I want to try and bring back a feature to the OPP Community that I started last season. I'm going to put out bi-weekly progress reports reflecting stats and comments about individual players on the roster from the prior two week's slate of games. As a teacher, this is right up my alley!

In the comments section below, please feel free to agree or disagree with any of my assessments, or simply just let me know if this is something that might be interesting to read on an every-other weekly basis. Enjoy!





Week 1 & 2 Schedule - Mon. 11/9 (@IND), Wed. 11/11 (LAL), Fri. 11/13 (UTAH), Sat. 11/14 (@WAS), Wed. 11/18 (MIN), Sat. 11/21 (SAC)

Evan Fournier (6 GP), Grade: A





MPG PPG REB AST TO STL FG% 3P% FT% 39 19.8 4.3 3.5 1.8 1.8 43% 37% (17-45) 84% (16-19)



Evan's career minutes run continued through Weeks 3 & 4; Fournier has now played at least 40 minutes in more than half of Orlando's games thus far. I feel Fournier's flexibility, which allows Skiles to experiment with different lineups, is obviously helping Evan stay on the floor at either wing position. I think back to draft day in the summer of 2014, when Evan was unpopularly acquired for Arron Afflalo, and I assume this is the kind of player Rob Hennigan envisioned getting a look at on the cheap for two seasons. He certainly won't be cheap for long.



Evan is continuing to finish at the rim, leading the team with a 70% FG rate inside of three feet. He's been pretty consistent shooting the ball overall and paces the team with a 0.9 Offensive-WS rate. Fournier really struggled last week in a match-up with Paul George, but that's nothing uncommon or concerning as George regains his All-Star status and standing torching wing defenders all around the league.





Fournier was a huge part of Orlando's come from behind overtime win over Minnesota this past Wednesday, posting 26 points while connecting on five triples (5-7) from long range.



Tobias Harris (6 GP), Grade: B-





MPG PPG REB AST TO FG% 3P% FT% 36 14 9 1.5 1.5 41% 26% (5-19) 93% (15-16)



Harris's legs got stretched out a bit in Weeks 3 & 4; Tobias played 35+ minutes in five of six possible games (compared to just two times in the first seven games). Harris logged minutes at both forward positions as rotations and lineups continue to be tweaked and experimented with in 2015.



I am concerned a bit with Tobias's free throw rate. As we all know, it's well documented that the Magic struggle mightily to get to the free-throw line. Orlando counts on Tobias to get to the charity stripe, where he's converting at a very solid clip, but he's shooting a career low in attempts per/36. Harris has also taken a big step back as a three point shooter so far in 2015-16, averaging less than one try per game per/36 (30%).



Harris is a true hybrid forward, but he's played the majority of his minutes this season as a PF. Yet if you compare his rebounding numbers with other Small Forwards around the league, they look a lot sexier and little less PF-pedestrian. His nine rebounds per game in Weeks 3 & 4 saved his grade this time around from being a letter grade worse. Harris has posted three double-doubles in his last six games, including a stellar 19 point/13 rebound effort against the Jazz (and three steals).



Elfrid Payton (6 GP), Grade: C-





MPG PPG REB AST TO STL FG% 3P% FT% 36 12.8 5.3 6.8 3.3 1.8 33% 50% (3-6) 70% (22-31)



Face palm. Elfrid is still very young, Elfrid is still very young. I keep reminding myself to be patient with him, but I'm not sure that patience will matter in this case. Of course he has his whole career in front of him to develop, but this guy very well may just be what he is. An average player, a high-energy team guy, a solid defender, but just an overall horrid shooter/offensive efficiency type player.



Payton is taking a few more shots this year, which is not necessarily a good thing, but to the average fan it may seem like his scoring numbers are "up". He's going to continue to find himself "open" more and more often as teams go under the pick against the 43% TS% gunner. It's truly been a roller-coaster beginning to Payton's sophomore season. A good game here, two to three bad games there.



Unlike Weeks 1 & 2, where I gave Elfrid the benefit of the doubt against some very difficult opposing PG's, I thought Payton had some very solid match-ups in Weeks 3 & 4. He was a combined 7-28 from the field against George Hill, D'Angelo Russell, and the Neto/Burke combo, woof. Of course, his aggressive play last Wednesday night (24 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 steals) led Orlando to a victory against the Wolves and Ricky Rubio.



Nikola Vucevic (5 GP), Grade: B





MPG PPG REB AST TO FG% FT% 32 14.4 9 2.4 1.0 47% 67% (4-6)



Offensively, Nik has been pretty vanilla this season, that's how I would describe his play. Solid, nothing to write home about, nothing really to complain about either (unless you're talking about getting to the line; then there's a lot to complain about).



