ORLANDO – Stan Van Gundy has seen players who went on to have stellar seasons struggle in Summer League and watched others whose careers flamed out in Orlando or Las Vegas glory.
So he’s not doing back flips or handstands just yet over Stanley Johnson’s auspicious first three games of Summer League.
“I’ve been at this long enough that I don’t get real pumped up if a guy plays real well in Summer League and I don’t get real depressed if he doesn’t,” he said. “It’s good for him to play, it’s good for him to learn, it’s good for us to be able to look at strengths and weaknesses and know what we want to work on for the rest of the summer.”
But Johnson unquestionably has been one of the eye-catchers of Orlando, averaging 17 points and 6.7 rebounds while shooting a robust 70.4 percent overall and knocking down half of his eight 3-point attempts. He’s picked up six steals to go with six assists and has been remarkably poised with the ball, committing only four turnovers despite the typically frenzied defense played by desperately hungry players.
He caught a heavy dose of trapping coming off screens in Monday’s loss to Miami and showed palpable poise in dealing with it. Now comes the next step – making teams pay for the double.
“It was interesting watching him,” Van Gundy said. “They trapped all his pick and rolls. And he’s going to have to learn to be a little bit better against that. But he didn’t cough up the ball against it. That’s something that generally takes guys a lot longer. I watched a couple of guys here last year who became good players this year and they’re just not used to getting traps on pick and rolls. I actually thought he did decently against it. I think he can learn to play better against it and it’s team thing, too. But he was strong with the ball. His strength is obviously pretty overwhelming.”
One of the most promising aspects of Johnson’s game here has been his passing ability on the move, something Van Gundy said registers as the only real eye-opener for him.
“I think he’s played well. He has shot the ball better probably than some people expected. He’s made plays off the dribble. I’ve been impressed with his ability to pass the ball off the dribble, which is actually something, quite honestly, going in I had questions about. The rebounding has been good, but that hasn’t surprised me at all. I think defensively he’s certainly capable of guarding people. Most of what I’ve seen is what I expected, but plays off the dribble and he’s shot the ball well, particularly off the dribble.”
Van Gundy doesn’t believe in force feeding the development of young players, so Johnson will play only if he merits his minutes.
“I may be in the minority here. I think one of the most important things for a young player’s development is that they understand they will play when they deserve the right to play. I think it inhibits a guy’s development when he’s simply handed minutes and doesn’t have to do anything to earn them and thus there’s no reason to work harder, change the way you play. I don’t think you hold them back, either. … I don’t think they have to play to develop. I think it’s important that they play when they deserve to play.”
A player Van Gundy expected to have a strong Summer League showing, Quincy Miller, was ruled out for four to six weeks after taking an elbow in practice last week, suffering a broken nose and orbital floor. Miller was likely destined to shoulder the scoring burden for the Summer League team, which would have taken some of the load off of Johnson and allowed others, like point guard Spencer Dinwiddie, to stay in their lane more than they now have the luxury of doing. But Van Gundy mostly laments the lost opportunity for Miller.
“I don’t think it really hurts our evaluation of him, but it’s just really too bad for him,” Van Gundy said. “The guy was working so hard and then to have to miss the entire thing is just really unfortunate for him. And for our other guys, quite honestly. They’d be able to play better with him on the floor, another talented guy. So we’ve had to press guys into minutes more than we expected. It was unfortunate for everybody, but especially for him.”