For Florida basketball fans, arguably the most exciting transfer on the 2021-2022 roster is Myreon Jones, a guard from Penn State.
Jones enters Gainesville after three years as a Nittany Lion, playing in arguably the best conference in college basketball in recent history, the Big 10. A scorer, Jones put up 15 points and 2 assists while hitting 40% of his threes last year, proving he can get buckets against some of the best defenses college basketball has to offer.
Many times when it comes to transfers there is a question about how their game will translate from one conference to another, and that’s because most of the notable transfers in college basketball have been players coming from low and mid major conferences to the high major level. Well, Jones has proven he can score at the high major level already, so his 15 points per game has Gators fans in a state of excitement. His 15 points per game last year also wasn’t a flash in the pan, as his sophomore season the year prior saw him score 13 points per game, again while shooting 40% from three. With two productive Big 10 seasons under his belt, it’s easy to see why he should be relied on in the SEC.
The last three seasons the Gators had one of the best catch and shoot players in the country in Noah Locke, who hit, well, 40% of his threes during his time at Florida. That makes Myreon Jones, a player with two 40% three-point seasons under his belt, a natural replacement.
Like Locke, Jones is an excellent shooter off the catch, hitting 38% of his catch and shoot threes. Many of these attempts at Penn State were tightly contested, but he showed that if he was left open, he was lethal. When left wide open, he hit 48% of his threes. Playing on a veteran Florida team with a lot of capable passers he should be able to step into some uncontested looks, and he should be lights out when that happens.
An area where Jones did a whole lot of damage was in transition where he hit 42% of his threes. He wasn’t like Noah Locke who loved to sprint to the corners in transitions and get open looks–instead he likes to be the trailer, especially on the right wing where he hit 54% of his transition threes. In a transition offense that will likely have Tyree Appleby pushing the ball and Colin Castleton rim running and drawing defenders, those same shots that Jones loved at Penn State could be there for him at Florida.
Something that makes Jones a bit different than Locke is that he provides more shot creation off the dribble, something that wasn’t a productive part of Locke’s game. Jones hit 34% of hit shots off the dribble, something that isn’t efficient enough that you’d want, say, Tre Mann level of volume off those attempts, but it will provide some value in late shot clock scenarios when the Gators need someone to go one on one.
One element of Jones’ game and ability to create that will need to be reigned in a bit is his love of the midrange jumper, particularly off the dribble. He took a lot of these shots at Penn State, despite the fact that they weren’t effective. He shot only 27% on these attempts despite hunting over two of them per game, and that’s simply a shot that shouldn’t be a part of Florida’s regular offense.
Where Jones is most special as a shooter and scorer is off the ball where he can expertly run off screens, using his changes of pace to create space. You can see him doing this in the clip below:
Myreon Jones is a talented off ball scorer with great feel. Really crafty moving away from the ball and running off screens and dribble handoffs. He’s going to add a unique dimension to Florida’s offense that they haven’t had recently. @MyreonJones21 pic.twitter.com/eRUiLBIX0b
— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) April 8, 2021
Now, if you want to have a question of how his transition to Florida will go, here is a bit of an area of concern. You see, the Gators haven’t used much off-ball screening during Mike White’s tenure, something many lamented due to the fact there weren’t many set plays to free up Noah Locke, and that puts some of the usage of Jones into question. Yes, Jones was a 15 point per game scorer at Penn State, but if you use him in a drastically different way than Penn State used him, you probably can’t expect the same level of production. I have been hearing that the Gators have started implementing some off ball screening for both Myreon Jones and freshman Kowacie Reeves who are excellent shooters, and that could be the key in making sure that Jones gets the same opportunities to recreate a 15 point per game season.
Something you may have noticed in the video earlier is that Jones has quite a funky release, one where he shoots from the left side of his head. You sometimes see this with players who are particularly right-eye dominant as this stroke allows them to focus on the rim with their right eye. This certainly isn’t the way any shot doctor would teach someone to shoot, but Jones has found a way to make it effective over the last two seasons. However, this atypical shot mechanic has a few consequences. First, he can struggle to get his shot off when driving right. Since he needs to shoot the ball from the left side of his face, when he is driving right in order to pull up he needs to bring the ball across his body, opening it up to the defender who can swipe it away. You can see in Jones’ game that he is much more likely to pull up when driving to his left, and that’s due to his left-to-right stroke.
This mechanic of bringing the ball across his body also means that he has a lot more left-right misses on his jumper than you’d normally see from a great shooter, and he can run very hot and cold. Jones isn’t the type of shooter to go 2-5 one game, then 3-7, then 1-3, then 4-10. He gots 5-7, then 2-9, then 4-6, then 0-5, something you see in his game logs. Inconsistency is just something you need to live with having Jones on your roster, and you’ve got to know that it will even out in the positive as he has, as I keep mentioning, put together two 40% three-pointing shooting seasons already. So, if he comes out ice cold to start the season don’t be concerned, because a ridiculous shooting night is probably coming soon.
One play he does show shocking amounts of consistency is at the free throw line. Check out his free throw numbers so far in his career:
2018-19: 77.4%
2019-20: 77.6%
2020-21: 77.3%
Eerie.
If there is an area that you’d really like to see Jones improve on from what we have seen so far in his college career, it’s finishing at the rim. Jones isn’t particularly big (listed at 6’3”, 170 pounds) and he’s not a plus athlete, so he isn’t someone who is going to sprint into the paint and explode past a shot blocker. Jones averaged just over one shot in the paint per game last season, an awfully low number for a starting guard. That is likely due to his lack of confidence in finishing at the rim, and because of that he would rather settle for a mid range jump shot. As shown earlier, those 27% shots where he doesn’t even have much chance to draw contact and get fouled are not great looks, and you’d love to see him attack the rim. The national average for shots at the rim last year was 54%, and even if he ends up being way lower than national average, say even 44% for conversation’s sake, it would be much better than his heavy mid range attempts. That’s firstly because of the field goal percentage, and also because shots at the rim are infinitely more likely to draw fouls than mid range jumpers.
Defensively, Jones is an interesting guard whose fit in Florida’s system will be something to monitor. Since Jones isn’t huge and isn’t a great athlete, there are some matchups that will be a challenge for him. However, he’s a definite competitor, and as an older player his rotations and anticipation are pretty good. At Penn State they played a bit more of a conservative defensive scheme that isolated their roster that wasn’t full of great athletes, but at Florida Jones will be challenged to be a bit more aggressive. How he will fit this role is a bit of an unknown, but he’ll certainly be willing to take on that task.
As a proven producer at the high major level, Jones is an important piece to Florida’s season. A similar shooter in Noah Locke had good success at Florida and if Jones can continue his efficient shooting that he exhibited at Penn State, both he and the Gators could have a very successful year.