By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens described Evan Fournier’s acquisition as something that was a necessity for his team in order to boost its offense.
“We had an obvious need for another wing that can do what he does, and we’re fortunate he’s with us, and he’s on our team,” Stevens said before Fournier’s debut vs. the New Orleans Pelicans (29/3). “So I got a chance to go over to the gym yesterday while he was shooting around when we got back and then this morning we went through some stuff prior to our shoot around, we shot around as a team for 30 minutes, so he’s gotten the crash course in a very short amount of time.”
The Celtics sent Jeff Teague and two second-round picks to to the Orlando Magic to get Fournier and add some shooting strength on their perimeter. This season, the French swingman was averaging a career-high 19.7 points while shooting 38.8 percent on 7.2 3-point attempts in 29 games with the Magic.
Fournier, who had a false positive coronavirus test prior to joining Boston, debuted with his new team Monday (30/3) in a 115 – 109 loss to the Pelicans. He took 10 attempts and failed to make a shot in the 33 minutes he was on the floor, going completely scoreless.
Stevens said that after the game he told Fournier that this performance was “only a small blip.” His player will have an opportunity to bounce back Wednesday against Luka Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks.
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