In-Depth with Furkan Korkmaz

to sign his new contract with the Sixers. In case you weren't a wear Furkon is definitely a foodie, and in our interview, we covered his favorite restaurants in Philadelphia, his decision to return to Philly, his home away from home, and the pride he felt watching Matisse thy Will compete in the Olympics, plus much more. Without further ado, here's

our conversation. We're back at the facility and I am joined by the one and only for Concorkmas, who is getting ready to return to the Sixers for his fifth year. Furk thank you for sitting down with me. Thank you having meek to you. It's good to see you and good to talk to you. Tell me what the last month or so since I've seen you has been like? Where have you been. Let's not talk about the contract yet. Where have you been. What have you been up to.

I was in Turkey all the time, actually not because after season was over, I went to Canada to play for the national team. Then I went back home spend time with the family and friends. I had a vacation. Now again I'm back working. But overall I was in Turkey. It was good to be in home, you know, spend time. Oh. I had really good time because I really missed my home, my country. I've been here for a long time, like seven eight months. But overall it was it was a

good summer. So when you and I spoke last season, you talked about how important it is to get back to Turkey and to have time there. So for those of us that haven't spent time out there, tell us why Turkey is so special to you. Obviously it's where you're from. But what makes you look forward to going back. First, my family, because I'm having a chance to see them, my sister, my mom and dad, you know, my feels. Second, my friends because during the season, you know, our schedule

like it's so busy. It's not also easy to fly from Turkey and stay here for a long time because we are on the road also a lot, and you know, of course good food. I don't think I need to talk about food because everybody knows about food culture in Turkey and it's fun. You know, we have really good like vacation places for me. Also, I like to spend

time in Ismir, which is like a vacation place. I go there every summer, and this summer I stayed there like fifteen days, close to two weeks, and uh that was that was good, good time. People love you in Philadelphia, but my understanding is that they love you even more in Turkey. So what's it like when you go home there? Like what is your celebrity status like there compared to

what it's like here? I mean this summer especially, it was different than the last couple of years because people they were at home, they were watching the games more. Everybody was like more interested in sports because you know, we had like bed two years, which was not fun because all this whole COVID economy all over the world. People was trying to get away from the stress and support was the main maybe object. And I already watched more. I don't want to talk about myself every day right now?

That makes me feel weird. But people recognize me more, they respect more because I think I'm doing a good job here to represent my country, and then they love it. Well, it's a big deal, and I think, especially after watching the Olympics, we all are more aware of how much different people mean to their countries. So if you don't want to talk about what a celebrity you are, I can because I know that you mean a lot to

those people. And so I'm really happy that you got to spend that time there, especially because you quarantined in Philadelphia last year, right, you didn't get to spend that extended time away that you usually get to spend. Yeah, I wasn't feeling like close to four months when first shutdown happened, and you know, the last two years it was a lot of ups and now was because of the cold, we didn't really have like big gap of

summer to spend at home. But yeah, like when you play for your national team, people looking at you different, They respect you more. They feel like you're giving your country something. To play for the national team, I think

that's the most important thing. And as a player to play an NBA, of course, different story, different feelings, like everybody's dream to be here, but play for the national team also brings a lot of emotions too, you know, because you feel like, I feel like eighty million people in Turkey they're following me. They are hard. I feel they are hard. You know, they are feelings. They show a lot of respect and love, which makes you feel

different for your country. So thank you for sharing all that, because I'm really interested now in like international basketball culture and what your life is like when you're away from the Sixers. But now that you're back, we learned the news that you're going to be back with the Sixers. Tell us about that decision. What led you to make the decision to return. I mean, I'm telling this every time my mbamba carrier starts with the six years starts with the Philly H and I spent four years here

right now it looks like another three years. You know. I feel like I'm gonna be the next mayor of the film, you know, because I spent a lot of time here. Uh. It's also good to play for the team that um invest in you, you know, believing you, because I really see that believe fading me. And also I love the city. I love this culture. H and also I feel like on the basketball side, we have a lot to do, we have more to do. UM. That makes me another UM that makes me excited too,

because we're gonna play for something. We're gonna play for championship. You know, we're not gonna just play just to play. UM. That was also another thing that makes my decision to come back to Philly. So let's talk about that basketball side. Obviously, last season didn't end the way that you wanted it too, So so how does the way that last year and ended inform the work that you're now putting in and

your goals for this next season. Definitely, last season didn't end that how we expected because we wanted to get the championship. And then I've been in this organization for four years, but last year was the most the faith that I had for to get get the championship. I really felt it. I thought like, we're going to be the champion. That's why I feel like it's unfinished business. I think we should get start to work and then coming to play again. What have you focused on this offseason?

