Furkan “The Korkmaster” Korkmaz had a stretch near the beginning of the season where he was pretty good, then he had an extended stretch where he was cheeks, and now he’s starting up another run of decent play. Last game he had 24 (27 if the refs hadn’t unfairly taken away the three-pointer he made while the Sixers lived up to their name by having six men on the court), and he followed that up with a tidy seventeen-point outing that led his team to victory over the downtrodden Knicks.
Why the inconsistency over the course of the season? It seems like Brett Brown AKA Butt Clown has been giving Korkmaz the same exact role the entire season, no matter if he’s hot or cold. Normally I would blame Butt Clown for being a jerk with his minutes allocations, but that’s not the case here. It’s Korkmaz himself who is unable to be the consistent bench scorer that the Sixers really wish he would be. Luckily, there’s not a lot of competition chomping at his heels from further down the bench (just Mike Scott and Kyle O’Quinn, who are harmless), so Korkmaz can be content in his role…for now.
Korkmaz is probably doing all the rights things He’s probably shooting a lot of practice shots. He’s probably coming to games prepared, having ingested no fewer than five bananas and two big bottles of Gatorade. He’s probably staying ready on the bench by blowing in his hands repeatedly to keep them warm and supple. So, the lack of consistency isn’t the fault of his routine either. What I recommend is, before he shoots it, he should close his eyes and visualize a future where he’s the one being handed the Finals MVP trophy and lauded as the NBA’s next great international superstar wile Joel Embad and Bum Scrubbins clap politely with tears running down their cheeks. Also Luka Doncic is lying vanquished on the floor after Korkmaz locked him up for an entire game seven and held him to three points on 1-of-29 shooting. Korkmaz should visualize all this in his mind before every shot, and he’ll find that the accuracy of his shooting will go up by a considerable amount.