Orlando Magic: Evan Fournier, Forgotten Man
By Luke Duffy
This summer, the Orlando Magic need to address a number of key issues. Whether it’s a new forward should Tobias Harris leave as a restricted free agent, or ensuring the right type of player is drafted, this is a team with needs throughout the roster.
As a team that is below average in both scoring and defending, they could do with adding better personnel to help them in those areas as well. In Evan Fournier though, do they actually already have the guy who can help them turn a corner next season?
For Fournier, last season was tough. A draft-night trade landed him in Orlando from the Denver Nuggets, a place where he’d spent the first two years of his career as a role player. An injury to Victor Oladipo meant Fournier actually started for Orlando to begin the season. Having a bigger role right from the off seemed to suit the Frenchman perfectly, as he quickly turned in his best statistical spurts since coming into the league.
In all, the 22-year-old started only 32 games, largely because he plays the same position as Oladipo, the face of the franchise. It will be impossible to move beyond him in the pecking order here, but really he doesn’t have to if he wants to find success with the team.
However, it was the injuries that only limited him to 58 games in total, and that has made many forget that he may actually be the key to solving a lot of problems for this team going forward.
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Firstly for next season, his role needs to be more clearly defined. It was hard to get the best out of him last year as he was used in a variety of ways. He was a starter, then moved to the bench before injury broke up his contributions to the team.
The beginning of the year was when he was at his best, and there’s no reason why he won’t be able to return to that level once again if he consistently comes off the bench.
It’s his scoring punch that will be of most importance to the team next year, and that will be great for a bench that needs it. Last season he shot 38 percent from downtown, right around his career average. It also ranked second among all members of the team, behind only Channing Frye, a stretch-four known for his long range shooting.
The NBA has truly moved into an era of three-point shooting over all else, and the Magic don’t exactly have the players to follow that blueprint.
Their backcourt of Elfrid Payton and Oladipo are both below average three-point shooters, while Frye is the only member of the starting unit capable of hitting them consistently from downtown. Harris has shown improvement in that area, but it’s hardly a go-to shot for him yet. When you combine this with a bench that ranked 24th in the league in three point shooting last year, suddenly Fournier’s abilities become a lot more important here.
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Coming off the bench for many 20-25 minutes a night and consistently hitting shots from beyond the three-point line will suddenly open up the paint for others. Fournier is hardly a feared marksman throughout the league, but even last season a body was required on him at all times. Leaving him alone usually results in a made basket, and his ball handling and ability to get to the rim is underrated too.
Defensively, he still has much room for improvement and he may never be reliable on that end. But when you look at this team’s other guards, you begin to realize, maybe he doesn’t need to be. Interim head coach James Borrego got the best out of this team defensively last season.
In Oladipo and Payton the Magic have two young guards with great futures on that end. But you do need to score points as well in the NBA, and Fournier may be the best placed on this team to do so in spurts.
So while it’s exciting to talk about the draft, and all that it may bring, Fournier may actually be the answer to a lot of questions. He’s still young and has plenty of potential as well. Should this team hold onto Harris, the temptation may be there to go after one of the highly thought of guards in the draft. But with Fournier already on this team, does that make much sense?
He truly has been the forgotten man, both during the end of last season and throughout this offseason so far. Many fans will be eager to see the team invest in a veteran shooter who can score the basketball. Well, in Fournier they have a young, and cheaper, version of that, and next season they need to learn to use him properly.
Along with Aaron Gordon, I’m tipping Fournier to be the Magic’s most improved player next season out of the current crop of players on the team. He showed flashes to begin last season, before a number of factors disrupted his rhythm. He will return knowing his place as an offensive weapon a team with designs on making the playoffs. It’s a role he appears tailor-made for.
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