The Pistons struggled when they had Josh Smith and that probably led Greg Monroe to signing that one year deal. Smith is gone and Monroe is now an unrestricted free agent who might leave. Detroit traded for Ersan Ilyasova to fill that power forward spot so they will most likely target a small forward in this draft.
8) Detroit Pistons – Stanley Johnson (SF – Arizona)
If Justise Winslow is still on the board here they will probably take him but since this is my mock Winslow is off the board. Stanley Johnson is an excellent athlete with an improved jumper.
The Pistons had two players that played in all 82 games; their center Andre Drummond and their shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Brandon Jennings will return from injury and D.J. Augustin did a good job replacing him and then they added Reggie Jackson. Jodie Meeks was solid when he returned from injury as a backup shooting guard. Detroit needs help on the wing.
Johnson is 6’7 with a 6’11 wing span. Stan Van Gundy will get him to play defense at a high level. In his only year at Arizona he shot 37% from beyond the arc. If he is able to consistently knock down the long ball he would give the Pistons more spacing.
He needs to work on finishing around the basket and his consistency. He won’t have much pressure in Detroit and he can focus on defense and knocking down shots.
