Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast Network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast Wherever you get your Pots. I'm
Speaker 1: Lauren Rosen and this is the seventy Sixers Insiders one
Speaker 1: on one interview from the seventy Sixers Podcast Network. Today's
Speaker 1: guest is for Concorkmas, who I got to chat with
Speaker 1: earlier this month as he traveled from Istanbul to Philadelphia
Speaker 1: to sign his new contract with the Sixers. In case
Speaker 1: you weren't a wear Furkon is definitely a foodie, and
Speaker 1: in our interview, we covered his favorite restaurants in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: his decision to return to Philly, his home away from home,
Speaker 1: and the pride he felt watching Matisse thy Will compete
Speaker 1: in the Olympics, plus much more. Without further ado, here's
Speaker 1: our conversation. We're back at the facility and I am
Speaker 1: joined by the one and only for Concorkmas, who is
Speaker 1: getting ready to return to the Sixers for his fifth year.
Speaker 1: Furk thank you for sitting down with me. Thank you
Speaker 1: having meek to you. It's good to see you and
Speaker 1: good to talk to you. Tell me what the last
Speaker 1: month or so since I've seen you has been like?
Speaker 1: Where have you been. Let's not talk about the contract yet.
Speaker 1: Where have you been. What have you been up to.
Speaker 1: I was in Turkey all the time, actually not because
Speaker 1: after season was over, I went to Canada to play
Speaker 1: for the national team. Then I went back home spend
Speaker 1: time with the family and friends. I had a vacation.
Speaker 1: Now again I'm back working. But overall I was in Turkey.
Speaker 1: It was good to be in home, you know, spend time. Oh.
Speaker 1: I had really good time because I really missed my home,
Speaker 1: my country. I've been here for a long time, like
Speaker 1: seven eight months. But overall it was it was a
Speaker 1: good summer. So when you and I spoke last season,
Speaker 1: you talked about how important it is to get back
Speaker 1: to Turkey and to have time there. So for those
Speaker 1: of us that haven't spent time out there, tell us
Speaker 1: why Turkey is so special to you. Obviously it's where
Speaker 1: you're from. But what makes you look forward to going back. First,
Speaker 1: my family, because I'm having a chance to see them,
Speaker 1: my sister, my mom and dad, you know, my feels. Second,
Speaker 1: my friends because during the season, you know, our schedule
Speaker 1: like it's so busy. It's not also easy to fly
Speaker 1: from Turkey and stay here for a long time because
Speaker 1: we are on the road also a lot, and you know,
Speaker 1: of course good food. I don't think I need to
Speaker 1: talk about food because everybody knows about food culture in
Speaker 1: Turkey and it's fun. You know, we have really good
Speaker 1: like vacation places for me. Also, I like to spend
Speaker 1: time in Ismir, which is like a vacation place. I
Speaker 1: go there every summer, and this summer I stayed there
Speaker 1: like fifteen days, close to two weeks, and uh that
Speaker 1: was that was good, good time. People love you in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: but my understanding is that they love you even more
Speaker 1: in Turkey. So what's it like when you go home there?
Speaker 1: Like what is your celebrity status like there compared to
Speaker 1: what it's like here? I mean this summer especially, it
Speaker 1: was different than the last couple of years because people
Speaker 1: they were at home, they were watching the games more.
Speaker 1: Everybody was like more interested in sports because you know,
Speaker 1: we had like bed two years, which was not fun
Speaker 1: because all this whole COVID economy all over the world.
Speaker 1: People was trying to get away from the stress and
Speaker 1: support was the main maybe object. And I already watched more.
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about myself every day right now?
Speaker 1: That makes me feel weird. But people recognize me more,
Speaker 1: they respect more because I think I'm doing a good
Speaker 1: job here to represent my country, and then they love it. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a big deal, and I think, especially after watching
Speaker 1: the Olympics, we all are more aware of how much
Speaker 1: different people mean to their countries. So if you don't
Speaker 1: want to talk about what a celebrity you are, I
Speaker 1: can because I know that you mean a lot to
Speaker 1: those people. And so I'm really happy that you got
Speaker 1: to spend that time there, especially because you quarantined in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia last year, right, you didn't get to spend that
Speaker 1: extended time away that you usually get to spend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wasn't feeling like close to four months when first
Speaker 1: shutdown happened, and you know, the last two years it
Speaker 1: was a lot of ups and now was because of
Speaker 1: the cold, we didn't really have like big gap of
Speaker 1: summer to spend at home. But yeah, like when you
Speaker 1: play for your national team, people looking at you different,
Speaker 1: They respect you more. They feel like you're giving your
Speaker 1: country something. To play for the national team, I think
Speaker 1: that's the most important thing. And as a player to
Speaker 1: play an NBA, of course, different story, different feelings, like
Speaker 1: everybody's dream to be here, but play for the national
Speaker 1: team also brings a lot of emotions too, you know,
Speaker 1: because you feel like, I feel like eighty million people
Speaker 1: in Turkey they're following me. They are hard. I feel
Speaker 1: they are hard. You know, they are feelings. They show
Speaker 1: a lot of respect and love, which makes you feel
Speaker 1: different for your country. So thank you for sharing all that,
Speaker 1: because I'm really interested now in like international basketball culture
Speaker 1: and what your life is like when you're away from
Speaker 1: the Sixers. But now that you're back, we learned the
Speaker 1: news that you're going to be back with the Sixers.
