The Orlando Magic have been searching for a point guard. Everyone has sensed and claimed the Magic needed a point guard. Someone who could manage the team but play off the ball in support of the team's budding young stars.
It was a very specific thing. But everyone could feel how important a stabilizer was with how Cory Joseph manned and directed the team down the final 18 games of the season.
Orlando bet with its trade for Desmond Bane on playing an egalitarian style with four playmakers in the lineup in Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Bane and Jalen Suggs. But an organizer would still not hurt. Especially if he could be an elite spot-up shooter.
The Magic understood entering this offseason that they needed to make significant changes and improvements to the offense. They could not sit still with the 27th offense in the league. And that has been the work the team has done all offseason.
With the Magic already acquiring one of the best shooters in the league in Bane, the Magic needed to add that stabilizer. They did that in free agency, reportedly agreeing to a one-year, $7-million deal with veteran guard Tyus Jones, grabbing the point guard many fans wanted last summer to support the team off the bench.
Jones is known throughout the league for his stability. He is a player who does not make mistakes with one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios among rotation guards, and he is an ace three-point shooter.
For a team starving for offense and starving for shooting and playmaking, this is another move that seems to attack the Magic's weaknesses directly. And Jones attacks more than one in a critical way.
Jones attacks the shooting problem
Tyus Jones had an up-and-down season with the Phoenix Suns last year, averaging 10.2 points per game. Jones struggled to claim the starting job on a Suns team that was also desperate for a point guard, starting in only 58 games.
But he still posted 5.3 assists per game and shot 41.4 percent from three on 5.0 3-point attempts per game. It was not the mega efficient year Jones has become known for.
Through it all though, Jones still averaged only 1.1 turnovers per game, a career high for him. Jones has always been solid, making plays for others and managing the team without making too many mistakes.
So much of the Magic's offseason has been focused on adding shooting. After finishing last in the league in 3-point field goal percentage last season, the Magic needed to add shooting. They made that a priority and they got a lot of shooting with their veteran offseason additions.
Desmond Bane shot 42.3 percent on 2.6 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game, and Jones shot 43.0 percent on 4.0 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game, according to data from Second Spectrum. Both marks would have led the Magic (the Magic did not have any player shoot 40.0 percent on catch-and-shoot threes last season).
That does not even count rookie Jase Richardson, who shot 41.2 percent on 3.2 3-point field goal attempts per game overall at Michigan State.
Orlando aggressively attacked its shooting issues.
Tyus Jones attacks the turnover problem
But one of the Orlando Magic's bigger problems was also its turnovers.
The Magic finished 20th in turnover rate at 14.7 percent last season. They tended at times to throw the ball around and commit a lot of turnovers. That was one of the reasons so many wanted the team to grab a point guard to stabilize the team.
Indeed, one of the reasons the Magic were so good to end the season was how much better the team protected the ball. Orlando had a 13.6 percent turnover rate (13th in the league) from March 8 until the end of the season.
It is no coincidence the Magic's offense performed beter and the quality of their shots got better when they turned the ball over less.
It is no coincidence that having an organizer, even like Cory Joseph, led to better passing and better offensive outcomes.
Jones is one of the most efficient decision-makers in the league for that reason. In whatever role the Magic plan to use him, he will be a big boost on offense, just to improve this level of efficiency.
To say the least, this is the exact kind of addition and the exact kind of need the Magic had to address this offseason.
Jones does not have a great defensive reputation. That was one of the concerns the Magic likely had for him last year when they looked at him as a potential free agent option.
But Orlando has the defenders to cover for him. And Jones in bench roles especially has always held his own on that end.
If the goal was to add some offense to the team's elite defense, the team has certainly done that with both Bane and Jones. Jones will especially help the team solve some of its turnover issues and manage the game in a way that should create better offensive efficiency.