Stanley Johnson is the Detroit Pistons’ wildcard

Stanley Johnson has been one of the more polarizing players for Pistons fans. But Johnson is key to this Pistons team reaching greatness under Dwane Casey.

There’s fine line between being a “good” team, and a “great” team.

Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson can make the Detroit Pistons a good team.

But, if the Pistons want to become a great team, they’ll need a guy to step up and make the leap.

In order for the Pistons’ big three to hit their potential, they need Stanley Johnson to breakthrough.

Johnson is one of the most polarizing Pistons players amongst the fan base. After a promising rookie year, that included him being a sixth man for a playoff team, Johnson struggled mightily his sophomore year.

With Stan Van Gundy trading away starting forward Marcus Morris, many believed it was Johnson’s time to step up this past year.

At the beginning, he did.

In the thread made above, Johnson’s start to his third year is described. If you remove his 0-13 game to start the year, Johnson was playing well in a bigger role. In the next nine games (games 2-10) he was averaging 9.2 points per game on 48 percent shooting, and an impressive 39 percent from three (on an average of 3.7 attempts).

Yes, that’s a very small sample, but the point is this.

In game 11, Johnson suffered a hip flexor injury. After missing games 11-13, he played through the injury. In the 17 games he played through this injury, Johnson splits suffered tremendously. He averaged seven points per game on 32 percent shooting, and shot 27 percent from three (on 3.2 attempts).

Johnson then decided it was time to let the hip heal, and sat out for games 35-43. When he returned, Johnson looked rusty and out of rhythm.

In his first five games back, Johnson was averaging 8.8 points per game, on 36 percent shooting, and 21 percent from beyond the arc (on 3.8 attempts). This could be attributed to rust, and being out for the previous nine games. However, if you don’t believe rust exists, fine. You can believe he was just playing bad.

But in his next 15 games Johnson started to grow before our eyes. He was healthy for the first time since his stretch of good performances in the beginning of the season.

In these next 15 games, Johnson averaged 11.7 points per game on 43 percent shooting and 32 percent from deep. The difference however, was Johnson’s assertiveness and aggression.

In the clip above from Johnson’s 26 point game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he starts off his night in transition attacking the rim. Attacking the rim is undoubtedly one of Johnson’s strengths, and he makes sure to set the tone early.

If you watch the clip, Andre Drummond pulls down the rebound and four Cavaliers are standing along the baseline. Johnson immediately calls for the ball, and speeds down the court attacking the 5’9″ point guard Isaiah Thomas.

In his next bucket, LeBron James is giving Johnson the open three from the corner. Instead of jab stepping or hesitating, like many fans have complained about, he launches the 3-pointer with no hesitation. He follows through on his jump shot and a pretty triple goes in.

Johnson’s next five buckets would all come inside the restricted area.

This is something the Pistons need to allow Johnson at all times. Johnson is 6’7″ 240 pounds, no one is going to stop him going full speed, downhill in transition without fouling.

Johnson doesn’t settle here, and shows the pretty Euro-step finish on the Utah Jazz.

Again in this play, Johnson knows what he’s going to do as soon as he gets the ball. There’s no hesitation or jab step. Instead of waiting outside of the 3-point line, Johnson is attacking the seam as he catches the pass. The defense is caught helping, and again, he’s not going to be stopped without fouling once he reaches this point. He then shows the crafty finish on James.

In these 15 games, this was the story to his success. Johnson was getting to the free throw line 3.2 times a night, and getting there at least five times in six different games. The complaint by Johnson’s supporters through the years is that he has been put in a corner and stuck there the whole game, doing something he isn’t great at.

Johnson should be moving and attacking the rim, using his body to either finish with ease, or get to the free throw line.

This was the constant issue for Van Gundy when he was here: how to properly use Johnson. During this stretch, we saw the formula. Get him the ball in transition and allow him to attack the rim in the half court.

Defense will never be the issue for Johnson, as he plays with tenacity and effort. He’s capable of creating his own baskets off of playing hard defense, stealing, or deflecting, the ball and getting a lay-up on the other end.

Here, Johnson is all up in James’ jersey. James is the best player in the world, and we’ve all seen as Pistons fans that not even James will stop Johnson from being physical on defense.

Johnson’s defensive instincts are off the charts, as he sees the play developing and jumps the route. This leads to an easy lay-up on the other end.

Fighting through moving screens set by Channing Frye, Johnson continues to show his defensive instincts. Johnson knows he’s guarding Kyle Korver, and James is trying to set up a 3-pointer for Korver off of this high screen. He jumps the play, and it leads to a Drummond dunk.

The aggression and assertiveness shown here has been shown by Johnson any time he’s been healthy. He’s been handcuffed and held back by injuries, and this has stalled the improvements he has made. A lot of this can be blamed on the Pistons’ training staff.

Don’t believe it? Just check out this list made by my fellow writer at PistonPowered, and my friend, Martin Mansour.

The Pistons’ staff needs to improve, and need to do their best to take care of Johnson’s health this upcoming season. As pointed out, when Johnson has been healthy he’s shown incredible promise.

Now, he is not “great” at his strengths. The claim is not that he solely was misused, and already has the skill to do everything.

No.

The claim is that Johnson has indeed been misused, and has had injuries derail his improvements. It’s that being misused has stunted his growth and development to become “great” at his strengths.

Johnson still has much work to do. He has to get consistent with his shot, and must shoot with confidence every time; instead of jab stepping and hesitating before launching up a three.

He has to tighten up his already improving handle, so he can show off his passing ability and vision.

By no means is Johnson off the hook.

But the point is that all these things are not mutually exclusive. They are not independent of each other, and it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

Johnson has been misused and been hurt by injuries, and the incompetence of the Pistons training staff; but he also needs to get better despite this and is responsible for his inconsistency.

Most importantly, however, Dwane Casey needs to watch the same film that’s been used for this piece and figure out how to use Johnson correctly; something Van Gundy could never figure out for long stretches.

Casey was recently on The Stephen A. Smith Show shortly after being hired by Tom Gores and the Pistons. During this interview, Casey seemed extremely intrigued by Johnson, taking up a good portion speaking about the 22-year-old.

Casey said he believes Johnson “has just as much potential as anybody,” and talked about how he can’t wait to get to work with him and help him develop. Casey stressed that getting Johnson’s jump shot more consistent will be key this off-season.

Even before this interview, Casey appeared on Smith’s show, First Take, and spoke highly of Johnson.

I think it’s safe to say that Casey realizes just how much potential Johnson has shown, and knows if the Pistons want to be great, it’ll take Johnson being used correctly to break through.

Drummond, Griffin, and Jackson will decide whether this team is good. But they need players like Luke Kennard and Johnson to take a step forward.

If Johnson can continue the improvements that had Pistons followers last year anxious for more, while receiving the support and help of Casey, the Pistons will have a legitimate chance to be a great team.

This will be the off-season Johnson receives the correct support and the help to tap into his ceiling as a player.

Johnson will answer the call, and rise to the occasion.

Until then, he’ll remain the Pistons wildcard.

Next: Young players can benefit from Dwane Casey