Detroit Pistons: Stanley Johnson season in review and grade

Stanley Johnson is next up in our continuing series of Detroit Pistons player reviews and grades. Let’s take a look at how Johnson’s season stacked up.

Stanley Johnson‘s rookie season ended with promise, going toe-to-toe with LeBron James on national television in the Detroit Pistons first playoff appearance in almost a decade. Johnson didn’t stop James, but he showed that he wasn’t afraid of the big stage and that he was a physical force to be reckoned with. As a raw 19-year-old rookie, there’s nothing more the Pistons could have asked of him.

He had a great summer. He was the best player on the floor in the Orlando Summer League with a freshly restructured jumper and coaching instruction to not dribble to his stronger hand. He led the Pistons in scoring and carried that squad to a OSL title game appearance.

He tore up the Drew League in Los Angeles. He was outstanding in Drake’s OVO league. Expectations were high coming into the season, but things got off on the wrong foot right away.

Literally.

He missed time in the preseason with foot pain thanks to his shoes, and it seemed as though he never quite got things together thereafter. It took seven games before Johnson got on the floor for more than 18 minutes for the second time. By the time he played 20 minutes for the third time, the season was 16 games in and he had a DNP-CD under his belt.

By the time Stanley Johnson played his fourth appearance of 20 minutes, he had three DNP-CDs, a one-game suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules, and the season was 26 games old.

By the middle of December, he had lost his spot in the rotation to Darrun Hilliard. That was a short-lived demotion thanks to Hilliard being unable to take advantage of the opportunity, and Johnson was reinstalled as a rotational reserve, but his spot in Stan Van Gundy’s dog house was well established by then.

He was sent to the Grand Rapids Drive, the Pistons NBA D-League affiliate, on December 11th in order to get some reps in. He played well, scoring 26 points in 37 minutes and was by far the best player on the floor as you might imagine.

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At the best of times this past season, Van Gundy kept a mercilessly short leash on Johnson. He missed an assignment in a home game against the Sacramento Kings in January and was yanked immediately. In a game they lost by five points, Johnson played just three minutes. In a game against the Phoenix Suns in March as the Pistons were needing every hand on deck for the playoff push, he missed an assignment against Jerrell Eddy, a recent 10-day contract call-up.

Johnson was immediately benched and played just six minutes in that game. He was also DNP-CD in the Detroit Pistons’ next game, a 98-96 loss on the road to the Brooklyn Nets which may have essentially broken the Pistons’ spirit.

Stanley Johnson didn’t have a good season. He took steps back in virtually every offensive category, but good things happened defensively when he was on the floor, particularly in the month of February where the Voltron lineup (credit to Rod Beard of the Detroit News for coining this lineup’s name) of Ish Smith, Johnson, Tobias Harris and Aron Baynes (and whoever else you want to plug in on the wing) was one of the best performing units in the NBA.

It’s not surprising that Johnson struggled with his shot this season. At the age of 20, he had just completely rebuilt his jumper. With no ability to get into a flow thanks to inconsistent and short minutes, problems could only compound themselves. Johnson’s attitude and work ethic were called into question by Van Gundy at various points, although Van Gundy softened those comments by also suggesting he’d rather have a stubborn, hard-headed guy than not.

How much of Johnson’s struggles fall entirely on his shoulders, and how much can be blamed on Van Gundy’s unforgiving short leash, we can’t really know. Blame aside, however, Stanley Johnson didn’t have the season he expected.

Next: Remembering the 1998-99 Detroit Pistons

Grade: D+

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