Magic’s Offseason EXCEEDS Expectations | What will Tyus Jones WILL BRING to the Magic

Magic’s Offseason EXCEEDS Expectations | What will Tyus Jones WILL BRING to the Magic

Free agency has come and gone. The Orlando Magic have signed Titus Jones. How the Magic made this a successful summer. And we learn more about the Magic’s new point guard from Ben Garcia of Locked on Suns today on Locked On Magic. You are Locked On Magic, your daily Orlando Magic podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. And you are indeed locked on Magic. Today is July 6th. It will be July 7th, 2025. My name is Philip Rosenrike. I’m the senior writer over at Orlando Magicaily.com. You can of course follow me on Twitter, philipr_momd and on blue sky at philipr. I’m a credential member of the Orlando Magic media covering the team since the 2012 season. On today’s episode of Lockdown Magic, the Orlando Magic had a successful summer. No matter how you break it down, we show you I show you and tell you how Magic made the most of their summer, including the new additions we haven’t quite talked about or aren’t quite official yet. We’ll get to that, plus my conversation with Ben Garcia of Locked On Suns. learn a little bit more about Tai Jones. We’re going to get to all of that today on the show. But before you end that, we want to thank you again for making lockdown magic part of your day every day. Whether we’re your first lesson of the day, whether whether you’re listening to us right when we upload, we truly appreciate you making lockdown magic part of your day every day. We truly appreciate those of you who are part of our everyday crew who make lockdown magic their first listen every day or just generally part of their their day in general. Part we’re all part of Lockdown Podcast Network. your team every day. Today’s episode of Lock On Magic is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when you when you when your first $5 bet wins. The Orlando Magic entered this off season with some queer goals. Um, you can go back listen to our episodes from early May, right after the season ended when we were beginning to kind of assess how things went. Even if we granted that the Magic had this injuryfilled season, had this season that didn’t quite live up to expectations, that didn’t quite deliver everything it was supposed to, even if we granted for all of that, we understood that the MA we understood then that the Magic um that the Magic were still a better team, that they were better than 41 and 417. seventh in the East. But we also understood that despite not having Jaylen Suggs and Moager, two very important players in that playoff series, they did not have enough, more specifically, they did not have enough offense to compete with a championship in, you know, Jeff Welman laid the gauntlet down at the beginning of the offseason. He said, “We are going to make moves with a win now lens. the Magic were not going to sit idly by and let this summer pass them over. This was going to be a summer of action. And so, there were three pillars that the Magic had to address or three things really that fans wanted the Magic to address this season. The first the first pillar was they wanted the Magic to do something. The Magic hadn’t made a trade to acquire a player they were actually going to use since 2022 when they acquired Bull Bull. And that was a minor deal. They didn’t trade any players out to make that happen. The Magic needed to be active and aggressive. They couldn’t just wait for things to come to them. And so while we imagined that they might go after Anthony Simons, Colin Sex, these kind of lowhanging fruit of players that we just knew were available and had skills that would theoretically make the Magic better, the Magic went out and got their main target, a target none of us thought was available. And it cost them a lot, but that’s the price of doing something big. They got Desmond Bane. And all of a sudden, in the first big move of the off seasonason, all of a sudden the Magic weren’t just whispered as an upand cominging team, the Magic were talked openly as, “Oh, they’re going for it. This is a player who fits them perfectly, doesn’t take away anything that they’re trying to do, only adds things and makes them better.” Desmond Bane was a truly truly huge step for this Orlando Magic team. They got significantly better in adding Desmond Bane. And it’s not just all those other things because we all understood that the Magic could not survive as a number 27 offensive team in the league anymore. The Magic couldn’t get by in league where three-point shooting is more important than ever as the lowest three-point field goal percentage team in the league and the lowest three-point field goal makes team in the league. Orlando needed a complete overhaul of its offense or at least of its offensive personnel to get the most out of Palo Beno and France Vagner who are already at a very high level. The first Magic duo to average 20 points per game in the same