Aaron Gordon

How the double high screen could unleash Evan Fournier

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:45 p.m. ET

Fansided, Ricky Scricca/FanSided via Orlando Magic Daily

Nov 21, 2014; Charlotte, NC, USA; Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier (10) goes up for a shot against the Charlotte Hornets during the first half at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Frank Vogel’s answer for the team’s offensive consistency might lie in how they use Evan Fournier. The Charlotte Hornets just might offer a blueprint for the Orlando Magic.

As the team’s leading scorer through the first 30 games this season, Evan Fournier’s offense has kept the Orlando Magic afloat in many games. Fournier is quick, creative and can score in a ton of different ways – just like Kemba Walker has done for the Charlotte Hornets, albeit at a higher volume.

With a similar set of frontcourt weapons, the Magic may be able to use Fournier like the Hornets use Walker, employing double high screens that allow his skill set to flourish.

These sets the Hornets run allow Walker shots off the dribble, clear driving lanes and/or open teammates either rolling to the basket or popping near the perimeter. By doing this, Charlotte head coach Steve Clifford effectively maximizes Walker’s handling and shooting skills with a wide array of frontcourt weaponry for a lethal offensive attack that has taken many around the league by surprise.

Fournier and Walker are very different players. Walker has always been a primary scorer and high-volume shooter. He has found efficiency within the Hornets’ offense. Fournier is still learning how to be a better scorer.

For the Magic, learning how to get the most out of Fournier with specific sets is the key to unlocking all of his offensive potential.

The double high screen

A double high screen involves two big men coming out past the arc to simultaneously set screens for the ball handler. Usually, one will pop and the other will roll, so it is particularly helpful if you have bigs that can both shoot and attack the rim to keep the defense off balance.

This gives the ball handler a few options: First, they have a better chance at getting open for a jumper or drive off the bounce. If not, they have secondary options in a roll man to whom they can dish near the rim. Or they can hit the other screener for a jump shot.

There is almost no way for a defense to ensure all of these options are adequately defended if the ball handler is skilled enough, because trapping will open up the screeners and covering up the screeners will give openings to the handler. If an offense is able to initiate this motion earlier in the shot clock, then there is even less of a chance for the defense to set itself properly and defend the play.

In the video above, Hornet bigs Cody Zeller and Marvin Williams come beyond the perimeter to set a double screen for Walker.

With this set, Walker gets an excellent look for a three off the dribble. He also has the option to hit Williams for a pick-and-pop jumper or Zeller rolling to the basket, if the Hawks had decided to trap him off the pick.

This set could be highly effective for the Magic because their frontcourt, like the Hornets’, has both shooters and runners in Serge Ibaka, Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo. If and when Aaron Gordon plays the four he would also be an excellent option rolling to the basket.

Secondary personnel

On this play, the Atlanta Hawks trap Walker to prevent him from hitting that lethal off-the-dribble three-point shot he has developed.

Because of the two screeners, Walker ends up being able to hit Zeller for an easy lay in over Kyle Korver. If Hawks power forward Mike Muscala had decided to roll down with Zeller, Walker still would have been able to hit Williams for the jumper or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in the corner.

Having a finisher talented enough to fully exploit mismatches is also a huge plus. On the play above, Zeller is matched up against Indiana Pacers guard Monta Ellis, who gives up about nine inches. Zeller gets an and-one.

Bismack Biyombo does the same in Orlando. In the clip below, Biyombo rolls to the rim and gets an and-one over Clippers guard Chris Paul off a basic pick and roll set.

Biyombo is not exactly a scoring savant, but he has the strength and athleticism to score on the pick-and-roll, which is more than enough for him to be effective as part of a double high screen. Although he has not been quite as statistically elite this year, in more than 90 possessions last season, he finished in the 84th percentile of efficiency among the league’s other roll men.

The Magic are also equipped to give Fournier weapons to hit for pick-and-pop jumpers off double high screens.

Here, Serge Ibaka pops out of a strong screen against Wizards guard Bradley Beal to hit a Fournier-assisted three.

Williams and Kaminsky in Charlotte often do the same, only assisted by Walker.

With Serge Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic having the best (Vucevic’s first, really) 3-point shooting seasons of their careers, now is as good of a time as any to give them more pick-and-pop looks, helping to use them to space the floor on a Magic team that otherwise needs more shooting.

Help with ‘pace’

On many of these plays, the Hornets run directly into their set and screens and force their opponent’s half-court defense to hastily defend their quick offensive motion.

After the Magic played the Phoenix Suns in November, Vogel claimed the team’s failure to consistently push half-court pace had been problematic for the offense.

