It's no secret that Auburn needs help at guard.

Bruce Pearl and his staff are in acquisition mode and they're targeting bigger and more efficient two guards in the transfer portal.

One of those targets is former Florida International guard Denver Jones.

Jones, a native of New Market, Ala., averaged 20.1 points per game in 2023 and shot 37 percent from long range.

What is Jones' play style? And how would he fit in Bruce Pearl's offense if he chooses Auburn?

Here's a deeper look:

Jones has a pure shooting stroke. That's his main selling point.

His three-point percentage is solid, but looks a lot better when contextualized.

Jones took on a lot of ball-handling responsibilities at FIU, which yielded a high usage rate (how often he shoots the ball) of 29 percent. He was asked to run more pick-and-roll machinations rather than playing to his usual strength — spot-up shooting.

This led to some forced looks at the end of shot clocks. That hurt his percentages.

On catch-and-shoot threes, Jones shot 40 percent on 93 attempts. That ranked in the 85th percentile among all college players according to Synergy Sports data.

This could vastly improve Auburn's offense.

In the above clip, Jones relocates to the open corner and buries a corner three.

Having a guy that is willing to move off the ball and can consistently hit open threes would open up Auburn's offense. The Tigers haven't enjoyed a player like that since Bryce Brown graduated after the 2019 season.

Jones also is elite at creating deep shots for himself.

Jones has a step-back jumper that he uses frequently. When he combines it with his ability to stop on a dime like we see above, he becomes an almost impossible player to defend — when he's hot.

A large number of Jones' possessions last season came from him operating out of the pick-and-roll. On average, Jones ran between seven and eight pick-and-rolls per game, which ranked in the 94th percentile.

He averaged 0.828 points per possession off of pick-and-rolls, which ranked in the 66th percentile.

When Jones is running the screen and roll, he's usually looking to do one thing: score.

Going under a Jones screen is a death wish.

UAB does that in the above clip, so Jones dribbles to the right wing and confidently pulls up for three.

Jones doesn't have the tightest handle in the world, but he is smart with his dribbles and is quick enough.

In the above clip, Jones gets a double screen and splits his defenders with just two dribbles.

From there, he has plenty of space to stop on a dime and nail a mid-range jumper.

If Jones is going to run pick-and-rolls in the SEC, he must improve his passing.

Some teams, like eventual NIT runner-up UAB, doubled him off the pick and he panicked. He picked up his dribble and threw the ball away.

Jones had a turnover percentage of 20.1 out of the pick-and-roll. That's high.

The solution here probably is a little lob to his big man that would have at least let FIU reset the possession. Jones didn't recognize that.

Jones is known for his shooting, but don't sleep on him as a driver.

He's not an explosive athlete, but Jones does a have quick first step and excellent lateral quickness.

Jones scored on 62.7 percent of his drives to the rim.

He's great at absorbing contact when going up to finish against bigs or draw fouls.

Per Kenpom.com, Jones drew 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes, which ranked 144th in the country.

He shot 84.8 percent from the line on 150 attempts.

In the clip above, Jones quickly blows by and loses his defender at half court.

From there, he throws his body into the big backing up to draw a foul and is still able to shape his body and finish for an and-one.

In this clip, watch Jones once he gets to the top of the key. He's dribbling right, but completely shifts and goes left in a nano-second. He then drives and draws a foul — all with his left hand.

Defense

Jones and FIU played an aggressive style of defense that relied on positional gambles. It was all an effort to get out in transition as often as possible.

Jones did tend to over-help, even in an aggressive defense.

In this clip, Jones completely helps off his man, Casey Morsell, a 41 percent three-point shooter, to try and rip for a steal.

Being aggressive on defense is fine – Pearl's teams have made a living off of that for years — but leaving an elite shooter open isn't the way.

Don't get it twisted, though, Jones is a solid defender.

He's 6-foot-4, has the quickness to guard most shooting guards and some wings. He can be a valuable piece of the Tigers' defense.

The clip above shows Jones at his peak defensively. He denies UAB point guard Eric Gaines, one of the freakiest athletes in the sport, a lane to drive to the hole. From there, Jones forces the dribble pick-up and deflects the pass and creates a transition opportunity that he finished.

FIT

So how does Jones fit at Auburn?

It's fascinating. Jones isn't going to get nearly the usage he had at FIU, but he would get cleaner spot-up looks by playing with better talent and also being in a Pearl system.

His pick-and-roll attempts likely would be cut in half, but he'd provide Auburn the shooting and driving threat that it hasn't had in years.

There would be some kinks to work out, but there is much potential for both Jones and Auburn together.