PHILADELPHIA — Furkan Korkmaz has been a forgotten man for the Philadelphia 76ers heading into the 2023-24 season. The six-year veteran out of Turkey has not played in the preseason because of a leg strain. That absence hurts his chances of making the rotation.
Coach Nick Nurse consistently has said he needs to see Korkmaz and give him enough of a look that he can earn a rotation spot. To do that, he has to play and show what he can do. As Philadelphia heads into the final preseason game on Friday, that’s what he plans to do.
Per Korkmaz, Nurse wants to see playmaking and ball-handling from him.
“My feeling that I’m getting from him is he likes the playmaking stuff,” said Korkmaz at shootaround on Friday. “He likes the passing, creating, so right now, I’m getting a lot of good vibes from them from the coaching staff like be free. Just be a playmaker. You can make good passes, good reads and create for my teammates. I think that’s good to hear from them. To see from them. To feel from them. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Korkmaz has played different roles for the Sixers. He has been the spot-up shooter to space the floor and also run some offense. Former coaches Brett Brown and Doc Rivers gave him the freedom to do that, and it appears Nurse will do the same.
“I’ve been known as a shooter, but I think I can also make a lot of plays on the ball, off the ball,” Korkmaz added. “So it helps for my team to create open shots.”
It is a bit unfortunate that Korkmaz was put behind the eight ball as a result of his injury. The leg strain happened at the end of training camp. That prevented him from playing in any of the exhibition games while others he was competing with auditioned for Nurse.
“It was the fourth day of training camp, and then I was like ‘ahh, it’s not good timing,’” Korkmaz recalled. “I wanted to play through it. That’s why it got worse a little bit. I wanted to prove myself, but I needed to take some days off. That’s why I’m ready to go.”
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