Furkan Korkmaz provides ‘lightning in a bottle’ by coming off Sixers’ bench
Kurkmaz is shooting 41.1% on three-pointers in a reserve role. However, he's making just 33.9% as a starter. That's one of the main reasons Sixers coach Brett Brown prefers to bring him off the bench.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – For Furkan Korkmaz, it’s a rhythm thing.
The 76ers swingman will tell you there are different rhythms between starting and coming off the bench. In the starting lineup, the third-year veteran is more of a get-out-of-the-way type of player. He’s a fourth or fifth option while playing alongside the Sixers’ high-profile starters.
But as a reserve, things run through Korkmaz. He’s asked to be more aggressive, to provide an offensive spark.
“I think that’s why I like coming off the bench,” he said Thursday. “There’s more options for me.”
Korkmaz is having a career season, His scoring averaging (9.8 points), rebounds (2.3) and three-point percentage (.397) were all career highs heading into Thursday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center.
Yet, he’s had much more success coming off the bench. Kurkmaz averaged 8.5 points in his 12 starts, shooting just 33.9% on three-pointers. As a reserve, he averaged 10.1 points and shot 41.1% on three-pointers through 49 games.
His impact from the bench was obvious in consecutive games against the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls last month. He scored 31 points in a 118-111 victory over the Bulls at Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 9. That was two nights after Korkmaz scored a career-high 34 points in a 119-107 home win over the Grizzlies. He made 7-of-9 three-pointers in that game. As a result, Korkmaz joined former teammate JJ Redick as the only Sixers reserves to score 30-plus points in consecutive games since bench stats were first recorded during the 1970-71 season.
The Sixers inserted him in the starting lineup for a game after his effort against the Bulls. How did he respond? Korkmaz missed all five of his shots and was held scoreless in the 110-103 home victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. He lacked aggressiveness while looking for the other starters to shoot.
But now, the Sixers look to have him in a role similar to the Clippers’ Lou Williams. The former Sixer is a three-time NBA sixth man of the year and provides instant offense off the bench.
“So for me, it’s that when you start planning out and substituting, you can have lightning in a bottle [coming off the bench]," Brown said of Korkmaz. “They can come in and just knock down some threes, you know, get us some buckets. [His not starting is] driven mostly for that reason.”