Opinion: It’s time for the Detroit Pistons to bench Stanley Johnson
By Travis Gibbs
The Stanley Johnson experiment should be over. The Detroit Pistons need more production from the small forward position and Johnson doesn’t look capable of it at this point.
The Detroit Pistons can no longer afford to have Stanley Johnson be their starting small forward. After scoring just 17 points in the last three games, this little experiment clearly shows its not working.
I don’t want to be this guy. However, someone has to talk about it and feel the way I do. Right?
We’ve been talking for too long about Johnson’s potential. One of our contributors, Ku Kahil, wrote a piece before the season started about how this was now or never for Stanley Johnson.
Read. It’s now or never for Stanley Johnson. light
There’s a new coach and a new system in place. There’s no more excuses for the former top ten draft pick. He has to find some sort of groove this season to have a role on this team.
To this point in the season, he’s just not getting it done and there are no signs of optimism surrounding his game. Johnson is shooting 35 percent from the field and just 25 percent from three-point range.
He has a 4.2 player efficiency rating! Johnson is almost accounting for nearly 25 percent of the team’s turnovers per 100 possessions. One player. How can you defend this?
There are believers out there and that’s fine. That can be your opinion. I understand why people still have faith.
Johnson is still just 22 years old which is hard to believe at times.
He still has time to develop and grow as a player. I think he can get better still as well. He was one of the more dynamic players in college when he was at the University of Arizona.
He was drafted in the top ten of his class in 2015 for a reason.
Johnson is also one of the best defenders that the Detroit Pistons have. The starting lineup would downgrade on that end of the floor with whoever stepped in his place.
However, I believe the reward would outweigh the risk of putting Johnson on the bench.
The NBA is becoming more and more of an offensive-minded league. Teams are scoring at a much higher rate than ever before. Defense helps a team in that situation.
On the other hand, Johnson is just too much of a liability on offense when the Pistons are struggling to find production outside of Blake Griffin.
Who would start in his place? I think the obvious answer is Glenn Robinson at this point. He’s not been putting up fantastic numbers yet either.
However, Robinson has proven in the past that he can be a dynamic scorer. In his time with the Indiana Pacers, he shot around 40 percent from three-point range.
Robinson is still managing to shoot above 45 percent from the field in his limited action.
He doesn’t give up much size in place of Johnson. He’s not as good of a defender but it’s not enough of a drop off to be a liability on that end of the floor.
The Pistons have a plus/minus of 6.8 per 100 possessions when Robinson is on the floor.
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At this point, I believe the Detroit Pistons would be much better with Stanley Johnson out of the starting lineup. He’s become too much of a liability. Perhaps playing with the reserve group will help him find a groove with not as much pressure.
There’s just no way to justify Stanley Johnson playing 28 minutes a night for the Detroit Pistons. Things have to change.