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

Evan Fournier’s weaknesses

For all of Fournier’s scoring prowess, there were times during the season where he would follow a couple of impressive games up with not only a bad game, but a bad game in which he was invisible for most of the contest as well. As a microcosm of this, in the four games before the season came to a halt, Fournier scored four, seven, 15 and 22 points.

The wild variance in output hurt the Magic, as just when they felt like they could rely on him to always show up and score, he would go through a period where the opposite was the case. There was no flow to his game, and in turn, Fournier would then try and force the issue to get going again, but just end up hurting his team.

That inability to show up when needed was evident in the playoffs as well, as Fournier averaged only 12.8 points per game in the series against the Bucks. Although the opponent was an all-time great defensive unit, the superb play of Vucevic meant that Fournier had more space than he realistically would have expected to go to work.

To Fournier’s credit, he is no longer the liability he was on the defensive end in the past, and the Magic’s rating on that end of 109.2 (11th in the league) held firm when Fournier was on the court (109.7). For context, that number was 110.1 last season, when the Magic seemed more invested on that end.

It may be harsh to point this out as a weakness, but if Fournier could take a step up defensively it would turn him into a borderline All-Star. As things stand he’s got the raw numbers to start to make a case, and the apparent ability to get better at scoring too. Turning himself into a two-way menace, however, would take the Magic to the next level, but it does not look like it is going to happen.