season. So the Magic started that action with Desmond Bane, a player who shot 39% from three last year in a down year. Player averaged 19.2 points per game in a down year. A player who was a 40.2% 2% catch and shoot three-point shooter. Someone who is unafraid to step into a three, take it and make it. Can make six, seven threes in a game. The kind of thing the Magic needed. But they weren’t done there. They added Tus Jones. A 40 41.2% three-point shooter last year, a 45 46% shooter on catch and shoot three-pointers. One of the most efficient three-point shooters, low turnover, no mistake player. They went out and added Jace Richardson in the draft. A player like Tus Jones who doesn’t fit their type for size, but is going to compete, is going to try on defense, which is half the battle, and is going to make enough shots to keep defenses honest. Getting Jaylen Suggs back and putting him in a role where he is more confined to catch and shoots is going to help him. Paulo Vancero having another playmaker to maybe get him some catch and shoot threes is going to help him. And God willing, Fran Vogger will start making threes, too. The Magic, I wouldn’t say have transformed their offense overnight, but it’s gotten a lot better. If the Magic are still in the bottom 10 in the league in offensive rating, there are bigger issues at play here. But the Magic have added three critical offensive weapons to a young team that should continue to get better, theoretically, of course. But that’s not where they finished. that they weren’t done rebuilding this team from there. As has been reported over the weekend and has been reported over the last few days, the Orlando Magic are also shaking up their coaching staff a little bit. It has been long reported, long rumored that the Magic were going to add God Sham God, Dallas Mavericks assistant co former Dallas I guess still former Dallas Mavericks assistant coach, legendary street ball player, legendary ball handler, great play player development coach, someone that Kyrie Irving trusted pretty quickly, guy who worked with Jamal Mosley in his first two years in Dallas and got and got Shannon God’s first two years in Dallas. the Magic added are adding another really strong, high quality development coach to their team whose focus is almost entirely on offense on a on a on a skill that the Magic frankly need to continue improving and grow with. But the Magic aren’t done there. Mark Stein of the Stein Line Substack reporting and confirmed by Jason Bey of the Orlando Sentinel that the Orlando Magic are in talks to hire Joe Prunty, assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks. He went to he’s been in Milwaukee on several stops. He was with Jamal Mosie for a few years in Cleveland in the early 2010s. Um, but he was the interim coach between Adrien Griffin and Doc Rivers. He is considered a really strong kind of sounding board for for head coaches. He’s been an interim coach three times in his career. Um, so he’s been knocking on the door being a head coach. Someone who is considered a strong after timeout play play caller. Someone who is considered a solid offensive mind. Is this the offensive coordinator that some fans were clamoring for? I don’t think so. I I don’t think the Magic are revolutionizing their offensive sets here, but they have added a coach who is going to add to this team’s offensive identity that is going to layer his philosophies and layer himself onto this team. In the end, the Magic don’t want to touch their defense. Their defense is elite and they tried to add players who would add to that defense or would add to the offense without taking away from the defense. And again, we will the proof will be in the pudding when we get to October and November. But the Magic entered this off season, this free agency this summer, needing to vastly improve their offense, needing to greatly improve the offensive playmaking talent level and and skill level on this team. And at every turn, at every pillar, the Magic have done that. And that is why this is a successful offseason. That is why the Magic come out as winners in this 2025 off seasonason. It’s why the Magic are now considered one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference. A big part of that is the acquisition of Taius Jones. So today for the rest of the show, we are going to break down with Ben Garcia of Lockdown Suns what the Magic are getting in Taius Jones. We’re going to get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel. Summer sports are and whether you’re all about B baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action, so why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. FanDuel is the best way to track your favorite matchups. The app keeps it fresh with new daily promotions and fun ways to bet. It’s easy to use, fast to pay out, and makes even regular season games feel like mustwatch events. Whether you’re placing a same game parlay or watching a bet right into the ninth inning, FanDuel