2018-19 Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Evan Fournier

Final Grade

Evan Fournier was not a complete loss this season. He showed steady improvement with his defense and his passing throughout the year. He found other ways to contribute to the game that helped the Orlando Magic win in the end.

That was an important expansion to his game.

It might be overstated though. He was still a player who searched for his own shot a bit too much, sometimes bringing the game to a halt.

And his defensive improvements went from negative to slightly below average. It was not like Fournier suddenly became a strong defender. He was simply passable.

Those are important steps that should not be completely lost. If Fournier continues with these trends he will be a better player for the Magic. Someone who may not feel as weighty as the team looks to improve and take its next steps — and, yes, move on to the new generation of the team.

But the bottom line with Fournier is that his one main job is to be a shooter. The team absolutely needs him to make shots and spread the floor. His reputation helped spread the floor anyway. But when it came time for him to hit shots in big moments, he was inconsistent.

A Fournier shooting as he normally does in the regular season certainly makes the Magic a higher seed. In the playoffs, it might have won them one more game. Orlando was at a point where results mattered more than the process.

Fournier was getting all the normal shots and looks he has gotten for much of the last four years. But he was just missing them. Quite simply he was missing shots he has to make and normally makes.

Fournier consistently recognized this issue and could not come up with a good explanation. It was just a strange season on that front for him for that reason.

The question left for Fournier is whether he can maintain the improvements he made in other parts of his game and bring back the shooting the team has relied on for so long. And then figure out exactly what that player can do and add to this team.