Evan Fournier Should Be the Denver Nuggets Starting SG

Ever since the 6'6 SG out of France was picked 20th overall by the Nuggets in the 2012 NBA Draft, he hasn't gotten much of a chance to show why he was drafted in the 1st round, being stuck on the bench playing under Andre Igoudala. Now that Iggy is out of Denver, the SG spot is up for grabs and Evan Fournier's to take.

He is in prime position to be the Nuggets starting SG and succeed, when the season kicks off. Let's look at his stats from his rookie campaign in 2012-13: 5.3 PPG, 1.2 APG, 0.9 RPG and 0.5 SPG in 11.3 MPG, with a shooting line of 49/41/77. Now he may not be the defensive anchor that Igoudala was, he could and will replace his offense easily. What he lacks in defense, he makes up for it in offense. If you change those numbers in 11.3 MPG to per 36 numbers, they look like: 17 PPG, 3.7 APG, 2.9 RPG and 1.6 SPG on the terrific shooting numbers mentioned above. Fournier only played 38 games in his rookie season but he did start 4 games, gaining valuable experience. In 1 of those 4 games, he scored a career-high 24 points against the Chicago Bulls. Here are the highlights:

As you can see while watching this, Evan Fournier is a crafty offensive player with pretty good range as well. Continuing the trend of European player, he is no slacker passing the ball either. If I were the Denver Nuggets, I'd have no problem appointing Evan Fournier has my starting SG because he's risen to the occasion in the past and proven that he does have the ability. If and when Fournier does claim the Nuggets starting SG spot, expect him to average around 15 PPG, 4 APG, 3 RPG and close to 2 SPG on a shooting line of 47/39/81. Denver has had it's fair share of good starting SG's in the past, from Aaron Afflalo and Andre Igoudala, and Evan Fournier certainly fits the bill.