The Orlando Magic's offseason had one clear goal.
If they were going to make the most of their two young star players, they needed to find the shooting to give them the space and ability to attack the basket. They needed to improve their offense.
The numbers back that up. Orlando finished 27th in offensive rating and last in 3-point field goal percentage and 3-pointers made last season. Even with the second-best defense in the league, Orlando could only manage to finish .500 and seventh in the East.
Considering the Magic have not been outside the bottom 10 in offensive rating since Dwight Howard was patrolling the paint in 2012, the Magic needed to seek a major offensive upgrade.
They believe they found that in Desmond Bane. He is a career 41.0 percent 3-point shooter and one of the best spot-up shooters in the league. They added Tyus Jones to help boost their 3-point shooting, too.
Orlando is hoping that health, better spacing and the continued improvement of their young players can help boost the team. More than boost the team, they hope it can transform their offense to climb into title contention.
They needed better shooting to get there. How much better shooting is the real question.
Orlando's shooting was so consistently poor last season that even a slightly-below-average shooting game was often enough for the team to come out ahead. It is actually stunning how good the Magic were with just a basic ability to hit threes last season.
It is why the Magic are considered something of a "sleeping giant," as Andrew Schlect put it on The Athletic NBA's Show offseason awards show.
A sleeping giant at "average"
One number from last year puts it in complete perspective for the Orlando Magic.
The difference between the Magic that struggled offensively and the one that dominated most opponents was not particularly large. All Orlando needed to do was make one of every three 3-pointers, and the team was able to win most games.
That is not even good enough to get out of last in the Eastern Conference. It just shows how futile the team's offense was and how good the team's defense was at keeping them in games. But even a small improvement netted some crazy results.
The Magic were 28-10 in games where they shot 33.3 percent or better on three last year. Making one out of every three 3-pointers would still rank them last in the league.
That is how much better the Magic's offense would be if they could hit just a basic number of 3-pointers.
Looking at more advanced stats, in games where the Magic posted a 53.0 percent effective field goal percentage, they went 27-6. A 53.0-percent effective field goal percentage would be 22nd in the league.
It speaks to two things: One, that the Magic did not shoot anywhere near the league average throughout last season. Two, when they did, they won. And won at an incredible rate -- 28-10 is a 60-win pace and 27-6 is a 67-win pace.
A sleeping giant indeed.
Not aiming for average
The Orlando Magic are not aiming to be just an average offensive team. They know that to win at the highest levels and beat the best teams in the league, they will need to be able to find a way to execute offensively at the highest levels.
The Magic have made their intentions abundantly clear. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has spoken openly about the team's desire to compete for a championship. To do that, Orlando needs to be more than just an average offense.
From a wins perspective, it is clear the Magic only need to shoot slightly better to win more games.
To compete for a championship, they are going to need to be among the top offenses in the league.
That is as much the reason why the Magic needed to pursue a player like Desmond Bane as anything.
Bane is an excellent 3-point shooter at volume and someone who can hit spot-up threes (42.3 percent on 2.6 catch-and-shoot 3-pointers according to Second Spectrum) at an elite level and fire pull-up threes (37.8 percent on 3.3 attempts per game) at a decent clip.
It is the same reason the team is hoping Tyus Jones can add to the team's shooting and give the team another elite shooter. Jones shot 41.4 percent in each of the last two seasons. He is also an elite catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter -- 43.0 percent on 4.1 attempts per game.
It is even possible for Jalen Suggs to take a major leap as a shooter. He finished his season at 34.5 percent on 4.2 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game last year. But before Paolo Banchero's injury (albeit just five games), Jalen Suggs shot 53.1 percent on 6.4 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game.
There is definitely a sign that the Magic have another level to their shooting to unlock.
That does not even speak to the potential for improvement for both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner with their shooting. Or anyone else on the roster.
The Magic still have a lot to prove. But all signs are pointing to a significant improvement on offense.
And as the Magic learned last year, it would only take a small improvement to see a pretty significant improvement for this team.