5 things to know about the new Boston Celtics guard, Evan Fournier

The Boston Celtics acquired Orlando Magic guard / wing Evan Fournier ahead of the NBA negotiation deadline.

Here are five things you should know about the 28 year old.

He is a talented striker in many ways.

Fournier is an acceptable ace and defender, but nothing remarkable – don’t expect him to be Chris Paul or Tony Allen in any of the respective categories.

What Fournier does at a high level is to score the ball in several ways. Most of his attack this season came from pick-and-roll – 31.1 percent of his pitches were generated outside these sets. He scored 0.95 points for 100 possessions as a PnR option, which is the 70th percentile among NBA players. Like Tatum, Fournier is an excellent 3-point pitcher outside of dribbling – he hit 41 percent depth on pull-up jumpers.

But the Celtics can use Fournier in a different way. During the era of Isaiah Thomas, the Celtics led their main point guard through a good deal of dribbling hand-off sets with Al Horford at the top of the bracket, and Thomas celebrated. Part of this was due to Horford’s unique talent as a sieve, dowel and sniper, which opened the painting, but Thomas excelled at generating easy baskets by running around Horford and then shooting at the painting.

Fournier may be able to do the same. He’s a good sniper (38.8 percent out of three this season), but getting to the rim may be his best skill. In hand-off sets this season, he scored 1.36 points for possession – 94th percentile across the league. He also directs the ball about eight times per game, which would be the fourth behind Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker.

In short, Fournier’s score statistics paint the image of a player ready to contribute immediately. A look at his battery chart shows how Fournier is like a top scorer.

He scores 20 points per game in the corner, above the break and in the paint. The Celtics can’t ask for much more than that, especially for the price of two choices in the second round.

He’s a free agent this summer.

One of the disadvantages of negotiating with Fournier: he will only have a contract for the next few months. As noted by Adam Himmelsbach of the Globe, Danny Ainge doesn’t like to negotiate for a rental, so the Celtics may have reason to believe that Fournier will be open to a new hire.

But Fournier and his agent will be in a position of negotiating power, especially if he plays well. The Celtics have lost several free agents recently and will not be thrilled about the possibility of losing another – especially given the value of the traded player exception they used to acquire it. Fournier may be looking for a good pay this off season if he stays in Boston.

He is an extremely confident player.

Fournier was the 20th choice in the 2012 NBA Draft, selected by the Denver Nuggets – a team with a history of major international teams (Fournier is French). During the pre-draft process, then Mavericks and GM President Donnie Nelson told Grantland that Fournier “has the arrogance of a great player”.

Fournier fell in love with basketball in 2002 after watching the Sacramento Kings playoff, according to the same article by Grantland, and he grew up thinking he would be an NBA player.

“It was never a dream,” used to say Fournier. “Just one goal. I always knew I could do it. “

He probably doesn’t make Celtics candidates.

Celtics fans have plenty of reasons to be thrilled – Fournier averages 19.7 points per game, the biggest record of his career, with big divisions of pitches, and he must reinforce the depth of the Celtics. He may even become a starter if Brad Stevens prefers Marcus Smart with the second unit.

But don’t expect Fournier to turn the Celtics into contenders alone. Magic sold out on Thursday, swapping three of its best players, Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Fournier. Of these three, Vucevic – who was part of the All-Star team this season – was the most productive.

But even with three valuable lead times on the list, the Magic is 15-29 – the NBA’s fourth worst record. Fournier is a good addition, but complementary. The hard work to become a candidate still depends on Brown, Tatum and Walker.

Don’t search for his name on Google.

After the news that the Celtics had acquired it, Fournier accessed Twitter with a somewhat cryptic message.

Hi @celtics fans,
If you are not familiar with me, please Google my surname.
You’re welcome.
🍀

– Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) March 25, 2021

This has been a running joke on the NBA’s Twitter for years. If you search for “Evan Fournier” on Google, you’ll find lots of links about the 28-year-old Celtics guard who was acquired for two choices in the second round and absorbed by the Celtics traded player exception.

If you search for “Fournier” on Google alone, however, you will find results related to “an acute necrotic infection of the scrotum; penis; or perineum. It is characterized by scrotal pain and redness with rapid progression to gangrene and flaking of the tissue. “

So there it is. If you have to search for “Fournier”, you may want to stay out of the “Images” tab.