Speaker 1: Tell us about that decision. What led you to make
Speaker 1: the decision to return. I mean, I'm telling this every
Speaker 1: time my mbamba carrier starts with the six years starts
Speaker 1: with the Philly H and I spent four years here
Speaker 1: right now it looks like another three years. You know.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm gonna be the next mayor of
Speaker 1: the film, you know, because I spent a lot of
Speaker 1: time here. Uh. It's also good to play for the
Speaker 1: team that um invest in you, you know, believing you,
Speaker 1: because I really see that believe fading me. And also
Speaker 1: I love the city. I love this culture. H and
Speaker 1: also I feel like on the basketball side, we have
Speaker 1: a lot to do, we have more to do. UM.
Speaker 1: That makes me another UM that makes me excited too,
Speaker 1: because we're gonna play for something. We're gonna play for championship.
Speaker 1: You know, we're not gonna just play just to play. UM.
Speaker 1: That was also another thing that makes my decision to
Speaker 1: come back to Philly. So let's talk about that basketball side. Obviously,
Speaker 1: last season didn't end the way that you wanted it too,
Speaker 1: So so how does the way that last year and
Speaker 1: ended inform the work that you're now putting in and
Speaker 1: your goals for this next season. Definitely, last season didn't
Speaker 1: end that how we expected because we wanted to get
Speaker 1: the championship. And then I've been in this organization for
Speaker 1: four years, but last year was the most the faith
Speaker 1: that I had for to get get the championship. I
Speaker 1: really felt it. I thought like, we're going to be
Speaker 1: the champion. That's why I feel like it's unfinished business.
Speaker 1: I think we should get start to work and then
Speaker 1: coming to play again. What have you focused on this offseason?
Speaker 1: What are the areas that you're you're most paying attention
Speaker 1: to in your own game that you want to bring
Speaker 1: to this next phase with the Sixers. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't want to say just one thing, because I feel
Speaker 1: like we can learn. We can improve ourselves every day,
Speaker 1: like from different perspective if you talk about our bodies,
Speaker 1: because that's the most important thing. I believe we need
Speaker 1: to be healthy during the season because it's a long
Speaker 1: season and intense. H I'm also working on my buddy,
Speaker 1: like every summer that I do, but this summer especially,
Speaker 1: not like summer buddy. I'm talking about real season buddy,
Speaker 1: like NBA player buddy, and I'm gonna work on my
Speaker 1: pool ups. We can move on. But thank you for clarifying. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know enough. But I mean, yeah, of course,
Speaker 1: and I know that you put in work, and let's
Speaker 1: actually talk about that because last season you kept talking
Speaker 1: about how you wanted to improve on defense, and I
Speaker 1: think by the playoffs you really did and you sort
Speaker 1: of made a name for yourself as a plus defender,
Speaker 1: as an improving defender in this league. So tell me
Speaker 1: a little bit more about about defense and how that's
Speaker 1: continuing to develop and where that stands still in your
Speaker 1: priority list. I think you last year overall my best
Speaker 1: defensive season, also my third year, I think I made
Speaker 1: a big jump. But last year I was feeling super
Speaker 1: comfortable in defense. I was feeling like I was trying
Speaker 1: to do what the coaches want me to do. I
Speaker 1: didn't have any issues on defensive site. Of course, like
Speaker 1: every position is not perfect like offense, you don't play
Speaker 1: perfect offense every position in defense the same way. But
Speaker 1: I think I limited the mistakes that I did in defense. Offensively,
Speaker 1: I think I should be better pull up pull up shooting.
Speaker 1: You know, I think last year the one thing that
Speaker 1: Duck wanted me to do creative the piano rolls because
Speaker 1: he knows that I can play with the ball. He
Speaker 1: wanted me to create more with the seconden especially, But
Speaker 1: this year I'm gonna be more creating that I'm seeing
Speaker 1: myself to create more. And also like shooting, like everybody
Speaker 1: knows that I can shoot. Of course I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: keep shooting it, but driving kick find an open, open
Speaker 1: guy to play the team better. I make the team better,
Speaker 1: and of course it comes with the responsibility. But I
Speaker 1: think I'm ready for that. So we're gonna take a
Speaker 1: sharp right turn in the conversation to come back to
Speaker 1: something that you talked about at the beginning, which was
Speaker 1: food in Turkey. I had this similar sit down with
Speaker 1: Danny Green a couple of days ago. Danny told me
Speaker 1: about his favorite restaurants in Philly. My understanding is that
Speaker 1: you consider yourself sort of a food expert, a food connoisseur. Definitely, yes,
Speaker 1: So tell me you were like, yep, So tell me
Speaker 1: more about that. Why it's food such a passion to you,
Speaker 1: and then can you give us a couple of your
Speaker 1: favorites in Philadelphia. First of all, when I was younger,
Speaker 1: I hate it eat because I was a skinny guy.
