ORLANDO – Stanley Johnson has many gifts. The gift of gab is only one of them. You might recall it got him in a bit of a spot during the Pistons playoff series with Cleveland. Stan Van Gundy wasn’t thrilled that his rookie decided to give LeBron James, then a two-time NBA champion, additional motivation in his quest for a third.
But Johnson isn’t just an idle chatterer, either. He does his best to live up to the outrageous public declarations of his basketball destiny, routinely talking about his desire to become one of the game’s greatest players.
He did it again after Saturday’s Summer League romp when he was, hands down, the best player on the floor. But he did it in a way that underscores the rookie lessons he absorbed.
“For me to be one of the best players in the league one day,” he said, going on to explain the level of work he would have to put in to turn his jump shot into a consistent threat.
And that’s the story of Orlando so far for Van Gundy and the Pistons. For all their joy over having Henry Ellenson unexpectedly fall to them at 18 in the NBA draft, all the promise they have for the perimeter versatility of second-rounder Michale Gbinije and all the reinforcement Darrun Hilliard gave for their optimism of his future before a back injury hit the pause button on his summer of progress, Johnson will have the greatest impact of anyone here on the fortunes of the 2016-17 Pistons.
Johnson talked after the Game 4 loss to Cleveland to end his rookie season about learning the value of better preparation. What he’s shown so far in Orlando is that he was dead serious.
“Not only have I seen it, but everyone that’s watched our practices says he looks like an entirely different person,” associate head coach Bob Beyer said after Sunday’s practice. “He understands the importance of getting to his spot quickly. He understands the importance of setting up his cuts and cutting hard. He understands how he has to be responsible for every defensive coverage we run.”
It’s in all of those nuances where Johnson’s game has room to grow to allow his limitless potential to be fulfilled. Late last season, after Johnson struggled coming off a seven-game injury absence, he was removed from the rotation for two games. Reggie Bullock got some of his minutes. When Bullock scored a layup after making a hard cut to get open off a sideline inbounds play in a big April win at Orlando, Van Gundy later remarked that it was a basket Johnson wouldn’t have gotten because he wouldn’t have made the cut.
It starts with paying incredible attention to the most minute detail. It’s something the 240-pound Johnson, physically dominant two years ago as a high school player and a year later at Arizona, never had to worry about previously. He could overpower his mistakes. Van Gundy remarked more than once last season that while he had no qualms about Johnson’s love for the game or for competition, he didn’t think he spent his time in the gym wisely.
“I asked him around the All-Star break, ‘What’s the most important thing you’ve learned?’ ” Beyer said. “And this is what he told me: ‘Routine.’ I said, ‘Expand on that.’ He said, ‘I’ve got to come into the gym, I’ve got to have my time on the court, I’ve got to work with the coaches, I’ve got to shoot the same shot all the time.’ The first half of the season, he would just come in and didn’t have a plan. He might take shots off the dribble, he might take dribble-up threes. That’s not his game right now. When he recognized that and got himself into a routine, he started to take strides. Now going into summer, he is a more routine-based player. That’s what all the really good pros do. They have great routines.”
Johnson, who only recently turned 20, will no longer be the youngest Pistons player. Ellenson won’t be 20 until January. He’s still the youngest of the players who figure to be in Van Gundy’s rotation next season, though. Yet there’s no question that, sooner or later, he’ll emerge as a team leader given the force of his personality and the level his game is headed toward. Beyer’s seen evidence of leadership in Johnson over the past week, too.
“The thing I’ve been impressed with, he wants to be the first guy when we’re getting warmed up, to get on the court and do it. He wants to be the first guy leading us. Reps, he wants to be the first guy in line. He’s trying to help the other guys out. He never did that last year.”
So all that talk about taking a more professional approach to his craft, Stanley Johnson is living up to his word – a pretty good sign that he’ll also live up to his immense potential.