Offensive boss of the Blues during the last Olympic and continental campaigns of the French team, Evan Fournier lives again with the tricolor tunic after a nightmarish season with the Knicks.
Author of a very good match up to 20 points and 4 rebounds against Montenegro of his friend Nikola Vucevic last week, the scorer passed by Nanterre and Poitiers before taking off for the NBA returned for DNA of Sports on this resumption of the preparation in Orléans, a city he knows well, through his father on the one hand, and his wife on the other.
“It was a return from a break. We had a good session, we tried to push the organizations to get back into the rhythm. So far, it’s satisfactory. There is still a long way to go, but I would say that we are in the nails, but we must continue to move forward. »
After a weak African opposition with Tunisia, and another much higher one from a European nation with Montenegro, the Blues and Fournier will be struggling with a completely different style of basketball. That of a South American team, the Venezuelarather unknown in our regions…
“We don’t know much about it. Besides, it’s another continent. Whether at the Olympics or in the World Cup, we have never played them, ” explained Fournier at the end of yesterday’s training, before specifying. “We don’t talk about opponents at all. For the moment, we want to create our group, our system and find our automatisms. And then, basically, so much the better, because we all have to apply ourselves to the fundamentals and not necessarily use adverse data to save ourselves. »
“It’s good to have this alternation in defense”
In this case, the key word for these first training sessions in the Loiret is clearly defense. If there are a lot of players who can help transmit the teachings of Coach Collet, after several summers working alongside him and his staff, Fournier stresses that it is good for the Blues to repeat their ranges, before being able to add more weapons to their arsenal.
“It’s good to work on our zone defense like that. We know that our individual defense is generally satisfactory, historically at least. We will have to do it again this year. But it’s good to have this alternation in defense, for the matches where we are less into it, where the opponent is a problem for us. »
Under the spell of the Orléans room
A resident of Madison Square Garden for two seasons, Fournier was asked about the quality of the new room in Orleans, the CO’Met Arena fresh out of the ground. For the NBAer, it’s a success but still lacks a tad of ambition.
” I really like. It’s a very nice room. The positive points are that there is good proximity between the stands and the pitch, that’s a big plus. I like its design, the fact that there are dressing rooms. The negative point is that 5,000 places are missing! It’s true, you have to be honest. 10,000 seats isn’t bad, but we couldn’t hold an international tournament here, for example. Last year when we go to Cologne, which doesn’t even have a basketball club [à l’année], it’s a room which is bigger than Bercy, which has air conditioning, etc. If we want French sport to progress, we need to have venues like that, but even bigger. To welcome many events as it should. »
Interview in Orléans
| Evan Fournier | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2012-13 | DEN | 38 | 11 | 49.3 | 40.7 | 76.9 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 5.3 |
| 2013-14 | DEN | 76 | 20 | 41.9 | 37.6 | 75.6 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 8.4 |
| 2014-15 | ENT | 58 | 29 | 44.0 | 37.8 | 72.8 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 12.0 |
| 2015-16 | ENT | 79 | 33 | 46.2 | 40.0 | 83.6 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 15.4 |
| 2016-17 | ENT | 68 | 33 | 43.9 | 35.6 | 80.5 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 0.1 | 17.2 |
| 2017-18 | ENT | 57 | 32 | 45.9 | 37.9 | 86.7 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 17.8 |
| 2018-19 | ENT | 81 | 32 | 43.8 | 34.0 | 80.6 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 15.1 |
| 2019-20 | ENT | 66 | 31 | 46.7 | 39.9 | 81.8 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 18.5 |
| 2020-21 * | All Teams | 42 | 30 | 45.7 | 41.3 | 78.8 | 0.2 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 17.1 |
| 2020-21 * | ENT | 26 | 30 | 46.1 | 38.8 | 79.7 | 0.2 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 19.7 |
| 2020-21 * | BOS | 16 | 30 | 44.8 | 46.3 | 71.4 | 0.3 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 13.0 |
| 2021-22 | NYK | 80 | 30 | 41.7 | 38.9 | 70.8 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 14.1 |
| 2022-23 | NYK | 27 | 17 | 33.7 | 30.7 | 85.7 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 6.1 |
| Total | 672 | 28 | 44.3 | 37.9 | 79.9 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 14.0 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def= defensive rebound; Tot = Total bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; Points = Points.