Vucevic, along with Victor Oladipo, was benched in the second half of Wednesday's game against the Timberwolves in favor of Jason Smith. From all accounts, Nik handled the situation very well and seemed to be the first man off the bench at each dead ball encouraging his teammates.



Nik had a nice little two game run last Friday and Saturday against the Jazz and Wizards respectively. Vucevic combined to average 17.5 points and 11 boards (with 3.5 assists) in that stretch.





Victor Oladipo (4 GP), Grade: INCOMPLETE





MPG PPG REB AST TO FG% 3P% FT% 22 7.5 4.5 2.2 1.5 32% 30% (4-13) 33% (2-6)



So bad. There's a lot I could say here, Oladipo is producing career offensive low's across the board. I will decide to pass however and give Oladipo another couple weeks to recover from his concussion and early season woes before I delve into his struggles.

Aaron Gordon (6 GP), Grade: B-





MPG PPG REB BLK AST TO FG% 3P% FT% 21 6.8 4.6 1.3 1.8 1.0 37% 11% (1-9) 67% (12-18)



Gordon's minutes continue to hover sporadically around 20 MPG. Gordon eclipsed 30 minutes only once in Weeks 3 & 4, and that was on the second night of a back-to-back in Washington. Gordon seems to be sharing some time at the back-up PF position with Channing Frye, and even Andrew Nicholson recently.



Gordon has really struggled behind the arc this season, he's only hit a combined 3 three's all season. He has cleaned up on the offensive boards, averaging just under 4 per/36.



No real standout games to speak of for Gordon in Weeks 3 & 4 because of his lack of extended run. He did post a very eclectic stat line against Utah last week in only 27 minutes (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists, and a steal).

Channing Frye (6 GP), Grade: B+





MPG PPG REB FG% 3P% FT% 15 7.3 4.3 47% 40% (10-25) 100% (2-2)



Scott Skiles turned to Channing Frye last week to try and find any kind of shooting from the outside. Frye delivered for his coach, connecting on eight treys in Week 3 (@ IND, vs. Utah, vs. LAL). Frye is serving as both a stretch-4 & stretch-5, attempting 75% of his FGA's from behind the arc. If that is his role, then he is serving his purpose well. At the very least, it's nice to know on any given night if offense is needed, that Channing can and will be ready.

Shabazz Napier (6 GP), Grade: B





MPG PPG REB AST TO STL FG% 3P% 15 7 1 1.2 1.6 1.0 44% 47% (8-17)



Shabazz benefited from a couple different opportunities in Week 3 & 4. Back-up PG C.J. Watson has been banged up, and Napier filled in admirably in his absence. In fact, Napier even received the lion's share of minutes down the stretch in the second half last Wednesday against the Lakers as well (in place of Elfrid Payton). Napier's grade of a "B" is really inflated mostly by that sole performance, where he helped the Magic secure a home win by contributing 22 points (including 5 triples from behind the arc) against L.A..





Scott Skiles, Grade: A



I think it's safe to say that Scott Skiles is imposing his defensive coaching mentality on this roster even quicker than I thought he would. The Magic currently hold a top-10 Defensive Rating in the NBA (101.4 per/100 possessions). Orlando ranks 3rd in the NBA in opponents FG% (42%) & 6th in opponent 3PT% (31%). Even more surprisingly, Orlando ranks 7th in the league in blocks per game despite playing large stretches at a time without a true shot blocker.



The Magic are just brutally struggling to put the ball in the basket, it's getting ugly. Orlando is finding ways to score somehow, just nothing is coming easily or efficiently. It will be interesting to see if Skiles makes any kind of adjustment to the rotations to try and add offense to either the starting or reserve units; he already has made mid-game adjustments on the fly to try and do just that sort of thing (Frye, Nicholson, Smith, etc.).

I awarded Skiles an "A" for Weeks 3 & 4 due to a couple of instances that stick out in my mind. The first was last Friday night against Utah. Orlando opened up a comfortable 15+ point lead in the 4th quarter, and Skiles cleared his bench in preparation for a back-to-back game the next night in Washington. Needless to say, the Jazz went on a mini-run, and Skiles immediately burned a timeout and inserted all the starters back in the game. I felt that action really set a tone for what his staff expects, and I remember thinking that in past years we (as fans) probably wouldn't have seen something like that occur until the opponent came all the way back.



His other worthwhile move of the week was much more recognized, benching Oladipo and Vucevic in the second half of Wednesday's game against Minnesota. It was a gutsy call, and I really enjoyed the way that Jason Smith and Andrew Nicholson played in response to Skiles going with them down the stretch (and in overtime). Scott Skiles receives the "Top Grade in the Class" honor for Weeks 3 & 4.





Grades of Incomplete:

Dewayne Dedmon

Mario Hezonja

Devyn Marble

Andrew Nicholson

Jason Smith

C.J. Watson