2021-22 Knicks Season Preview: Evan Fournier
While the Knicks had plenty of shooting at the 2 guard spot last year, they sorely lacked dribbling and creation. Enter: Evan Fournier, a three-level scorer and an immense upgrade on the offensive end. Could he give the Knicks’ offense a new dimension this season?
Dribble. Pass. Shoot.
The three basic fundamentals of offensive basketball, the three necessary skills of any NBA perimeter player. Well, two-thirds of the Knicks’ starting guard/wing rotation last season failed to check all three boxes. Elfrid Payton could not shoot. Reggie Bullock could not dribble or pass.
Enter Evan Fournier.
In one preseason play, the Frenchman displayed the package of talents his predecessor sorely lacked. Don’t get me wrong — Reggie Bullock was fantastic for the Knicks last season. He filled his role consistently and admirably, and shot the hell out of the ball. However, his lack of creativity with the rock served as one of the primary reasons the Hawks got away with heavily loading up against Julius Randle without facing consequences.
New York tried to attack Trae Young defensively in the team’s first playoff series in almost a decade, but Bullock offered the talented guard a safe space, a hiding spot. Too often, like in the clip above, those actions resulted in a defeated Reggie tossing the ball back to Julius, asking Randle to once again create something out of nothing against a defense designed specifically to stop him. Julius was burdened with an impossible load, and one that the Knicks’ front office was determined to lighten this offseason.
So yes, Fournier can dribble and pass, skills which themselves translate to a significant offensive upgrade over Reggie Bullock. But don’t get it twisted — Fournier is not explosive, nor is he particularly quick. Rather, his creation off the dribble is a function of defenses having to pay deep respects to his elite jumper, which he can drill off the catch, off the dribble, or after off-ball movement.
As such, even though both Bullock and Fournier shot around 41% from behind the arc last season, their 3-balls were not created equal. Per Bball Index, an astounding 92% of Bullock’s threes were of the catch-and-shoot variety — meaning they were reliant upon someone else’s creation — while just 8% were taken off the dribble. In stark contrast, Fournier’s splits were almost even, with just 54% of his threes coming on the catch, and 46% coming off the bounce. Fournier brings a shooting variety — and shot creation with movement — that Bullock simply lacks, providing another method of advantage creation that this New York team needs.
Due to Fournier’s lethal shooting, defenders are forced to top-block, or trail him over every single screen, which opens up his drive and kick game. Watch how Brad Beal guards him in what is so far the trademark play of the Knicks’ new-look offense.
By going over the screen, Beal concedes the lane, forcing help defenders to meet Fournier in the paint, and opening up a beautiful passing sequence that foreshadows just how powerful this offense can be. Defenders often treated Reggie in the same manner, but he lacked the juice to take advantage of those seams in the defense.
New York’s new shooting guard can also punish desperate closeouts in a way its prior 2-guard could not.
First, with a series of advanced side-steps to elude the closer-outer and release the 3-ball.
Then, by attacking the closeout into the lane and getting to his reliable floater game.
Fournier also brings a playing intelligence — an understanding of how offensive movement impacts a defense — that automatically elevates his teammates. That IQ manifests in anticipatory passing — as detailed by Tom Piccolo of Jomboy Media — as well as off-ball movement that creates offense.
Here’s an example: Fournier realizes that his defender is trying to deny his path to a dribble handoff, which, as already mentioned, is a highly effective play for him. So, Evan simply backpedals away from the ball to open up a passing lane, attacks the crease in the defense, and finds the cutting Obi for an alley-oop with a heady look-away pass.
And is this a New York Knick leveraging his shooting with a backdoor cut?! Do my eyes deceive me?
The difference can probably be boiled down to this: Reggie Bullock provides spacing, and only spacing. Spacing is valuable, especially in the regular season, but spacing without more can be exploited against the best — and most focused — defenses. Fournier adds so much to the equation: Spacing + Leverage = Creation. And if the Knicks needed anything, they needed more creation.
So dribble, pass, and shoot away, New York Knick Evan Fournier.
