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The NBA draft lottery has come and gone, and nothing changed in terms of where the Detroit Pistons will be selecting. The Pistons will have the eighth overall pick in the draft.
It is a position in the draft that Detroit is all too familiar with, considering its last four firs- round selections have all been between the seventh and ninth overall pick. It’s not typically the part of the lottery that teams want to be stuck in, but Detroit has done a good job of turning those picks into quality NBA players.
The four picks were Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight, Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Unfortunately, Knight is gone and Monroe is likely soon to follow.
The question now is can the Pistons once again come away with a quality player in the middle of the lottery. At this point, Stanley Johnson is one of the most commonly linked names with the Pistons. A lot can change with the draft still a little more than a month away, but Johnson to Detroit makes a lot of sense.
The small forward position for the Pistons has been in a state of flux for some time. Johnson would help fix that, but it’s his versatility, particularly on the defensive end, that makes him even more intriguing. His length and athleticism will allow him to guard at least three different positions at the next level. Johnson said at the NBA combine that he is capable of playing at 255 pounds, which would make him a matchup problem for many small forwards.
His offensive game is still a work in progressive, but he has some tools in place to be an effective player from day one. His ball handling is above average for a player his size and he has an improving mid-range jump shot. The final step in his offensive game will be adding a consistent outside shot. If and when that happens, he will become a dynamic two-way player in the league.
Perhaps the best thing going for him is his competitiveness. It makes it easier to take a player who still needs to develop offensively when you can see he has a desire to get better. Any deficiencies in his game won’t be because of a lack of effort, which is the kind of attitude Stan Van Gundy wants to bring to his team.