What are the areas that you're you're most paying attention to in your own game that you want to bring to this next phase with the Sixers. I mean, I don't want to say just one thing, because I feel like we can learn. We can improve ourselves every day, like from different perspective if you talk about our bodies, because that's the most important thing. I believe we need to be healthy during the season because it's a long

season and intense. H I'm also working on my buddy, like every summer that I do, but this summer especially, not like summer buddy. I'm talking about real season buddy, like NBA player buddy, and I'm gonna work on my pool ups. We can move on. But thank you for clarifying. Yeah,

and you know enough. But I mean, yeah, of course, and I know that you put in work, and let's actually talk about that because last season you kept talking about how you wanted to improve on defense, and I think by the playoffs you really did and you sort of made a name for yourself as a plus defender, as an improving defender in this league. So tell me a little bit more about about defense and how that's continuing to develop and where that stands still in your

priority list. I think you last year overall my best defensive season, also my third year, I think I made a big jump. But last year I was feeling super comfortable in defense. I was feeling like I was trying to do what the coaches want me to do. I didn't have any issues on defensive site. Of course, like every position is not perfect like offense, you don't play perfect offense every position in defense the same way. But

I think I limited the mistakes that I did in defense. Offensively, I think I should be better pull up pull up shooting. You know, I think last year the one thing that Duck wanted me to do creative the piano rolls because he knows that I can play with the ball. He wanted me to create more with the seconden especially, But this year I'm gonna be more creating that I'm seeing myself to create more. And also like shooting, like everybody

knows that I can shoot. Of course I'm gonna be keep shooting it, but driving kick find an open, open guy to play the team better. I make the team better, and of course it comes with the responsibility. But I think I'm ready for that. So we're gonna take a sharp right turn in the conversation to come back to something that you talked about at the beginning, which was food in Turkey. I had this similar sit down with Danny Green a couple of days ago. Danny told me

about his favorite restaurants in Philly. My understanding is that you consider yourself sort of a food expert, a food connoisseur. Definitely, yes, So tell me you were like, yep, So tell me more about that. Why it's food such a passion to you, and then can you give us a couple of your favorites in Philadelphia. First of all, when I was younger, I hate it eat because I was a skinny guy. You know, I was not in the I was not

in love with the food. Every time my mom was telling me, hey, finish your plate, finish your plate, don't leave the food on the plate. You know, you know how that goes. And then as soon as I got here, especially my second year, I start to eat a lot, like a lot, and I start to like discover the restaurants, the food, different cultures. And here's the good thing about the Philly you have like a different type of food,

different type of the area of the city. Like one day you can go eat a Japanese food, the other day Italian, the Brazilian. You know not it was like Turkey food. Of course I eat Turkish foot too, But I have like four or five different restaurants in the city that I go a lot and which I enjoy most. Do you want to give any shout outs to some of your favorite restaurants? Yeah, yeah, definitely. I can say

Double Nut for the sushi, for fish and Greek food. Stamm, I know you've been there too and that was ridicule, but right now they're closed, which I'm really upset about it. And for the steakhouse, Um, I mean steakhouse. I don't think the steak like. I will say it this way. The steak is like really good in every restaurant in the States. But there's some restaurants, of course make it better. Um. I don't know what was the name of the restaurant

that piment is a team at the end of the season. You, yeah, well that was really good. I forget the name. But Stake forty age is really good. And what else am I missing anything? And Zah well, of course I forget about the Zaho and you're the mayor of Zah, right, I'm the mayor of the Zaho. How I can't forget about it? Yeah? Zo, thank you for I don't think anyone cares where I eat, but I do endorse most of those recommendations, some of which I actually got from me.

Thank you. M The last topic I want to cover is someone that I know is near and dear to your heart, Matissa Bible, who just actually played his first international basketball So can you let's first talk about that. Did you follow his journey because I know you gave him a little bit of advice about playing internationally. What was it like for you to see your brother doing that? Yeah, if you are talking about this Plankford national team, I told him that it's not going to be easy. But

I think he played really good. Like I really follow him, watched some of his games. I was super happy because he was looking happy. Because I know him well, then he's not happy, I can't understand, I can tell, but he was happy. I think he had a new best friend joining list, which I was a little bit jealous. I'm gonna ask him about this, but overall, I was

super happy for him because it's a different experience. Like you know, I've been playing for the national team for a long time, but I didn't have enough experience about Olympics because we never had a chance to go a chance to make it. This year, we had a chance, but we couldn't make it. So that's why I was feeling a little weird, but I was happy for him. You guys developed a pretty special friendship last season that

you've both talked about. So I know that you didn't necessarily resign here because of Matis, But how much are you looking forward to continuing the partnership and the friendship you have? Of course, like I would like to see him as soon as possible. You know, probably I'm going to see him before the training camp starts. But he knows me, he understands me. That's I think really important because overall we all play basketball, but we are not

like super close friends. You know, in the teams, in the work at the office, you feel like you have somebody closer to you that makes you understand you know, and you understand him he understand you. I think that's really important. Perfect Furkan Quirkma is always a pleasure to catch up. Thank you for doing this on behalf of the city of Philadelphia. I don't know if I can even say that if you're the mayor. We're thrilled to have you back. Really excited about this. Thank you so much,

Thank you so much. Thanks of course to Furkan for sitting down, sharing some stories and as always making us laugh. Be on the lookout for more of these one on one interviews from the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast feed as the build up to training camp continues. Hard to believe, but it's almost that time once again. I'm Lauren Rosen. Thanks so much for tuning in.