makes it feel like you are part of the action. If you’re new to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com to get started. And I am joined now by Ben Garcia, the host of Locked Ons to give us a little bit more insight into what to expect from Taius Jones as he sign as he’s set to sign and by the time this airs might have already signed a one-year $7 million contract. Uh Ben, first off, how are you how are you doing? Uh, I know it’s been a a strange summer for the Suns so far, so I don’t want to don’t want to I I want to I want to be here in support and all that. Well, at least for me, it’s been at least busy. Like, I feel bad for Locked on Magic or my buddy Danny Cuttingham with Locked on Calves or like whatever because, you know, it’s hard to find topics. Now, it’s starting to get to the hard part of finding topics for the Suns, but like we haven’t had that problem yet. We haven’t been like, “Oh, what do we talk about today?” It’s like Kevin Durant, Dylan Brooks, Jaylen Green acing the draft, and it’s like so many. It’s been Exactly, dude. You guys, we had to give one to you guys to be able to uh uh even it out a little bit, but um it’s been good, man. the Suns. I mean, we’re not even in the realm where the Magic are, where the Magic are trying to compete right now and the Suns are just trying to build the culture and maybe be a sneaky playoff team, but nothing really more than that. We’re like I think your guys’ aspirations is like Easter finals where ours is, can you make the playoffs? Yeah. Yeah. I I like I like and this this is an aside, we’ll get to Taius here in a minute. I I really feel like kind of in this this new NBA cap world, teams are either attacking or in retreat and and there’s just and and that’s just kind of going to be how this is. When windows close, you kind of retreat a little bit, regroup and and pounce again. And you know, Phoenix is probably a team a little bit in retreat right now. You’re obviously trading Kevin Durant. He’s uh you know, still a top 10 15 player in the league. Um transformational player and Phoenix is going to be reconfiguring themselves maybe over the next year or two. And then, you know, the reports are as we’re recording this, Devin Booker is going to sign an extension and they still have that centerpiece player to to to to make to make waves. But we’re here today to talk about Taius Jones because as you mentioned, the Magic are trying to take that next step. Um, and they went out and got a point guard that Magic fans have had their eyes on for several years. Uh, someone that is going to seemingly help help the team. But I want to get a sense of where he’s at, where he was at in Phoenix because he was brought in, granted on a minimum contract, it felt like to give Phoenix some stability at point guard. I I don’t want to necessarily say like what went wrong. I know that’s what I have in my rundown, but what worked and what didn’t work with with Taius Jones in his one year with Phoenix. Uh Taius Jones is still a very good three-point shooter, and you guys need that. You guys need more shooting on your team. You guys kind of solidified that with Desmond Bane. But bringing in another shooter like Des Tus Jones like there’s this age-old debate with Suns community which you know probably one of the reasons why Kevin Durant’s not fond of me is like did the Suns fail Kevin Durant or did Kevin Durant fail the Suns? I’ve went to it’s a little bit of both. Like with Tyus Jones, did Tyus failed the Suns or did the Suns fail Tyus? I think Taius failed himself and I think the Suns failed Taius Jones because it was pretty clear Taius wasn’t going to fit here. But like even I didn’t think that. I just thought, okay, the Suns main concern was never point guard. It’s still not point guard in the NBA. Everyone gets so fixated on like, oh, you got to have your one. It’s like, no, you actually don’t anymore. So, we’re just going to like you just like, oh, it’s good. Listen, I’ll tell Magic fans that, too. I don’t know if that we need a point guard. No, you don’t. You You don’t need a point guard. There’s no You need a playmaker at the one position, someone who can handle the ball, and that comes with playmaking. Um, but you don’t need a traditional point guard to start anymore. You want to get the ball in your best player’s hands in a world now with Paulo and I guess Paulo, I wouldn’t say, has the greatest handles, but Desmond Baines can handle the ball well. I don’t think Paulo is just like fumbling with the ball, but those players need to be able to do everything. Like life is not so much different than basketball. In life, we’re asking like you and me to do a podcast, record it, post it, edit it, make social media clips. Whereas in the olden days, it would be I’m going to record, someone else is going to edit it. It’s just like in the NBA, you’re going to ask Paulo to bring the ball up. You’re going to ask Desmond Bane to bring the ball up, distribute, playmake. and Taius Jones for the