Forward Stanley Johnson was one of the elite talents in the NBA Draft class of 2015. The Arizona product was taken 8th overall in June’s NBA Draft and is expected to be the long term answer at small forward, a position Detroit has been thin at since Tayshaun Prince’s glory days in the mid 2000’s. Johnson was one of the most NBA ready players in the entire draft pool as he boasts a 6’7″ 240 pound frame. He also has one of the most polished games out of a youngster that we’ve seen in a while.
Johnson is on Detroit’s summer league team and is showing out, making sure everyone sees his true potential. Johnson is putting up an absurdly efficient stat line with averages of 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists, all on a blistering 68% shooting performance from the field. In a recent postgame interview Johnson looks to be taking the league head on, including his biggest challenge LeBron James. Following from NBA.com:
The summer league crowd has been looking forward to Monday’s scheduled matchup between Stanley Johnson and Justise Winslow. […] There’s plenty of intrigue and backstory. Detroit took Johnson with the No. 8 pick in the June 25 draft, allowing Winslow to slide to Miami at No. 10. Did the Pistons make a mistake? Will the Heat rookie seek to prove them wrong?
Never mind that the pair are long-time friends. They ate dinner together Saturday night and planned to take in a movie Sunday and couldn’t care less about the so-called showdown. […] Besides, after a silky smooth and effective 24 points and nine rebounds in the Pistons’ 77-69 win over the Clippers on Sunday at the Orlando Pro Summer League, Johnson has his sights set on bigger game than a rookie buddy he’s played with an against about a dozen times.
“Play against LeBron [James] — that means something,” Johnson said flatly. “He is the best player in the league and I want to be the best player in the league too, so I have a target on him. I will keep reaching for that goal. … He is a team player so I have to be a better team player to be on the same level as him. Did you see that Game 6 against Chicago where he had like 14 points and 14 assists and controlled everything? The best players win a lot of games, so it is not about your points or your rebounds.”
So far, Stanley is definitely showing us why he was picked over fellow small forward Justise Winslow out of Duke. His confidence in his game could’ve been part of that decision. Of course drawing a target on the back of the best player in the world is ballsy, however it’s also risky. You have to think James wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when he saw Johnson’s comments but he probably admired his morale, knowing it’s all part of the game. The future looks extremely bright since they have their franchise big in Andre Drummond, locked up their long term point guard in Reggie Jackson, and found their young stud at wing in Johnson. The Pistons now enjoy one of the best young cores in the game today and could be a scary sight sooner than we all expected.
