Evan Fournier’s return makes a world of difference

Evan Fournier has been plagued by injury and inconsistency. In his two-game return from injury, Fournier showed exactly why he is valuable to this team.

Things felt different the moment Evan Fournier stepped back onto the floor.

Even the plays the Magic ran took on a different tenor. There were screens and off-ball movement to set up Fournier for 3-pointers.

As you can see in the player movement animation and in the replay of the play here, this was a specifically designed play to get Evan Fournier a shot in the corner. There are few players that the Magic could run a play like this and successfully get the shot the team wants.

With the way he shot in his first two games back after an 18-game absence, who could blame James Borrego for leaving him in there late in games and designing plays specifically for him.

Fournier scored 29 points in his two games back, shooting 9 for 17 and 5 for 11 from beyond the arc. That 3-point shooting was something the Magic desperately missed. As well as the play-making and ability and willingness to attack and drive off the dribble.

“Evan is a difference maker for us, and we’ve said that all along,” James Borrego said after the Magic defeated the Bulls. “We’ve missed him on the floor in his time out. I think tonight what we saw is a player that’s confident. He can shoot the three, he can drive it, he can play make, he can space away from teh ball, he’s a competitive defender. We trust him defensively, that’s what we saw tonight.”

The team stats also bare things out.

In the 18 games Fournier missed from Feb. 27 to April 4, the Magic posted a 100.2 offensive rating and 107.2 defensive ratings while shooting a 48.4 percent effective field goal percentage. In the two games Fournier returned, the Magic posted a 106.8 offensive rating and 103.4 defensive rating with a 50.6 percent effective field goal percentage.

Even for a small two-game sample size, that is quite the turnaround.

“It was great,” Nikola Vucevic said. “We missed him out there. He came back and played really well for us. I’m happy that he is back. He makes the game a lot easier for all of us.”

That evidence could have been made even clearer with how much the Magic offense struggled against the Knicks the following night. Fournier was a late scratch from the game as a precaution against the core injury that kept him out for nearly a month and a half.

Fournier has been a measure of inconsistency throughout his short career. The reputation on him in Denver was that he was a good, but streaky shooter, going through wild swings of great play to irrelevant plays. He never could crack Brian Shaw‘s rotation.

In Orlando, though, he became an important cog to the team. As one of the few guys who could spread the floor and run the pick and roll.

That did not mean he was not subject to the inconsistency that has plagued him throughout his young career in his first year in a Magic uniform.

Still, it has been clear the Magic are made better when Fournier is on the floor.

“Whether he has the ball or he doesn’t,” Borrego said. “When he doesn’t have the ball, they are aware of him, the spacing changes, they don’t want to leave him. When he has the ball, he can get downhill, he can play pick and roll, he can drive it, he can kick it. You don’t want to go under the pick and roll because he can ding you for that.”

That threat is as important as anything.

This season, the Magic posted a 101.5 offensive rating with Evan Fournier on the floor. Only Elfrid Payton has a higher on-court offensive rating this season. The team still has a -4.1 net efficiency rating, but the defense does not suffer too far below the Magic’s 105.2 defensive rating with Fournier on the floor.

Off the floor, the Magic’s offense dips to 98.2 points per 100 possessions. So there is a clear impact offensively, at least, when Fournier is on the floor. Players can feel it.

The season may not have been that much different if Fournier were healthy for that 6-15 stretch that Fournier missed. One player is not enough to flip things this season. But the team seems undoubtedly better, on offense at least, when Fournier is on the floor. He is just another weapon the team has at its disposal.

Albeit a sometimes inconsistent one. Such is youth.

With so little time left in the season, why did Fournier push to come back? It would have been easy to shut it down. It remains unclear whether he will play Monday against the Heat or in the finale Wednesday against the Nets.

Fournier just did not want his season to end that way.

“I have nothing to lose really,” Fournier said. “It’s the end of the season. I’m playing the way I have been playing all season with confidence.”

That confidence will do him well as he tries to salvage something from the end of the season — maybe he already has. The Magic saw a glimpse of the player they anticipated when they acquired him last summer. His second year, even more will be expected from him.

For a team in need of an offensive boost, it looks like Fournier could make a big difference.