Orlando Magic: About Evan Fournier’s FIBA moment

Feeling like the Orlando Magic’s forgotten man, Evan Fournier has given everybody reason to think at the FIBA World Cup.

There are those out there who think that playing basketball for an international setup is not an ideal way to spend your summers. Evan Fournier of the Orlando Magic was not one of those people.

These players, and fans, usually fall under the term “American,” although their Canadian counterparts have done a good job of staying away from the national team this summer as well.

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The FIBA World Cup may not have the pull of the Olympic Games, but a tournament is a tournament is a tournament and they will be giving out gold medals at the end of this one.

Team USA won’t be picking them up, as they so often have in recent years, and in fact they won’t be playing for a medal at all.

The reason for this? A dispiriting loss to France at the quarterfinal stage of the competition. The best player in that game?

Probably reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, who not only put up 21 points and 16 rebounds, but shut Myles Turner up in the process. The top scorer for the French though?

That would be Evan Fournier, who put up 22 points on the way to an impressive victory for France, regardless of who actually suited up for Team USA.

This was something of a surprise, Fournier entering the tournament to little fanfare, even among the pockets of Orlando Magic fans who were paying attention.

But much like Khem Birch was able to do with Canada, Fournier was able to grasp onto an opportunity that in truth was always there, but which not a lot of people thought was available for Fournier to take.

They are in the semifinals now and you would not bet against them going all the way to a gold medal, such is the balance on their roster.

Which brings us back to the Magic, and the weird situation that Fournier’s notable play is creating down in Orlando. There is no doubt that the organization are in the best position they have been in for a long time, and that it is an exciting time to be a fan.

The only problem there is that, well, Fournier doesn’t really figure into that exciting future.

Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon and what they can eventually become tops that list, with the hope that Markelle Fultz can help them make a leap not far behind.

After that, seeing Mohamed Bamba begin to work out would be nice, while their defensive identity is built around their young core, plus new recruit Al-Farooq Aminu and the underrated Birch.

Nikola Vucevic is the All-Star who continues winning people over, while Terrence Ross is the floor spacer and likable guy off the bench that every team loves to have. All of which is to say, Fournier is an afterthought.

In reality, the $34 million he is owed over the next two seasons takes away from the Magic’s flexibility and if a poll was run to see who fans would like to trade away most, Fournier would likely top that list.

https://twitter.com/NikolaVucevic/status/1171769909191331842

His numbers and play in recent seasons haven’t been world beating either. Last season Fournier averaged 15.1 points and 3.6 assists, on 34 percent from beyond the line.

Fournier’s assist average was a career high though, as the team as a whole moved the ball more freely than in years past (25.5 assists per game, 12th in the league).

The Magic had an offensive rating of 110.1 when he was on the court, as opposed to 108.2 (22nd) on the season as a whole. As perhaps their most complete offensive weapon, Fournier clearly made a difference, although it may not be wrong to ask for more of him offensively as well.

It isn’t all bad though, and really Fournier is about the best and most qualified closer that they have on the roster. This was an issue, and it would have continued to be into this coming season, but his FIBA performances may have changed that.

Fournier has looked more consistent and generally just better, and one reason for this could be because of how he is being used.

Fournier has often been seen as an afterthought with the Magic because that is how he is treated most of the time. The offense went through Vucevic last season (27.6 percent usage), while guys worked around him to take open shots or else cut to the basket.

Fournier is very adept at going to the hoop and the 8.9 drives per game he attempted last season is a healthy number.

Despite this, he only averaged a measly 2.1 free-throw attempts per game, which is a worryingly low number given his ability to get to the basket. With France however he is one of their star men, and is expected to carry the load offensively.

So far he has delivered, ranking four so far at the World Cup in points per game with 21.0 points per game on a sizzling 44.8 percent from deep.

It is also telling that New York Knicks point guard Frank Ntilikina has also looked much better than his performances in the NBA. At times last season he looked like he could be out of the league before long.

At the World Cup however he’s looked ready to battle with the likes of Dennis Smith Jr. and Elfrid Payton for real minutes.

If Fournier had that role in Orlando, would we see a big improvement? Unfortunately he auditioned for that role before, back when the Magic were a lottery team, and the results were not good.

He’s a more mature player now though and it will be interesting to see if he can carry this form into the season, and what that may look like next to more celebrated younger players.

It may also be that playing with Gobert, somebody who cleans up a lot of mistakes defensively, allows Fournier to be the player he is most comfortable being and expending more of his energy offensively.

Vucevic is no Gobert, and even though Birch is a paint protector, head coach Steve Clifford clearly wants everybody to buy in on that end. To his credit Fournier has shown more effort, but chasing opponents around is not his strength.

If nothing else, his performances in China this summer will make Fournier more appealing for a potential trade as the season goes on.

In 2020-21 he can be used as an expiring contract in any deal, but there are always organizations who panic before the trade deadline, either to try and push through into the playoffs or set themselves up for a deep postseason run.

That $34 million is not an ideal amount of money to eat for somebody who is inconsistent and can go missing for weeks at a time. Only Fournier doesn’t look like that guy right now, and he may return to Orlando as their form player to begin the season.

He may be the forgotten man because of where the Magic are at in this exciting time in the young core’s development, but Evan Fournier is reminding everybody of just how good he can be. No matter what this is an unexpected boost for the Orlando Magic.

It just took him going halfway around the world to start to help them out.