Suns as a point guard. I think it was unfair to ask of him with his defensive deficiencies to come in here and change the culture. Not to mention the dude was just misused. Like go back to any Suns game that Taius Jones played in and Brendan Clean, my co-host and I will continue to say, why is Taius Jones out there if he’s not orchestrating the offense? Because you’re just putting him out there as a net negative defensively and he is like a bad defender. But he can be covered up really defensively on the Orlando Magic who have a lot of length, a lot of size, defensive team. Like they might pick on Taius, but they’re not going to be able to get him in the in the middle of the uh like under the basket and pick on him. Like that’s not going to be the case. He is a willing defender. He’s just not a great defender, which is like half the battle. Shoots the ball really effectively. But like if Magic fans are like, “Which Tus Jones are we getting?” the one with Memphis and the one with the Wizards or the one with the Suns. I would lean towards you’re getting the one with Memphis and the Wizards because the Suns kind of failed him and Tai has failed himself by thinking this was a good match for him because the Suns were never going to take the ball out of the hands out of the big three in Bo Booker and KD. They were they basically had a point guard out there to make themselves feel better. And like speaking to Magic fans, don’t do that. Like don’t put someone out someone out there just to make yourself feel better. You need to ask your star players like the Suns are going to do with Devin Booker this year to bring the ball up the floor, distribute, playmate, shoot the ball. It’s what we are going to pay. We were talking about this pre-show. Like it’s what we’re paying Devin Booker pretty soon. $75 million a year to do so. And I don’t know what Paulo’s contract will be, but like $65 million a year to do so. Like we’re asking you to do more. Exactly. We’re asking you to do more. So, um, overview of Tyus would be defensive deficiencies, but he is going to be able to distribute the ball, shoot the three, and you’re going to like his floater. He’s got like this patent floater that he’s he’ll take to the rim. And I don’t think his defensive issues are going to be as magnified with the Magic. I like honestly I I really like the fit. Him being a Titus is definitely a top seven or eight player on a championship team. Like, he is the eighth guy or the seventh guy off the bench. He’s not a starter. he shouldn’t start for you guys, but coming off the bench, shoot the three ball and distribute a little bit defense uh with with guys off the bench like Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. I was I was actually real curious about that that dichotomy itself because like you mentioned like you want the ball in the hands of your best players and the way the Magic are kind of setting themselves up. I’ I’ve been kind of calling it the Magic or moneyballing the point guard position. We don’t have a point guard, but but we can create one in the aggregate because, you know, Paulo will average five assists per game. Fron will be at four or five assists per game. Desmond Bing was at five assists per game. Jaylen Suggs can play make a little bit. Now you add, you know, a Taius Jones off the bench. Anthony Black, you know, may still have some point guard skills. Between all of them, they’ve got a, you know, they’ve got two po two point guard level players. that that dichotomy though of starting versus coming off the bench. Um he still started the majority of his games last year but but but yeah how effective was he coming off the bench and kind of anchoring bench units because the starting line for the Magic is set. It’s Jaylen Suggs, Desmond Bane, Fron Vagger, Palanker, Wendell Carter. Barring injuries which you know happen during the course of the season, Taius is probably not going to start very much. Um, and again, like you said, the size is an issue, even though the Magic have a good defense and a good defensive backbone to to maybe help cover him up. Um, I it’s it really feels like the Magic brought him in to to run that backcourt group, that that that bench group. What was the difference between him starting and coming off the bench, playing maybe away from some of the stars that the Suns had? Not much. You have to value Taius Jones individually because it was the Suns were such a laughingtock this past year. um starting they just didn’t use him. Like they just left him out there, like I said before, to make him feel better, but then get picked on defensively. They tried to use him for like the first week and then they were like, “Ah, no, we’re good. Let’s just go play.” Like the Suns didn’t have a game plan. They just played monoimo basketball. Um off the bench, like individually, Taius was fine. Like you look at Tyus’ numbers and you’re like 44, 41, almost 90 shooting, 10 points a game. Um assists were five a game. Like I expect that to be the