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Next step for a more mature Johnson is consistency – and staying healthy

PORTLAND – Over his first two NBA seasons, sometimes the enemy has been Stanley Johnson’s head. He appears to have won that battle. In his third NBA season, his more formidable foe has been Stanley Johnson’s body.

“His biggest problem is staying healthy and feeling good for long periods of time,” Stan Van Gundy said before the Pistons lost to Portland on Saturday night.

“It’s twice now where he’s hit a good stretch of games and then been out and had trouble coming back right away. His development has been good. He has played well. But the injuries – even though it hasn’t been a ton of games, but it’s 13,1 4 games, which is fairly significant; it’s 20 percent of what you’ve played and they’ve come at times where he’s playing well and then he has that back issue and he’s out for a time.”

Johnson, by his own admission, was a headstrong player for most of his first two seasons in the NBA. And still is, really.

“That’s just him,” Van Gundy said. “I’m headstrong, too, for that matter. He’s a very strong-willed guy and I think that plays out in some really positive ways and at times it can be negative. I’m the same way.”

That’s more the norm than the exception for young players who come to the NBA with the sort of credentials Johnson carried – four straight California state titles, three gold medals from USA Basketball in world competition and status as a draft lottery pick following a stellar freshman season at Arizona.

But he had an awakening late in his second season, becoming much more open to suggestion, and put in his most focused off-season last summer. He had a strong training camp and was off to a good start to the season when he was shut down for three games in early November with a hip flexor injury.

He didn’t look nearly as assertive upon his return, then started to pick it back up in mid-December. A few weeks later, more problems in the core area – it’s been back tightness and hip flexor issues consistently – knocked Johnson out again. This time, he was more patient with the injury, waiting until he felt closer to 100 percent to return.

Again, it took a handful of games for Johnson to get back in the flow. But over the next month encompassing 14 games, he turned in the most impressive basketball of his NBA career: 12.7 points and 4.1 rebounds a game on .434 shooting in 31 minutes a game. And for Johnson, 21, when he’s playing well his impact is always felt more at the defensive end, where he’s become more assignment sure and reliable off the ball in addition to being the force he’s been since day one on the ball.

Not long after that stretch – and coinciding with the skid the Pistons have experienced – Johnson began to feel tightness return to his lower back. He sat for two more games and then turned in two nondescript performances before a more assertive outing at Portland.

“I’ve learned a lot about my body this season, for sure,” he said. “First couple of games, back was still kind of tight. Tonight was the first game it felt good. I felt better, so now I know what my body needs to stay healthy. Hopefully, moving forward in my career, I can make those adjustments I need to make. But I think this season, from the end of last season to this season, has probably been the most professional that I’ve been and that’s (on account of) the coaches here and some mentors that I have.”

Van Gundy endorses Johnson’s analysis of his maturation wholeheartedly.

“No question,” he said. “Absolutely. That’s been a big growth of his. He’s been very professional. Gotten all his work in. Never late to anything. He’s been fantastic.”

Johnson spent the bulk of last summer at the P3 training center in Santa Barbara, Calif., setting up home base there, with a focus on adding flexibility. It’s a good bet his training over the coming off-season will redouble that effort, but he’s not gotten that far yet.

“I’m not even thinking about summer right now,” he said. “We still have a chance. We still have games. For me, it’s all about finishing the last games out and try to go on a win streak here and knock ’em all in and see what happens. When that time comes, I’ll have to make a plan for it.”

Van Gundy talked during Johnson’s frustrating second season about the need for him to focus on becoming a shut-down defender and let his offense determine its own course based on the needs of the team around him. That’s pretty much what he’s accomplished this season during the bursts of sometimes brilliant basketball strung together between the injuries.

“He’s got the versatility to play two, three and four,” Van Gundy said. “What he needs is more consistency, particularly at the offensive end of the floor.”

The puzzle becomes a little clearer for Van Gundy since the mid-season trade for Blake Griffin. Griffin and Andre Drummond give the Pistons an overpowering frontcourt, but it’s almost imperative that the Pistons surround them with shooting threats at the three perimeter positions. Johnson’s .289 3-point percentage this season – and he’s taking 43 percent of his shots from the arc – remains near his career average of .297.

“We want everybody to become a better shooter,” Van Gundy said of the fit for Johnson with a Griffin-Drummond core. “The more shooting you can have on the floor, the better. But Stanley’s got other ways to impact the game, too, particularly at the defensive end and on the boards. You can always use guys like that. But obviously improved shooting from him would be a major boost and get him more minutes on the floor.”