Even in a year of struggle, Orlando Magic miss Evan Fournier

The Orlando Magic’s offense slowed to a crawl. It seems odd to say, but the Magic missed Evan Fournier even though he has struggled this year.

Evan Fournier‘s season to this point has been one full of disappointment.

The sharpshooting guard who has paced the Orlando Magic through bad year after bad year waiting for the chance to contribute to a winning team finally seemed to find that role. He was not the lead scorer he was as the Magic struggled through the last few years. But this was not the Evan Fournier the Magic expected to see in any way.

This Fournier was struggling to make shots — shooting 31.9 percent from beyond the arc and a 49.2 percent effective field goal percentage. If that continues, it will be the first time he shoots worse than 50 percent.

This has been a year to forget for Fournier so far. Except for the fact the Magic are firmly in the Playoff race.

That honestly might add to his frustration and his desire to contribute more than he already is. It still feels like the Magic are on the precipice of either staying in the Playoff race or falling back to their old, bad habits.

In either case, the Magic need Fournier. And that was made all the more evident in the Orlando Magic’s 101-76 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Fournier missed his first game of the season Monday, returning home from Dallas to deal with a personal matter. Coach Steve Clifford said the team is not sure but he is hopeful Evan Fournier will return to the team Thursday in Mexico City against the Chicago Bulls.

Still, that absence was no excuse for the team’s poor execution and attention to detail. It is nearly impossible to go through an entire season with every key player hitting 82 games. And the Magic have already performed admirably without key players like Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac.

Orlando can and should have played better.

But the game also highlighted how much the Magic missed Fournier and even the threat of Fournier even with his poor shooting to this point in the season.

The Magic as a team shot 36.0 percent from the floor and 8 for 28 from beyond the arc. The team took 41 of its 89 field goal attempts (46.1 percent) from 10-24 feet as 2-pointers. For the season, the Magic are taking 24.4 percent of their shots from that range.

In Monday’s game almost all the Magic’s 3-point attempts were open or wide open (closest defender no closer than four feet from the shooter). It was not necessarily the Magic got poor 3-point looks, it was that they settled for them and did not have the shooters to make them.

A lot of the Magic’s problems come from the things Fournier can do. Namely his spacing and threat of 3-point shot.

The Mavericks strategy was to camp in the paint, go under every screen and dare the Magic to shoot. Without Fournier to help spread the floor, the strategy worked brilliantly. Orlando took the bait and ended up with a lot of difficult mid-range shots.

It is no wonder the team only got five free throw attempts. There were no driving lanes to get to. Not that Fournier would make much of a difference there, he is not a high-volume driver or free throw shooter.

The Magic’s offense had problems that went beyond Fournier in Monday’s game. Nikola Vucevic played his worst game of the season, struggling to establish good post position. The Magic did not cut strong off him in the high post and the team’s passing was almost non-existent.

Aaron Gordon did not help either. As much as anyone, he settled for mid-range jumpers. And his 3-point shot deserted him in the game.

But Fournier does make a huge difference for the team’s offense, even as he has struggled this season.

Outside of Nikola Vucevic and D.J. Augustin, the Magic are better with no player other than Evan Fournier. The team has a 107.2 offensive rating with Fournier on the floor, compared to 97.7 off it. Orlando shoots a 53.1 percent effective field goal percentage. Again, only Nikola Vucevic and D.J. Augustin are better on the team.

According to NBAWOWY, the Magic have a 112.9 offensive rating when Vucevic, Augustin and Fournier share the floor with a 54.2 percent effective field goal percentage. That is far better than the team’s average.

Granted, the Magic have played better offensively with Fournier off the floor and Augustin and Vucevic remaining — 121.4 points per 100 possessions and 56.5 percent effective field goal percentage. Fournier’s offensive struggles are real and Augustin and Vucevic have been bigger drivers of the team’s offensive success this year.

But as Clifford has pointed out, Fournier has contributed to the team’s defensive success this year. With Fournier off the floor with Augustin and Vucevic, the Magic have a 110.4 defensive rating and a 109.0 defensive rating when adding Fournier to the mix.

No one is confusing Fournier for a strong defensive player — despite Clifford’s praise for him on that end this season. The Magic’s 106.8 defensive rating with Fournier on the floor is the worst for all rotation players. But his -1.5 defensive box plus-minus is the best of his career and his 0.6 defensive win shares are already better than previous seasons with the Magic.

Fournier’s defensive contributions have not been as negative as years past by almost any measure. Even if he is still overall a negative defender.

The biggest thing the team misses without Fournier is that spacing on offense. He is another driver for the team. He is someone who can work pick and rolls. That frees up Vucevic (he shoots 55.6 percent off 9.2 passes per game from Fournier) and Augustin (45.7 percent shooting off 5.1 passes per game from Fournier) to shoot more from the perimeter.

The Magic need more drivers and more floor spacers to keep the offense flowing. Fournier is not a perfect driver by any means — while his assists are up, he has had some big turnover games and it is clear driving is not his natural inclination — he does the job serviceably for the team.

Orlando needs his presence out there even as a shooting threat to open things up for other players.

So even though Fournier has largely struggled this year. Orlando is missing a whole lot with Fournier off the floor. That was clear Monday.

Orlando may not have Fournier again Thursday (or even Saturday). The team has to find a way to play without him. But it was clear what kind of a difference he can make, even when the team is struggling.