Who will be Orlando’s most improved? Evan Fournier
By S.W. Guest
Although the Orlando Magic has a number of players set for big season’s in 2015-16, Evan Fournier has all the makings of the team’s most improved.
It is easy to forget Evan Fournier is already a year into his Orlando Magic career.
Acquired as part of the deal that sent Arron Afflalo back to the Denver Nuggets, the 22-year-old guard had a solid 2015 campaign, averaging a career-high 12 points per game , 2.6 rebounds per game and 2.1 assists per game. With little fanfare, he played 28.6 minutes per game, shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from deep.
These numbers, combined with the fact he stepped so seamlessly into the starting five while others were injured (something he did 32 times last season), seem to suggest the only thing standing between Evan Fournier and a breakout season is the glut of talented guards the Orlando Magic has amassed around him.
Along with Fournier, starters Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo are expected to eat up the bulk of the minutes in the backcourt, while the rest will be distributed among backup point guards C.J. Watson and Shabazz Napier and the freshly drafted Mario Hezonja.
While Hezonja can probably expect to play at least some of his allocated court time at the small forward position, competition for those backcourt minutes could cause new head coach Scott Skiles a headache or two going forward, while Fournier’s ability to up his defensive contribution (Skiles’ point of emphasis) may determine just how many of them come his way.
By no means a terrible defender, Fournier can make further progress on that end of the floor simply by being a little more disciplined. At 6-foot-7, he has the length, if not the size or speed, to be a nuisance on the perimeter and he exhibited signs of definite defensive improvement under interim coach James Borrego last season, something Scott Skiles’ tutelage should further enhance.
That said, Fournier is never likely to be an elite defender, although he should not need to be, especially with the likes of Payton and Oladipo around him. What Orlando needs him to be is a consistent threat from 3-point territory, especially as Payton (26.2 percent) and Oladipo (33.3 percent) both struggled from range last season.
Fournier can score, a fact punctuated by his career-high 28-point performance against the dismal New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden last season. That night he started things off with a wide-open 3-point attempt off a Nikola Vucevic post-and-kick play and stayed hot all night, showing just how well-rounded his offensive arsenal is by scoring the majority of his points off dribble drives and wide-open jumpers.
As mentioned, he is not the quickest, but that night he used a combination of his own perimeter threat and Orlando’s well-spaced offense (something having Channing Frye on the floor contributed to considerably) to fake his defender and drive through the lane, either finishing at the rim or earning a trip to the line in the process.
Although he was not able to exceed that outstanding early season performance, numerically speaking at least, Fournier did exceed the 20-point mark on five other occasions last year, impressing along the way.
"“He’s a very aggressive player. He’s a competitive kid. He’s a proud kid. He has shown that every single night. The ball is going to be in his hands. He’s going to playmake, he’s going to get to the rim. He’s going to find open teammates. He’s going to shoot it some.”"
While he is right about all of the above, there is a question mark hanging over Fournier’s long-term future with the club. Rob Hennigan and company will have to make a tough decision to that end in the coming year, as the 22-year-old guard’s due to become a restricted free agent after the 2016 season, unless the Magic sign him to an extension that is.
Given how well he has played, not to mention the potential he has exhibited during his time in pinstripes, that seems like a no-brainer. But Fournier, who is set to earn $2.2 million next season, may yet decide he does not want to continue playing on a team that is unlikely ever to be able to offer him starter’s minutes, which Orlando most likely will not, at least not while Victor Oladipo is in town.
The harsh reality is that because of the amount of young talent this Orlando Magic roster boasts Fournier is unlikely to ever amount to much more than a role player while with the franchise. That said, his value-for-money contract and scoring output ensure he is just the kind of role player the Magic needs right now, regardless of where he ends up playing the season after next.
And when you factor in the fact that this is a contract year Fournier has all the makings of Orlando’s most improved player.
For better or worse.