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Stanley Johnson and the confounding nature of the box score

By Duncan Smith

DETROIT, MI - OCTOBER 18: Dwayne Bacon
DETROIT, MI - OCTOBER 18: Dwayne Bacon /
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Stanley Johnson shot 0-for-13 from the field in the Detroit Pistons season opener, but there was more to his performance than the box score indicates.

By now you’ve likely seen the box scores from the Detroit Pistons season opener at Little Caesars Arena. It was a comfortable win for the Pistons thanks to an outstanding performance from Tobias Harris and supplemental scoring up and down the roster, but one name was notable for being held without a field goal.

Not only was Stanley Johnson unable to connect on a shot from the floor (he scored two points, hitting both of his free throws), but he missed all 13 of his field goal attempts. This tied him for the fifth-most shots in a game without a make since the 1983-84 season.

To be fair, this put him in some illustrious company, including Tim Hardaway Sr., Vince Carter, Derrick Favors and Russell Westbrook.

Familiar names aside, it’s a dubious distinction to be sure. At a glance, nobody could be blamed for thinking Johnson had a dreadful game. To be sure, across Twitter and social media, it was mostly at a glance that his performance was evaluated.

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Naturally, he had an above-average number of tough-luck misses and shots that rimmed out after getting halfway down. An early layup probably that was blocked by Dwight Howard probably should have been ruled goaltending.

Be that as it may, none of the 13 shots he took hit the bottom of the net. Considering that we’re going to be evaluating his actual impact and not merely the EV of certain plays, we can’t cherry pick shots that almost or should have been baskets.

Looking at that box score, we can see that he was in fact impactful. He had four steals, four rebounds (including an offensive rebound with a minute left that set up Tobias Harris for a clinching three-pointer), an assist, a block and disrupted nearly every pass, drive and possession that came near him.

While it’s difficult to set a specific baseline for points accounted for on offense versus points saved defensively (check out NBA Math‘s TPA metric for more on that), we can check the box score for a couple of points in his favor. First off, he played 40 minutes in a game where he missed 13 shots.

It’s a big demonstration of both his actual impact and Stan Van Gundy’s newfound faith in him compared to last year where a single blown assignment could get Johnson a quick first quarter hook, never to return, and followed up with a DNP-CD the next game.

Another numerical demonstration that Johnson was impactful is that while he missed those 13 shots and scored just two points, he was actually +5 in those 40 minutes while playing in seven of the 10 five-man units the Detroit Pistons rolled out.

Johnson piled up steals, but he was relentlessly disruptive defensively in ways that won’t show up on the stats sheet. You can watch below as he blows up an inbounds pass in the fourth quarter.

Stanley Johnson also displayed leadership in talking Andre Drummond down and away from picking up a costly technical foul in the fourth quarter.

It’s been established through people in attendance and from Fox Sports Detroit’s own mics that Johnson’s specific wording utilized somewhat colorful metaphors, but you get the point.

Johnson was lost on offense last season at times, struggling with the ball anywhere near him. At times he was too hesitant, others he was too aggressive. Somehow he always managed to go left when he should go right, pass when he should shoot, zig when he should zag. Bad shooting night or not, there was no indecision or poor decision-making.

Next: The Pistons top 5 season openers

Stanley Johnson displayed elements we’d only hoped for to this point and he was a game-changer in spite of a putrid shooting performance. If you don’t believe the box score, you’re just going to have to watch the film for yourself.

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