Stanley Johnson not likey to play in Summer League
Stanley Johnson had a successful rookie campaign. It was so successful that Head Coach Stan Van Gundy doesn’t think that The Orlando Summer League would be very beneficial for Johnson.
Stanley Johnson had a good season by rookie standards, but he knows he has his work cut out for him to reach the level of play he thinks he’s capable of.
Johnson has used Summer League and various pro/amateur circuits in the past to help improve his game, but Stan Van Gundy has something else in mind for his soon-to-be second year player improve this offseason.
"Pistons president/coach Stan Van Gundy expressed some reluctance about letting his 19-year-old franchise cornerstone participate in the annual event for young prospects.Van Gundy said at his season-ending news conference Thursday that Johnson’s competitive nature works against the idea of skill development.“My concern for him is I know Stanley’s mentality,” Van Gundy said at the Palace of Auburn Hills. “I want him working on things he needs to work on. I don’t want to put him in situations where his concern is doing what he can do well right now to try to win that game.“We’ve been through a season of that, and he has great strengths: his competitiveness, his defense, being able to guard multiple positions and all of that. This is a skill-development summer, and what we’ll have to decide (is) … if that’s something that’s going to aid in his skill development or not.”“I don’t even want him playing, quite honestly,” Van Gundy said. “I want him to stay away from the (L.A. pro-am) Drew League and playing one-on-one with his boys and all of that. Because with him, I know what happens is he wants to win that game, he wants to show well in that game.“But what that does is drive you right back to your strengths and playing the way you’ve always played, and he needs to change his approach in the off-season and really, really pay attention to his skills.”“I don’t need to see if Stanley’s as good as the other guys in summer league,” Van Gundy said. “We don’t need to evaluate that. This is a summer of skill development for him.”"
I see merit to what Van Gundy is asking of Johnson. The message is to spend less time scrimmaging and more time working on the basics (shooting mechanics, weight room and conditioning), but to really see improvement this offseason there needs to be a balance of both.
Shooting in the gym all offseason may help Johnson improve his technique, but what good is that if he doesn’t practice shooting in game situations were the speed of the game increases, the pressure increases, and the energy exerted changes from running up and down the court?
Not only that, but the other elements of the game (rebounding, passing decision-making, defense) are areas that can’t be perfected without live-scrimmaging.
I don’t really need to see Johnson in Summer League basketball or the Drew League either, but I do want to see Johnson spending half his day working on his mechanics and in the weight room, and the other half working with other players around the league or on the team in game simulated drills or scrimmages.
If Johnson takes full advantage of the offseason, he’ll be in a good position to make the types of stides he and Van Gundy envision for him.