Both of the Philadelphia 76ers’ representatives at EuroBasket, Croatia’s Dario Saric and Turkey’s Furkan Korkmaz, were knocked out on Sunday in the round of 16. Saric’s Croatia was routed by Russia, while Korkmaz’s Turkey succumbed to Spain.
Both Sixers played well during the tournament, though, and as Sixers.com beat reporter Brian Seltzer notes, head coach Brett Brown has taken notice of their performances.
With Korkmaz, Brown believes the time the young Turk has spent coming over to play earlier during the summer has aided in his strong showing.
“I think the experience he had with us and playing in [summer league] helped jump start what has been a pretty impressive tournament,” Brown said last week. “We look forward to helping him with his body, and getting him back here in Philadelphia.”
As for Saric, Brown wasn’t really all too surprised with what he saw.
“He was raised to play basketball,” said Brown. “His mom did it, his dad did it, the country loves the sport. He’s been recognized as the country’s best player for a while. He’s been doing this at an international level for a long time. Him going back and doing what he’s been doing, it doesn’t surprise me.”
Saric averaged 14.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game, with three double-doubles in the tournament, and will be looking to build off of a strong rookie season which saw him finish second in the Rookie of the Year voting.
Korkmaz, meanwhile, averaged 10.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 21.6 minutes in six games at EuroBasket. The 20-year-old doesn’t figure to get as much playing time in his rookie year with J.J. Redick, Nik Stauskas, and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot all ahead of him on the shooting guard depth chart but his continued development which was evident in the tournament was promising nonetheless.
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