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Stanley Johnson is improving his shooting in time for USA Selects

By Duncan Smith

Dec 31, 2015; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Stanley Johnson (3) holds the ball against Minnesota Timberwolves forward Shabazz Muhammad (15) during the third quarter at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons win 115-90. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Stanley Johnson (3) holds the ball against Minnesota Timberwolves forward Shabazz Muhammad (15) during the third quarter at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons win 115-90. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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 Stanley Johnson’s hard work on improving his shooting in summer league seems to be paying off just in time for his work in Las Vegas with the USA Selects.

Stanley Johnson went to the Orlando Summer League with his Detroit Pistons’ teammates for the express purpose of working on his weaknesses, prime among them his jump shot. For one thing, his jumper had a fairly low release point, leading to a couple of shots from the perimeter getting blocked in the early stages of the Orlando tournament.

Related Story: Stanley Johnson tears it up in the Drew League

Overall in his rookie season, Johnson shot 37.5 from the field and 30.7 percent from three-point range, both of which are numbers which need to improve. Those numbers were brought down significantly over the last couple months of the season following a shoulder injury against the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 24th, however.

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Over the final 24 games of the regular season, Johnson played just 16 games and hit just 29.3 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from the three-point line. Over the preceding 58 games Johnson didn’t miss a single appearance and hit a more respectable 39.2 percent and 32.2 percent respectively. It’s fair to suggest that his late-season woes were injury-related, but the Pistons expect better in 2016-17.

That’s why he was sent to Orlando. His inclusion in the summer league roster wasn’t about earning a spot or future playing time, it was simply about improvement and skill development.

Late in June, Pistons’ head coach Stan Van Gundy emphasized the importance of Johnson’s Orlando workload:

"“There’s a great possibility that he actually … won’t play as well in the summer league this year as last year,” Van Gundy said today. “We’ll almost be playing to his weaknesses in a lot of cases. We’re going to use the summer league, in his case at least, as a developmental tool for him and not just go out and learn to play the NBA game.”"

"“We thought it would be valuable to have him … where we could put him in situations where we wanted him to work on, so it’ll be a little different summer-league experience for him this year because last year we just put in our system and let him play,” Van Gundy said. “This year we’ll specifically be trying to put him in situations where he’s working on things he needs to work on.”"

According to Johnson, the emphasis on weaknesses has had its intended effect.

"“I told y’all at (Orlando Pro Summer League), it was rough obviously the first two (games), but the reason that I went there, I got it,” Johnson told the Free Press.“I got what I needed. I’m not going to say much, but it should be an exciting year for us.”"

The Pistons didn’t end up making much of a free agency splash, essentially just picking up pieces that filled in holes in the rotation, which means that most of the team’s improvements this coming season will be from internal development. The effort that the organization and Johnson have made collectively might just go a long way in improving the Pistons’ chances to better their 44 win season in 2015-16.

Next: Stanley Johnson was the right guy for the Detroit Pistons

In the meantime, however, Johnson is focused on his work with the USA Selects, the team picked by USA Basketball to scrimmage with Team USA before they go to Rio, Brazil for the Olympic Games.

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