Joe Johnson’s signed contract provides Detroit Pistons decision date

Joe Johnson signed his contract with the Detroit Pistons on Thursday. Here is what his contract means for the Pistons’ training camp.

Joe Johnson officially signed with the Detroit Pistons and his guarantee date starts the clock on the competition for the 15th roster spot.

Johnson, 38, is making $220,000 of guaranteed money. His partial guarantees kick in for $1.37 million on Oct. 21 and  $2.56 million on Jan. 7, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

The competition for the Pistons’ final roster spot between Johnson and Christian Wood will be decided by the time the first kicker guarantees on Oct. 21.

Pistons coach Dwane Casey has a big proponent of bringing Johnson in and luring the 17-year NBA veteran to sign after trying out for three teams. This came after a MVP-winning Big3 season that resulted in a championship.

A seven-time All-Star in his prime, Johnson was out of the league following a less-than-stellar 2017-18 campaign with the Jazz and Rockets. Now he is playing his way towards another year in the NBA.

His veteran leadership would be beneficial for a roster with an average age of 25.6, for the 14 guaranteed contracts. That number could go down if the 23-year-old Wood makes the roster.

Wood fills a need as a backup center that, if cut would be a gaping hole. It would also signal the belief in Thon Maker and deny Wood another opportunity to prove himself.

Wood has dominated the Gatorade League, the NBA’s developmental league, to the tune of averaging 29.3 points and 14.1 rebounds per game last season. He’s only played 51 NBA games and is averaging 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in 9.9 minutes per game.

The 6-foot-10 athletic big man can knock down 3-pointers, hitting 28.1 percent in his G-League career. It’s not great but it’s enough of a threat to make a difference.

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If Maker is the de facto backup center, it went present an interesting matchup for opponents in the form of a 7-foot-1, 220-pound center. He has provided better defensive numbers in his short stint with the Pistons.

He has a 0.8 defensive win shares in 29 games and had a 2.5 defensive box plus-minus. His offense was far from below average, however, with a -3 offensive box plus-minus.

With a full offseason under Casey should benefit Maker, who could refine his 3-point shooting touch that has declined from 37.8 percent in his rookie season to 32 percent last season (30.7 percent with the Pistons). His ability to stretch the floor, even at that rate, is valuable for the offense and would allow Markieff Morris to patrol the paint and make the most of his physical play.

Of course, in a tight rotation it could be Morris who is the backup center with the Pistons playing small ball off the bench.

The Pistons have plenty of options to sort through entering training camp. The other option is to keep Johnson and Wood, which would mean a corresponding move to cut the roster form 16 to 15 would have to come before Oct. 23.

The Oct. 21 guarantee date won’t necessarily tell us the exact roster moves but it will signal Johnson’s future with the Pistons and, potentially, in the NBA.