter and he has become a regular in Brown’s rotation. Which is remarkable considering that he was almost out the door in the offseason.
However, it is not just Korkmaz’s shooting that earned him a spot, it was his improvement on defense.
“He kind of fell back into our doorstep, into our lap,” said Brown. “He was comfortable with us and we were certainly comfortable with Furk. He jumped into all of this in a significant way. I think that his defense can’t be discounted as one of the reasons why he was able to hold on to minutes and hold on to a role.”
The Sixers already had faith in Korkmaz being able to shoot the ball. Despite only shooting 32.3% from deep in his first two seasons in the league, there were flashes that he showed that he can be a real consistent shooter in the NBA. He is now up to 39.7% this season and while that is certainly welcomed on this Sixers team, the team needed him to play defense for him to have a significant role.
“We always knew he could shoot,” Brown added. “Admittedly, he shot the ball well, but his defense also improved.”
It isn’t like Korkmaz is this lockdown defender, but he has made strides to improve in that area to be sure that he is not the weakest link on the team on that end. In a situation where a guy is the weakest link, he can be picked on and that is what happened to him in the past. It is not like that anymore.
“I will say, this year, especially, I was getting a little bit more charges,” Korkmaz explained. “On the other side, I was just trying to be solid on defense because in the first three years, everybody was talking about my defenses and my weaknesses on defense. I think this year I made a big jump on defense.”
The big thing he has in his corner is that he is on a team that is filled with defensive studs such as Simmons, Embiid, Al Horford, and Richardson is a solid defensive player as well. These are the guys who will be in his ear helping him get better on that end.
“I was talking to players to improve myself,” he added. “Still, I am trying to improve myself in all parts of the game, not just on defense or offense, but I think defense is key for me to stay on the court longer.” [lawrence-related id=35151,35142,35135]