76ers' Brett Brown Compares Furkan Korkmaz to Marco Belinelli

Heading into the offseason last summer, the Philadelphia 76ers were fully prepared to move on from the young Turkish guard, Furkan Korkmaz. As Sixers' head coach Brett Brown describes his return, though, Korkmaz "fell back onto our doorstep."

There weren't many bidders for Korkmaz's service as he was coming off of a season where he averaged just five points-per-game while shooting 32-percent from three. So it seemed Korkmaz's days playing basketball in the States were temporarily finished.

But surprisingly, the 76ers came calling. And even more surprisingly, Korkmaz elected to return to Philly after a rather frustrating two-year stint. The move worked out for both parties during the 2019-2020 NBA season.

Korkmaz appeared in 64 of the Sixers' 65 games before the season's suspension. He averaged just over 21 minutes-per-game contributing to nine points while shooting a career-high from three, knocking down 39-percent of his deep shots.

Back in January, Sixers head coach Brett Brown compared a red-hot Korkmaz to former Philadelphia sharpshooter, JJ Redick. As the 76ers gear up for a playoff run down in Orlando, Brown expects Korkmaz to be a part of the rotation -- but he's not setting the expectations for Korkmaz to the level of Redick. Instead, he sees a nice dose of Marco Belinelli in Korkmaz's game.

"He's very clever," Brown said in regards to Korkmaz's game. "Very Euro, Belinelli clever with floaters and different reads on things. I think all of that has been realized in a pronounced way this season, and we're going to ask him to keep that going in the playoffs. We need his ability to shoot the ball and, in general, score in many ways when the playoffs come around."

Korkmaz watched the San Antonio Spurs guard go to work while with the Sixers back during the 2017-2018 season. Based on what he witnessed from the bench, Korkmaz was interested in learning from Belinelli -- and claims the Italian guard did an excellent job teaching young Sixers -- specifically, Korkmaz himself.

"When he was here, I had a lot of chances to watch him to see what he brings and how he plays," Korkmaz explained. "[I thought] why can't I have some of his skills? I tried to copy something from him. I think he's a good shooter -- an elite shooter, we all know that. He helped me a lot. Also, he tried to teach me when he was here. Like JJ [Redick], he was kind of the guy that tried to help the young guys. That was a good opportunity to work with him."

When Belinelli competed with the Sixers during the 2017-2018 playoff run, his shooting off the bench gave Philly a reliable boost. Now, Korkmaz will be expected to do the same as this will be the first year he's truly a part of the 76ers' postseason rotation as they look to compete in the playoffs for the third-straight year down in Orlando.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_