“At times, we’re running into our sets and we’re running into our screens,” Vogel said. “We call it ‘half-court pace.’ You want to initiate early and then [with] the speed of [our] cuts, the speed of the ball movement has been good at times, and there are times when we’re walking around and not playing with good pace. The ball sticks in those situations.”

This conceptualization of “pace” does not show up in most statistical measures of pace, because it does not necessarily involve getting out in transition and creating more possessions (although that certainly doesn’t hurt). It simply prevents the opposing defense from getting organized enough to defend on its terms.

In the video above, the Hornets get two points about three or four seconds after Walker crosses the halfcourt line.

They run the double high screen set with Williams and Zeller beyond the perimeter, but because the Lakers defense is not even set yet, there is no one for Williams to screen. Thus, he has a wide open three in case Walker decides to back off of the drive.

Vogel is 100 percent correct about the importance of consistently pushing halfcourt pace out of the defense’s comfort zone. It allows the offense to create and exploit disarray, especially among younger or less organized teams, because of the options it gives to a skilled, smart, and quick ball handler like Walker or Fournier.

The Magic make around half their shots that they take before the shot clock hits 15, one of the better marks in the league. After that, it drops by around 10 percent — one of the worst, per NBA.com. It is clear pushing halfcourt pace should be a priority.

Off the bounce

If the Magic ran these kinds of sets more often, it could potentially help the offense flow quicker more consistently and closer to Vogel’s vision for the team. It initiates the action early and gets the defense scrambled.

That said, Kemba Walker has simply been lights-out for Charlotte and it would not be reasonable to expect Evan Fournier to put up the kinds of numbers he has.

While Fournier was serviceable shooting off the dribble last year, only James Harden has hit more threes after seven or more dribbles than Walker.

Walker also has one of the best 3-point field goal percentages among anyone who has taken 20 or more 3-pointers after seven or more dribbles. Fournier, on the other hand, is a mere 4 for 10.

Stretch that to include last season, and he is 7 for 18. Thirty-nine percent is strong, but 18 shots in 108 games are not very much to work with. Fournier is not a ball-dominating player. So he is unlike Walker in that key aspect.

That said, Fournier has consistently shown elite ball-handling and shot-creation skills.
His quickness and creativity consistently allow him to finish near the basket and create space to get his shots off. He uses screens in a ton of different ways to help make this happen.

In the video above, Fournier uses his quickness to split the screen and drive straight to the basket with the slower Hawks big man Muscala on his hip. It shows Fournier can attack off the dribble effectively in pick-and-roll and double-screen situations.

Below, Kemba Walker splits the Indiana Pacers defenders off a Zeller screen to get an easy run at the basket, taking center Myles Turner one-on-one.

Both Fournier and Walker are consistently able to find holes and make smart, split-second decisions when they get screens. As a result, they can exploit mismatches against opposing bigs who simply cannot keep up.

Here, Fournier comes off Serge Ibaka’s pick to craftily attack the rim and finish in traffic.

Similarly, Kemba Walker also has a knack for quick drives off high screens and finesse around the rim.

On this play, Fournier drills a three off the dribble after a pick-and-pop from Elfrid Payton and a pick-and-roll with Nikola Vucevic.

He knocks it down, but most importantly, he has legitimate secondary options with Nikola Vucevic and Elfrid Payton.

This is not exactly what the Hornets tend to run for Walker, but it is not too far off and gives a glimpse at what it could create for Fournier and the Magic.

Mar 16, 2016; Charlotte, NC, USA; Orlando Magic forward Evan Fournier (10) goes up for a shot against Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller (40) in the first half at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Maximizing young stars

Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker are both incredibly fast and creative scorers with a wide range of frontcourt weapons at their disposal. The Hornets have taken advantage of this by running double high screens that allow Walker to shred defenses with his natural talent while having legitimate secondary options in case the defense traps him.

Charlotte’s offensive attack works because of Walker’s ability to finish near the rim off screens, his ability to knock down threes off the dribble, and their bigs’ abilities to attack the basket and hit jumpers.

Running these sets also have helped the team push half-court pace similar to how Vogel envisions the Magic offense.

Although Fournier is somewhat unproven at shooting off the dribble, the Magic otherwise have all the tools and personnel necessary to make a system like this work.

As double-high screen sets continue to grow in popularity, it may also be an answer for the Magic’s inconsistent offense, a way to quench the team’s need for speed, and a conduit for Fournier to unleash his full potential – just like Kemba Walker has done in Charlotte.