case, but all the good things about Taius, not the bad things. It’s not like he got old out of nowhere. It’s not like a lack of trying. I have talked with Taius along with like I’m not special, a lot of media members. He’s a very, very nice guy. Like it seems like the players really like him. He’s going to get along with everyone. I don’t remember like Katie would come after me every five seconds. Never had runins with Taius. Very nice dude. What I will say is like I think he’s 6 foot even. How tall is this guy? Six foot. That sounds right. Six six feet 61. Like that was always a concern on the Magic side, dude. So it sounds like he’s he he says he’s 6’1. I don’t know if Taius Jones 61. Jace Richardson said he’s 6’3 and and he measured a quarter at the combine. Dude, Taius would he’s like I I mean like he’s a very nice guy. There’d be like a media scrum right outside like where the players walk out and they and we’re just talking about nonsense and like Tyus would join the conversation. Like I’ve heard that from people that he would just come in and join the conversation, talk with people. I’ve seen him like from a distance talking with people. That dude was never the tallest person in the group ever. So um small dude but off the bench like what’s the issue? So, I think I would urge Magic fans like once again like look around the league. Where is your traditional point guard starting in the NBA? Steph Curry is not a traditional point guard. He can pass the ball. Like he does everything really well. SGA is not a traditional point guard and he runs the point. Um John Morant’s not that guy. Like it’s just not it’s not a thing anymore. And I know a lot of fans have watched the NBA for a long time. Like I grew up on the Seven Seconds or Less Suns. Steve Nash was a traditional point guard. He was really good at shooting the ball and he was like a 50 40 90 guy, but look at the he won MVPs scoring like 12 points a game. That doesn’t exist anymore because you’re asking your best players. And not only that, like Nash Nash I think would have translated to this NBA fine because he shoots the ball really well, but he wasn’t a very good defender. But like he wouldn’t be as great as he is in this NBA with just different eras and that’s okay. is like he’d be good but he wouldn’t be as great as he was before because you’re everyone is so big. Every like dude you just mentioned your starting lineup. It’s Jaylen Suggs and freaking Paulo Beno and France Vagner and Wendell car. Like you got nearly three sevenfooters in there. It’s like what makes the Magic so fun to watch because they could genuinely roll out like five five sevenfooters and just be like a let’s go see what happens. It’s why the Magic would bully the Suns. Um, so like I would just urge fans like Tyus is is solid. I was shocked that he got $7 million, but like who cares? $7 million deal. Like like I thought for sure he was going to be a vet minimum guy. Um, so he did get that raise that he was looking for just maybe not the long security and and look like no he actually got less than his brother. Yeah, Ty like Taius kind of has to pro like the I think there’s a reason why Taius ended up at the minimum last year and it’s because of all these concerns. It’s it’s you know he wants to play for a winning team. It really seems like that was valued and he did with Memphis like he did with Memphis and and but like he was mostly coming off the bench and and I’m I’m always a big believer of you know you have a shot if you have a shot to start I’m not going to blame a guy for saying like I want to test myself and I want to be a starter. You know, I I val winning is valuable to me, but I need to see how good I am. And like in Washington, you know, Washington was a mess, but he showed like I could be good enough to be a starter. And it didn’t seem like the league agreed. And like part of it is like what you’re saying where the trend in the NBA right now is everyone has to be able to do everything. Versatility is everything. Like the Magic the Magic are going to run Paulo Ben Carro and Fran Vagner as primary ball handlers. They’re 610 forwards who move like guards and Paulo’s a battering ram who also moves like a who also plays like a center at times. Um that’s the trend the league is going and it is squeezing out smaller players like Tus Jones who can only play one can only play and defend one position if they can defend at all. Um, and so you have to find ways to to use those skills. And again, like off the bench, you can limit this a little bit. Again, ideal world, like he’s coming off the bench, he’s playing maybe 20 24 minutes a game, spot starts here and there if if not starting Anthony Black and keeping that bench rotation or whatever the Magic might do. Um, it it it definitely feels like it’s it’s limiting a little bit. And and I think everyone kind of sensed this because a lot of people thought the Magic were going to chase after him last year as their big free agent signing. Um because everyone