By John Denton
Nov. 21, 2015
ORLANDO – It’s still incredibly early in the NBA season, but Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier has already established himself as one of the leading candidates for the league’s Most Improved Player award what with the massive growth that he’s displayed.
Fournier, 23, went into Saturday afternoon’s game against the Sacramento Kings averaging a career-best 19.4 points per game – a 7.4-point improvement on the 12 points a game that he averaged last season. That season-to-season improvement ranks Fournier tied for third among players leading their respective teams in scoring, including Paul George (16.5-point improvement), Steph Curry (9.8 point-improvement), Nicolas Batum (7.4-point improvement) and Bradley Beal (7.4-point improvement). Among all players, Fournier’s 7.4-point improvement from last season is tied for sixth with only George, C.J. McCullum (13.3-point improvement), Curry, Julius Randle (9.1-point improvement) and Otto Porter (7.6-point improvement) ahead of him.
``I was confident, but I wasn’t ever thinking about any numbers,’’ said Fournier, who came into Saturday also averaging career highs in minutes (38.4), rebounds (4.3), assists (2.9) steals (1.3) and free throw percentage (80 percent). ``I’ve tried to keep the same mindset every day at practice and in every game – get better at everything that I do. I’ve just been out there giving my best and seeing what happens. I was confident I could improve, but I never had any certain numbers in mind that I wanted to try and put up.’’
WANTING MORE FROM VOOCH: Magic coach Scott Skiles made up his mind on Wednesday that he wasn’t going to start standout center Nikola Vucevic in the second half following some uncharacteristically poor play in the first half against Minnesota rookie Karl-Anthony Towns. Skiles said he made the decision to leave Vucevic on the bench the rest of the game and in overtime when big men such as Jason Smith and Andrew Nicholson played well in the Magic’s 104-101 overtime defeat of the Timberwolves.
On Friday, Skiles sat down with the 7-foot center to explain his thought process on the benching. Also, Skiles made it a point to tell Vucevic that he expected more from him on the defensive end and on the glass on a nightly basis.
``He and I had a long talk (on Friday) and I didn’t enter the second half thinking to myself, `I’m not putting Vooch in in the second half.’ I was thinking not starting him (in the third quarter) and then the game dictated it and the four bigs we were playing had so much energy and he just didn’t get back in,’’ Skiles said. ``Like with all of our guys, as good as he is – and he’s really, really talented – but we want more. We want more consistency and more effort.’’
HIDDEN HERO: Fournier was celebrated as the hero of Wednesday’s win after he hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer late in overtime. However, the Magic likely wouldn’t have been successful if not for the exploits of Smith.
Smith had a highlight-worthy block of Shabazz Muhammad in the third quarter and late a layup as he was fouled to kick-start a Magic team that slogged through the first half. And late in OT, Smith won a critical jump back against Minnesota guard Zach LaVine – the reigning Slam Dunk champion – that set up Fournier’s game-winning shot.
Smith, who recently missed four games with a bruised knee, had five points, 10 rebounds and a blocked shot against Minnesota. Of late, he’s helped the Magic win games against Toronto and Philadelphia with his grit and willingness to fight in the low post.
Those were aspects of his game that drew the Magic to the 7-foot Smith last July when he was an unrestricted free agent, Skiles said.
``One of our opinions of his was that (toughness). He’s not afraid to take a hard foul and he’s typically not a guy you can go and dunk the ball on because he will stand up for himself,’’ Skiles said of Smith, who has averaged 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds in his first seven games. ``He’s going to play a physical style. He’s not really known for that, but that’s what we saw in him and that’s what he’s done for us so far.’’