Orlando Magic: Is Evan Fournier doing what’s needed early on?

The Orlando Magic knew they’d need a big season out of Evan Fournier so they could improve in 2018-19. Early on, how is he doing?

Although much of the offseason was about the Orlando Magic continuing to implement their youth movement, the improvement of some of the players already on the team was meant to help as well.

Players such as Jonathon Simmons and Nikola Vucevic were looked upon as veteran presences who could offer a lot on the court. While they have yielded mixed results so far, the same is also true of Evan Fournier.

An offensive-minded 2-guard, his ability to score the basketball was something the Magic were going to have to lean on as new head coach Steve Clifford found his way on that end of the court based on the players at his disposal.

For that reason, and more on top of that, there was a reasonable amount of pressure on Fournier to begin the campaign. It is far too early to talk about how much of a factor he could end up being for Orlando, but with four games in the books it’s worth taking a look at what we’ve seen so far.

Still only 26 and in his seventh year, Fournier has begun the season averaging 17.5 points per game, a shade below his career high (17.8) and some way above his career average of 13.2 points per game. This may not last, but there’s reason to think that that number could remain relatively consistent.

This is because Fournier also currently averages the second-most points per game on the roster, behind only center Nikola Vucevic, who has had a blistering start to the campaign at 18.8 points per game. To add to that, Fournier also poured in 31 points in that tough one-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

This was the fourth 30-point game of Fournier’s career, and an early indication that he was ready to assume even more control offensively. With players like Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba helping defensively, Fournier is freer to be the attacking player we know he is.

That scoring touch has also seen Fournier post the second highest plus/minus on the team for the last two games, posting a +19 against the 76ers and a +10 against the Boston Celtics. Fournier can point to his contributions as a reason the team is 2-2 so far.

This is even better when you consider the Sixers and Celtics are supposed to be two of the top three teams in the East this season. That being said, the less said about the 32-point beatdown at home to the Charlotte Hornets before that, the better.

Fournier had a deplorable plus/minus of -33 on the night, by far the worst mark of any Magic player who took to the court (the next worst was a -24 for both Vucevic and D.J. Augustin). Fournier scored 12 points.

Back to the positives though. Fournier currently has a Player Efficiency Rating of 16.2, with the league average being 15.0. At the moment, Fournier has the fourth-highest PER on the team, but it is currently a career high too.

Where it gets patchier, though, is when you look beyond the basic numbers and Orlando’s decent start to the season. Despite Fournier putting up solid scoring numbers, the Magic have an offensive rating of 99.8 (28th in the league).

When Fournier is on the court, that number jumps up to 102.4 — proof that he is helping on the offensive end where he is supposed to. Yet if that number were applied to the Magic as a whole, they would still rank 28th in this category (the Memphis Grizzlies sit 27th with a rating of 103).

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It is unfair to say that Fournier’s stats have been of the empty kind, but there is a case to be made that this is true. His effective field goal percentage of 48.5 percent is by far a career low. So too is his 3-point shooting percentage (34.5 percent).

Fournier is also averaging more 3-point attempts per game (7.3) than ever before as well. This points to a player being less efficient than in years gone by, though it’s only been four games. Despite putting up some identical scoring numbers, it is taking Fournier more shots to get there.

This is also reflected in his usage rate (26.8), which again is by far a career high. In his defense, Fournier is also averaging a career high in assists so far (4.8 per game, third on the team) showing that he isn’t always making the wrong decision.

At this stage though, the real knock on his game has been on the defensive end. It may not be where Fournier is meant to excel, but there is also no question the Magic can be a top-10 outfit in this category when you combine Clifford with the defensive-minded players here.

Fournier does not fall into that category, but it is on everybody to do their part on that end of the court. If anything, the ability of guys like Simmons, Bamba and Isaac to switch and rotate is a luxury for Fournier, who can hide on weaker offensive opponents.

These players also sweep up the mistakes and missed rotations by Fournier. Unfortunately, when he’s on the court, the Magic have a defensive rating of 110.1. When he’s off the court, the Magic defense drastically improves to a defensive rating of 98.7.

This is the worst mark of Fournier’s career. Orlando currently ranks 11th in defensive rating overall (106.8). That number figures to improve regardless, but imagine how good the Magic could be as a unit if Fournier improved even a little bit. Instead, he is going in the other direction.

All of which is to say that to start the season, Evan Fournier has been pretty good for the Orlando Magic, with a few glaring flaws. He is doing what he is supposed to: score the basketball and carry much of the load offensively.

Digging deeper though, it is clear there is an element of inefficiency to his game at the moment. Defensively he is a minus, and the career lows in some of his shooting columns are cause for concern too.

A 2-2 start and some competitive basketball out of the Magic as a whole may mask some of the areas Fournier is not pulling his weight, but that will have to change soon before he is exposed. Right now it is a case of work done, but much more to be done moving forward.