thought they needed a point guard and and the Magic clearly seemed to disagree with that. Um it’s still, I think, valuable to have that organizer and and like the Magic saw this with Cory Joseph, another kind of like probably stronger than Taius, but like another kind of smallalish guard who everyone’s stronger than shooter. Yeah. Just just kind of facilitated. Good guy, too. like like um good locker room guy, just someone that would just like kind of manage the team a little bit without staying in the way. Um I want to get this last last bit in. You mentioned you mentioned the shooting, you mentioned him not really fitting in with this Sun’s offense. How how you know you said it was just like they didn’t let him do what he needed to do. How much they didn’t even they didn’t even give him the ball. Like they Yeah, that’s what I want to what I want to get at is like they would run Taius at like the two. Like it made no sense. Sorry. Can you No, no. Yeah, that that’s that’s kind of what I want to get at cuz like I look at his spot up numbers and he shot what 42 42% four and a half spot up three point or catch and shoot three-point attempts per game. Averaged five and a half six of those per game. And obviously the Magic are looking for that. Can he survive playing off of Apollo or France or whoever he might be in in that rotation or is this someone that that needs the ball in his hands a lot to to be effective at all? No. Is there is there a balance there that that Phoenix just never found? There’s I don’t even think they tried to find. You know, I I’m I’m not joking with you, man. It would not surprise me if Bud was trying to get fired like with some of the dumb things that he was doing. I think he was like, “Oh, sick. Someone just paid me $10 million a year. All right, let’s blow this up and go chill.” Like the things he did were so like headscratching to me all year long. Like basic things that you would miss that some dude you pull off the street. Um Taius is going to like he can’t play everywhere. the magic he can because I mean you’re gonna switch on to Taius and Mo Vagner and Paliban Carol are gonna scroll over to the weak side and not let you take him to the hole. So um again he’s a willing defender so that is part of the battle. He’s just so small. But offensively, he’s going to shoot the ball well and when he’s not like he could bring up the ball a and get guys open, assists, playmaking, sure, but like that’s not what I think is the and I think off the bench is better like him having the ball in his hands and creating things and sometimes running with Paulo or or Fron depending how the rotations are going to be. Stagger those a little bit. That is the right that is the right fit for Tyus. Bring him off the bench. Let him handle the ball and let him roll some pick and roll with whatever Fron or Paulo or pick and pops or drive and kicks out to the outside like that is the right role for Taius. I just don’t like I wouldn’t start him. I would keep and it it doesn’t seem like they would. I would keep the five guys that you have now. Bring Tyus off the bench. He’s going to give you offense. He’s going to give you trying defense and he’s not going to be a black hole defensively because he’s just not going to play that much. He’s going to pay 18 minutes a night, 20 minutes a night, like at most. So, they’re not he’s not going to be out there long enough. Yeah, exactly. And he’s not going to be out there long enough to exploit them. But what I do like is like his spot starting ability. Let’s say uh whoever it is, you know, Sug Jayen Suggs misses 15 games a year. Like, sure, there you go. Like Jaylen, oh, there you go. Deon Booker misses 15 a year with a with a soft tissue injury every year. Yeah, it’s like, oh, it’s already January. Like, he pulled his he pulled his hamstring. All right, we’ll see you in 10 games. Like, it happens every single year. Um, his spot startability is very good. And you go back to Memphis, they had a better record the last season he was in Memphis with him starting than John Morant starting. Now, you know, sometimes isn’t everything, but like it shows like he’s a really good spot starter. So for the uh uh Orlando Magic, I think that that is a really good place for him to be. So I like Ty, man. I I I kind of feel bad that he took a little less money to come to Phoenix because he wanted to win a championship and like I did think it might work because you’re just going to outscore teams, but it just was never going to happen. You know what I can interest you in is a gently used Bradley Beal. Uh if if the Magic had cap room, they’d still say no. What? All right, here’s an idea. We pay for Bradley Beal and we just send him over to you under the table. Under the table. I I I I I am not one to bismerch the legacy of Bradley Beal, a famous famous Florida Gator. Um the Magic Gator legend, dude. Gator legend. Um the Magic do need, I think, another wing player. I think they need another wing shooter. I’d like someone a