Incoming sophomore Stanley Johnson is happy with what his team, the Detroit Pistons, had done in the summer lately and is said to be eager to start the next season and try and qualify to the playoffs once more.
Johnson, who just turned 20 in May, was selected eighth overall during the 2015 NBA Draft by the Pistons. He earned worldwide attention when Detroit faced eventual champions Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the recent postseason and he was assigned to defend no other than four-time league MVP LeBron James.
Stanley and the Pistons expectedly lost to the Cavs via a sweep, but the then teenager more than held his own against what majority of the basketball-loving public consider the greatest basketball players in the world right now.
Johnson is currently included in the USA Select team that trains with the senior USA Men's Basketball team that will compete in the coming Rio Summer Olympics next month and he had some good words for his current NBA team regarding their summer roster moves during one of their practices.
However, he emphasized the importance of the improvement of the existing players for them to be competitive next season.
"I think we added some great pieces to our team," said Johnson, via the Detroit Free Press. "Like (head coach and president) Stan (Van Gundy) said before a lot of our improvement would be going toward the in-house stuff. So I think, between me and Pope and Marcus (Morris) and Andre (Drummond), I think we made a lot of improvement with our team, in-house."
Fansided noted that the Pistons have acquired Ish Smith, Jon Leuer, Boban Marjanovic, Henry Ellenson and Michael Gbinije this offseason while also unloading veteran journeymen Jodie Meeks and Anthony Tolliver.
Detroit currently has a young core, headlined by Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who is brimming with potential and it will not be a surprise if they get to face the Cavaliers again in the playoffs next year.
"On paper, you won't be able to see until the seasons starts, but I think we're a team that's going to be really competitive in the NBA, in general, and not just in the Eastern Conference. We're focused," Johnson added.