Detroit Pistons draft picks of the last 10 years: Where are they now?

2015 Draft

Round 1 Pick 8: Stanley Johnson

Stanley Johnson​ was another polarizing draft pick that had the fan base split. No fan would ever question Johnson’s effort or his defense. Those were all strengths of Johnson that had fans drooling over his potential in the early days. What disappointed fans was Johnson’s lack of progress offensively.

After a rookie season in which Johnson played the role of the sixth man and showed attitude in the playoffs while guarding the All-Time great Miami Heat LeBron James. Pistons fans were filled with excitement to see Johnson progress.

Unfortunately, Johnson plateaued in his rookie season. His sophomore season Johnson was in the infamous Stan Van Gundy “dog house” as he saw his minutes decline (23.1 minutes per game in rookie season to 17.8 minutes per game in sophomore season), as well as his statistics decline (8.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in rookie season declined to 4.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in sophomore season).

In the following two seasons Johnson would return to the stat line production of his rookie season. That was the disappointing thing. He could never build upon the production of his rookie season, he could only match it. For reference, in Johnson’s final season with the Pistons he averaged 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

Compare this to his production in the other three years Johnson was a Piston and you will see why the team eventually decided to move on. In early February, after four years with the team that drafted him, the Pistons traded Johnson for forward Thon Maker.

Johnson would finish out his contract with the Pelicans averaging 5.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game in 18 games. After the season’s completion Johnson signed a two year, $7.5 million contract to play with the Raptors where he will be playing this upcoming season.

Round 2 Pick 38: Darrun Hilliard

Darrun Hilliard was another pick that did not get much time while he was in the NBA. Hilliard had a relatively short NBA career that spanned only three seasons. Drafted as a 6-foot-6 shooting guard out of Villanova, Hilliard was not expected to play much for the team but with his length and scoring ability could reasonably log some minutes if he improved.

Hilliard appeared in 38 games his rookie season averaging just 4 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Rather underwhelming numbers, but what you would expect from someone who only averaged 10 minutes per game.

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From that season on Hilliard’s playing time steadily declined. In his sophomore season he played in 39 games, yet saw a slight decline in his minutes where he averaged 9.8 minutes per game. After the completion of his second year, the 2016-17 season, Hilliard was traded to the Houston Rockets for cash considerations.

Hilliard would not spend much time with the Rockets as he was immediately traded again, this time to the Clippers in the deal that sent Chris Paul to the Rockets. Once again, Hilliard would not spend any time with his new team as upon acquisition, he was immediately waived by the Los Angeles Clippers where he would eventually find his footing signing a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs.

With the Spurs, Hilliard hit a career low as far as minutes and production. Hilliard only appeared in 14 games averaging just 1.1 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 6.8 minutes per game. While Hilliard did not get to play much in the NBA, he did get to shine with the Spurs G-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs.

In the 36 games he appeared for the G-League affiliate he averaged 20.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.1 steals shooting 48 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. These averages were enough to catch the eye of some teams overseas and in the August of 2018 Hilliard signed a one-year deal to play with Kirolbet Baskonia of Spain.

At the completion of his contract in Spain, Hilliard signed another one-year deal. This time with CSKA Moscow, a team based out of Russia, where Hilliard will spend his 2019-2020 season.

Notable Players Passed On: Devin Booker, Justise Winslow, Myles Turner, Josh Richardson, Terry Rozier, Kelly Oubre, Bobby Portis, Montrezl Harrell