Orlando Magic: The Emergence Of Evan Fournier
By Luke Duffy
When the Orlando Magic traded Arron Afflalo back to his former club the Denver Nuggets for Evan Fournier during the summer, I wasn’t thrilled. Afflalo, an excellent two way player, had led the team in scoring last season and had generally been a leader for this team.
He was also the perfectly disciplined for promising prospect Victor Oladipo to learn from. I felt he was worth more than a shooting guard who was being given 15.5 minutes a game in Denver.
It’s early days yet, but as of this moment I’m delighted to have been proved wrong by what Fournier brought to the team.
It really began in the summer during the FIBA World Cup. Given that the time difference was in my favor for once, I tried to catch as much of him playing for France as I could, en route to their impressive and surprising bronze medal finish.
During their run, he was a lightning rod for a team that didn’t have the likes of Tony Parker on the roster. Yes, not everything he did was worth talking about, and during the group stage he was actually pretty poor.
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Once the knockout stages began however, he really upped his game, and it was great to see him put his disappointing performances earlier in the tournament behind him.
That form carried into the new NBA season, and right now the Magic are a somewhat surprising 5-8 team. Now, Fournier isn’t the sole reason for this, but he’s really seized the opportunity to grow into an integral part of what the Magic do.
He probably won’t get the exposure on this team to be a legit Most Improved Player selection when the award is handed out, but as of right now, he deserves to be in the conversation. Let’s look at why.
Fournier is leading this team in scoring, averaging 17.3 points a game. Playing 34.2 minutes a night absolutely has helped to swell that number substantially, but he’s taken his chances really well.
For a team that lost it’s leading scorer in Afflalo, to have another guy step in and fill the void right away, it’s been nothing short of a pleasant surprise. The manner in which he’s scoring as well is nice. The guy can flat out shoot, he’s averaging a sizzling 50 percent of his 3-point attempts right now.
But at 6’7″, the shooting guard can put it on the floor and get to the cup as well. It’s not something he’s doing a ton, and if he did it more often you have to think he’d have some joy there, especially with the likes of Channing Frye spacing the floor for him so well.
I expect him to average just more than 20 points a game by the time the season ends.
Speaking of Fournier’s 3-point shooting, the Magic actually lead the league is 3-point shooting right now if you can believe that. Now, Fournier is absolutely a key reason for this, and the fact he’s been able to influence such a vital team statistic so soon is brilliant.
Now, Frye absolutely deserves a mention here, he’s one of the best three point shooting bigs in the league today. Last season Orlando ranked 21st in 3-point shooting, so it’s clear Fournier is a positive influence here.
It’s great to see what has become a mutually beneficial situation between player and team develop here. It’s clear Orlando has a lot of trust in his abilities, they have given him the green light to fire away if he feels he can make a play.
From watching him play though, occasionally he can jack it up when there’s something else on, and that needs to be nipped in the bud quickly before it becomes a problem.
In the Magic’s recent loss to the Toronto Raptors, there were two occasions in the fourth quarter as the game was slipping away when Fournier tried to shoot the team back into the game far too early in the shot clock. He missed on both occasions.
It’s about finding a balance, and it’s certainly not a big problem right now. Rather, we’re watching a 22 year old guy get his first real shot at being a key guy on a team, and it’s clear he’s enjoying having the ball more than he ever has. He’ll throw it up sometimes when he shouldn’t and that’s the trade off here.
In terms of bang for your buck, he’s making less than $1.5 million this season, making his production to date an absolute steal for this team. This much is clear, when his rookie contract ends after next season, he’ll be looking to get paid if he keeps this up.
For a team that has gone through so many emotional highs and lows already in this young season, it’s great to have the scoring consistency Fournier brings to the team. He sneaked in under the radar, even if he did have a breakout World Cup, and I’m delighted that he is a part of this young core right now.
Look out for him to continue to improve as he gets more comfortable on his new team, even with Oladipo now back from injury.