little bit bigger and a little bit more defensively oriented than Bradley Beal. What about a no trade clause? Um, the Magic just have no money. Like they got six and a half million dollars before they hit the hard cap. So they’re they’re kind of Are you guys a first apron team or yet or No, we are we are hardcapped at the first apron because they’re using the non- taxpayer ML to to get Tus Jones. So you guys are so soft. Get the second apron. They’re gonna be second apron next year when Paulo gets his $50 million $50 million contract when he makes all NBA. Dude, we we’re second apron now because we don’t even care, dude. We don’t even want to win games. We just want to spend money out here in Phoenix. Um, we’re getting there. We’re getting there. This is our This is the Magic’s first time in the tax in 12 years. It’s very, very exciting. I can’t even think of the last great Magic player. Like, was it Tracy McGrady? Was this Steve Francis? Dwight Howard. Thank you for helping Magic Steve Francis. Thank you for respecting Magic Steve Francis. But Oh, I remember Steve Francis. Dwight Dwight Dwight Dwight. That’s right. Everything the Magic have done over the last two years is the first time since Dwight Howard. Hedo Turkaloo. Suns legend. Son’s leg. Son’s legend. Jason Richardson. We got We got We got Jason back in the building now with with his son. Yeah, that Jason Richardson thing did not end well. You guys gave us Vince Carter in that trade. I know we got Male Petus. It was Petat. Petus Gortat. Uh Peter Scortat uh VC uh VC for Earl Clark, Jason Richardson, and Earl Clark, Louisville legend. Dude, people want to act like I don’t know my free Earl Clark, man. Dude, they don’t want to know. These Magic fans, they want to think that I don’t know my son’s history. Earl Clark, number 55, Louisville legend. I would guess he was the 10th pick in the draft is what my guess would be. In the teens somewhere, but yeah, essentially. Anyways, um that’s interesting, man. little stroll down memory lane. Don’t ever look up why the Suns traded Jason Richardson is definitely a interesting story. Interesting um theory that I’m like, oh, Yep. Yep. I know that. I know that story. I know that story. Um because at the time when they traded Jason Rich, I was like, why are you trading Jason Richardson? And then you hear the theory and you’re like, “Oh, I mean, I I know the reason the ma like that that trade was weird in and of itself because it happened in December and trades don’t happen in December and there was just a lot of there’s a there’s a massive side to that story, too. At least we got the Polish hammer. Is that Marian Gort’s the man? Love Marsh. Happy he still lives in Orlando. We still see him at games occasionally.” Does he really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. All right, man. He still gets runs in runs in at Rollins if if if anyone wants to go find the pro runs. I’m sad that really I’m sad that you guys didn’t get uh Walter Clayton Jr. That’s my dude, man. Um but it’s all right. You can just root for him from root for him from afar. We’re pretty we’re pretty happy. We’ll we’ll see. We’ll see. You got enough undersized guards now, Jason Tus. I think you you filled your void. Um my last thing I’d say is like Magic fans, you don’t need a point guard. Like just you don’t need one. You’re going to be fine. It’s not the same NBA that you and I grew up on. It’s different. Let Paulo hold the ball. Like you’d rather Paulo bring the ball up John. Like I just like I’m a Suns fan. We still don’t have a point guard. Yes, the Suns aren’t a great organization, but like no teams do. It’s not the traditional 6’2 point guard. It’s not happening. Like come on. Even Ty Even Tyresese Hallebertton’s like 66. Like Yeah. Doesn’t happen anymore. So you gota be able to score and shoot and all that. Like the skills the skills are just different in this league now. Every like bigs like forwards like Paulo and France need point guard skills and guards need like shooting skills to to have dude. Look at the Suns, bro. Like we went from tiny to us. I don’t know how many games we’re going to win, but we’re like massive now. We got Mark Williams, Kaman Malawatch, Rashir Fleming, like Ryan Dunn, Dylan Brooks is a good three and four. We gotta we gotta we gotta we went from small to huge. We’re taking a page out of your guys’ book. So that’s what everyone’s gonna be do. That’s what everyone’s gonna be doing when the Magic win the championship this year. Um I’m rooting for the Magic. Why wouldn’t like if I if I could pick a team right now to win the champ? Why not the Magic? I don’t have anything against them. Turkaloo, Suns Legend, Muel Petris, Marshon Gortat. Like come on, man. Like I got nothing against them. Oh Outlaw. Steven. Oh Outlaw. That’s a good goggles. Olaw. That’s right. All right. Well, listen. Maybe I’ll have to just root for you guys from afar this year. No one the Magic. No one. No one. Well, you say that now and then you play them and Desmond