Orlando Magic: Grading Evan Fournier’s 2019-20 NBA season

Evan Fournier’s strengths

Fournier’s key strength, particularly on this Orlando Magic roster, will always be his ability to create his own shot. He is the player who is best able to put the ball on the floor and making something happen when the team needs him too.

Fournier had a usage rate of 23.9 percent during the year, which speaks both to how important he is to get things going offensively, but also how he is as good as it gets in that regard as well. It is no surprise that this was the highest such number he’s had in that category in his career to date, while also ranking behind only center Nikola Vucevic (25.8).

In keeping with his offensive importance, Fournier’s season average of 18.5 points per contest was also a career-high. You get a sense of how important these points where, when you consider that outside of Vucevic, who is a walking double-double and gives you 20 points most games, there really wasn’t much else happening on that end for the team.

The Magic’s offensive rating of 107.9 ranked 23rd during the regular season, and although they were about the same when Fournier was on the court (107.7), it again shows that when he was on the court, the scoring was right around what the put up for the season. It could have been so much worse if he was not there.

Fournier shot a shade under 40 percent from deep on over 6.6 attempts per game, critical numbers for an organization that were late to the 3-point shooting frenzy that gripped the league in the last decade. Given that opponents typically didn’t have many other players on the Magic roster to guard from deep, this meant Fournier got their best defenders often.

To score as consistently from deep, while also having a career-high in points per game, despite this is impressive. To being a volume scorer on a playoff team is also that shouldn’t be overlooked. There is nobody else in the rotation who can do what Fournier does, and it is really important for the Magic.