In a pair of recent games, Evan Fournier did something he would’ve been reluctant to do last season and perhaps even a few months ago.
Against Miami, he gathered his Orlando Magic teammates for an on-court huddle, spoke in an urgent tone and exhorted everyone to withstand a Miami Heat run. Versus Chicago the next night, he did something similar on the Magic bench during a timeout.
Fournier has been willing to accept a leadership role, but until recently, he felt a barrier to being vocal. Because he grew up in France, he didn’t start to learn English until the Denver Nuggets drafted him in 2012. When he wants to say something to teammates during a game, he occasionally struggles to find the precise English words. And when he finally conjures the correct phrases, the proper time to say something occasionally has elapsed.
“It happens sometimes,” Fournier said. “I’ll want to [say] some stuff, but it’s too complicated.”
Several other Magic players can relate to what Fournier has experienced with the language. The team, like the rest of the NBA, has evolved into a melting pot of different cultures. On the opening night of this season, NBA rosters featured a total of 100 international players from 37 countries and territories.
English remains the dominant language inside the Magic locker room, but it’s not the only language.
Fournier and Nikola Vucevic, a dual citizen of Montenegro and Belgium, often talk to each other in French.
Rookie Mario Hezonja of Croatia can speak to Vucevic in the languages of their Eastern European countries. And Ersan Ilyasova, who is from Turkey, speaks English, but he can also speak some Spanish and Catalan with Hezonja since they spent their early parts of their careers playing for FC Barcelona in Spain.
Hezonja knew enough English to get by when the Magic drafted him in June. He already had learned some English from videogames, from American music and from playing alongside Americans in Barcelona.
Hezonja’s command of the language has improved over the last nine months, and he said he has no trouble around town understanding people.
Even now, though, he has room to improve.
“In my English, I still stop some ways, sometimes, because I’m trying to find a word,” Hezonja said. “That’s not my language. So sometimes it’s hard. But the more that I talk to them, it’s getting proper.”
Hezonja’s eagerness to learn English has helped endear him to the Magic. As his ability to speak the language has improved, he’s started to kid around with his teammates.
The funnier the joke, the more quickly he talks.
“He just gets going,” center Dewayne Dedmon said. “You don’t know what he’s talking about. You just smile and nod _ that’s a nice thing to do.”
Vucevic knew only a smattering of English when he moved to the U.S. in 2007, at the age of 16, to spend his senior year of high school in Simi Valley, Calif. He was hesitant to speak even at the start of his college career at Southern Cal.
So he understands why Fournier sometimes has been reluctant to be vocal.
“In a game, you’ve got to talk fast and you’ve got to be loud,” Vucevic said. “You’ve just got to get comfortable with the language and everything. Sometimes it takes time, and it can kind of be a mental hurdle. You just don’t feel as comfortable expressing yourself.”
English is no problem for Vucevic now. And Fournier’s English is better than perhaps Fournier realizes.
On Saturday, after the Bulls whittled down an 18-point halftime lead to nine points midway through the third quarter, he felt compelled to say something after his coach called a timeout.
“I was just really upset and let the guys know,” Fournier said. “No hard feelings at all. It’s a part of being competitive. Everybody was OK.”
His teammates understood him perfectly. One by one, they chimed in, too.
The Magic extended their lead to 18 points within a few minutes.
Learning English, and feeling more comfortable with it, has its benefits.