Bane and Jaylen Suggs are barking at you all game and Mo Vagner if he resigns with the Magic. It is barking at you all game and you’re like, “Oh, these these guys are just annoying.” All right, I reserve my All right, I reserve the right to change my mind. But for now, it’s one thing to see them every once in a while. It’s another thing to be in a seven game series with them and they’re just they’re just every single time. Uh Ben, I want to thank you for coming on and giving us a little insight into Taius Jones and what the Magic are getting. Uh as always, uh we will we will see you in the NBA finals, my friend. Yeah. Yeah. Give it uh 20 years, but honestly, I don’t even know if it’s ever going to happen. I told myself when I was a kid it would happen and now I’m like I’m just losing faith, man. But I’m rooting for you guys. Like pulling for the for the Magic in the East, man. It’d be a be a heck of a seven game series against whoever comes out of the West. My thanks to Ben Garcia for hopping on the show, giving us a little bit of a lowdown on what to expect from Taius Jones. You can check him out, of course, on Locked on Suns. They had a very, very busy day on Sunday, completing that massive 17 trade. The Magic have officially signed Taius Jones. Uh teams were free to start signing players. The mortorium ended Sunday at noon. As I’m recording this at about 8:15 uh p.m. Eastern time, the Magic have not yet signed Mo Vagner. We are still awaiting that. We are still awaiting the Palo Bank extension that has been delayed, but not because of any disagreements between the teams. As as as I mentioned last week, there there was a death in Paulo’s family. So, our our thoughts are with him and his family. uh hoping that uh hoping that that everyone is grieving the way that they need to grieve and and of course may may uh Palo’s aunt’s memory be a blessing to him and and all who knew her. Uh well, there’s still plenty to plenty to come here uh as as we get through the rest of the offseason. But that’s going to do it for me today. I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Locked On Magic. You of course find me on Twitter, Philip RR_OMD, and on Blue Sky, Philip RR. You can subscribe to the podcast and Apple podcast. Search your tune in HIMO, Google Play, Spotify, Odyssey, and all thumb you download podcast to your podcast enabled listening device. You can also check us out on YouTube just and subscribe there. Just search for Lockdown Magic. Truly appreciate everyone who’s jumped on board on YouTube. Our goal is to get to 5,000 subscribers by the start of the season. We are well on our way to doing that. Tell your friends to listen to Lockdown Magic. We are still going strong every day through the end of summer league. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, including some summer league fun, go check out Orlando Magically.com. You can find us on Twitter, omagically. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my Patreon page, the Orlando Magic Hub, at patreon.com/orlandomagicub. As always, thank you for your support. Now that you’re done making Lockdown Magic your first listen today, go make your second listen to Lockdown NBA podcast, where there is no offseason. Summer league’s already started for a bunch of teams. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up todate on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. All part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We are going to jump into some summer league fun tomorrow. On tomorrow’s episode, we’ll talk a little bit about what Jace Richardson and Noah Penda have to say after their first summer as as they prepare for their first summer league. I think they’ve been practicing already, but we’re going to talk to them tomorrow and we might hear a little bit more about Tus Jones as well. But we’re going to get to all that tomorrow. Until then, for Orlando Magic Daily and Locked on Magic, this has been Philip Ross. We’ll see you all again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic.

The Orlando Magic entered the offseason knowing they needed to make a big move to take the next step and climb the ranks in the Eastern Conference. They delivered in all phases — adding a key offensive player, adding shooting and even improving their coaching staff — to take on the challenges ahead this season.

This has been a successful offseason.

The big free agent acquisition this offseason was veteran guard Tyus Jones. What are the magic getting in him? I chatted with Ben Garcia of Locked On Suns to find out what the Suns did not get right with Jones and how he will fit in with the Magic this season.

0:00 Intro: Magic sign Tyus Jones, offseason recap
5:32 Tyus Jones’ fit and offensive improvements
11:37 Suns perspective on Tyus Jones’ strengths
18:11 Point guard evolution and Jones’ role
26:33 Jones’ shooting ability and bench potential
33:31 NBA trend towards versatile, bigger players

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