Speaker 1: You know, I was not in the I was not
Speaker 1: in love with the food. Every time my mom was
Speaker 1: telling me, hey, finish your plate, finish your plate, don't
Speaker 1: leave the food on the plate. You know, you know
Speaker 1: how that goes. And then as soon as I got here,
Speaker 1: especially my second year, I start to eat a lot,
Speaker 1: like a lot, and I start to like discover the restaurants,
Speaker 1: the food, different cultures. And here's the good thing about
Speaker 1: the Philly you have like a different type of food,
Speaker 1: different type of the area of the city. Like one
Speaker 1: day you can go eat a Japanese food, the other
Speaker 1: day Italian, the Brazilian. You know not it was like
Speaker 1: Turkey food. Of course I eat Turkish foot too, But
Speaker 1: I have like four or five different restaurants in the
Speaker 1: city that I go a lot and which I enjoy most.
Speaker 1: Do you want to give any shout outs to some
Speaker 1: of your favorite restaurants? Yeah, yeah, definitely. I can say
Speaker 1: Double Nut for the sushi, for fish and Greek food. Stamm,
Speaker 1: I know you've been there too and that was ridicule,
Speaker 1: but right now they're closed, which I'm really upset about it.
Speaker 1: And for the steakhouse, Um, I mean steakhouse. I don't
Speaker 1: think the steak like. I will say it this way.
Speaker 1: The steak is like really good in every restaurant in
Speaker 1: the States. But there's some restaurants, of course make it better. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know what was the name of the restaurant
Speaker 1: that piment is a team at the end of the season. You, yeah,
Speaker 1: well that was really good. I forget the name. But
Speaker 1: Stake forty age is really good. And what else am
Speaker 1: I missing anything? And Zah well, of course I forget
Speaker 1: about the Zaho and you're the mayor of Zah, right,
Speaker 1: I'm the mayor of the Zaho. How I can't forget
Speaker 1: about it? Yeah? Zo, thank you for I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone cares where I eat, but I do endorse most
Speaker 1: of those recommendations, some of which I actually got from me.
Speaker 1: Thank you. M The last topic I want to cover
Speaker 1: is someone that I know is near and dear to
Speaker 1: your heart, Matissa Bible, who just actually played his first
Speaker 1: international basketball So can you let's first talk about that.
Speaker 1: Did you follow his journey because I know you gave
Speaker 1: him a little bit of advice about playing internationally. What
Speaker 1: was it like for you to see your brother doing that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you are talking about this Plankford national team, I
Speaker 1: told him that it's not going to be easy. But
Speaker 1: I think he played really good. Like I really follow him,
Speaker 1: watched some of his games. I was super happy because
Speaker 1: he was looking happy. Because I know him well, then
Speaker 1: he's not happy, I can't understand, I can tell, but
Speaker 1: he was happy. I think he had a new best
Speaker 1: friend joining list, which I was a little bit jealous.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask him about this, but overall, I was
Speaker 1: super happy for him because it's a different experience. Like
Speaker 1: you know, I've been playing for the national team for
Speaker 1: a long time, but I didn't have enough experience about
Speaker 1: Olympics because we never had a chance to go a
Speaker 1: chance to make it. This year, we had a chance,
Speaker 1: but we couldn't make it. So that's why I was
Speaker 1: feeling a little weird, but I was happy for him.
Speaker 1: You guys developed a pretty special friendship last season that
Speaker 1: you've both talked about. So I know that you didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily resign here because of Matis, But how much are
Speaker 1: you looking forward to continuing the partnership and the friendship
Speaker 1: you have? Of course, like I would like to see
Speaker 1: him as soon as possible. You know, probably I'm going
Speaker 1: to see him before the training camp starts. But he
Speaker 1: knows me, he understands me. That's I think really important
Speaker 1: because overall we all play basketball, but we are not
Speaker 1: like super close friends. You know, in the teams, in
Speaker 1: the work at the office, you feel like you have
Speaker 1: somebody closer to you that makes you understand you know,
Speaker 1: and you understand him he understand you. I think that's
Speaker 1: really important. Perfect Furkan Quirkma is always a pleasure to
Speaker 1: catch up. Thank you for doing this on behalf of
Speaker 1: the city of Philadelphia. I don't know if I can
Speaker 1: even say that if you're the mayor. We're thrilled to
Speaker 1: have you back. Really excited about this. Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thanks of course to Furkan for
Speaker 1: sitting down, sharing some stories and as always making us laugh.
Speaker 1: Be on the lookout for more of these one on
Speaker 1: one interviews from the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast feed
Speaker 1: as the build up to training camp continues. Hard to believe,
Speaker 1: but it's almost that time once again. I'm Lauren Rosen.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for tuning in.