Stanley Johnson made some headlines after a stellar offseason showing in a pickup game. The Detroit Pistons forward went off for 86 points in the OVO Bounce game, highlighting his immense potential, albeit in a relatively lackadaisical setting.
Regardless of the setting, the display did wonders for Johnson’s confidence. The forward spoke a mean game afterward to Bleacher Report’s Yaron Weitzman:
“I feel like if my jump shot is falling, there aren’t many people on the planet that can guard me,” he says a few days later. “A lot of people don’t know I can play like that. It was fun to show them.”
Johnson struggled in his sophomore season last year (he shot 35 percent from the field and 29 percent from three) so it’s nice to see him gaining some confidence.
That said, I feel like if my jump shot is falling and I have NBA-level athleticism, I’d be pretty unguardable too. That’s, of course, a far cry from my usual status which is none of those things and less.
The Pistons are still holding out hope that Johnson can develop into a stud on both ends of the court. That’s part of why they were comfortable in moving on from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Now it’s a matter of seeing how he develops.
