Stanley Johnson: ‘It’s time to do my thing’

A storage company sits behind the place where athletes from three of the four major professional sports come to stay in game shape and work on injury prevention.

And it’s here where Stanley Johnson has returned after a one-summer absence to regain his groove.

Aside from a short period of time in late June when he joined the Detroit Pistons summer league team in Orlando, Johnson has been a daily presence at P3.

The decision came before the Pistons’ off-season roster upheaval, but in the aftermath, Johnson returns to the spotlight that greeted him when the franchise passed on Devin Booker and Myles Turner to select Johnson with the eighth pick of the 2015 NBA draft.

And in the short walk to his vehicle after his mid-day workout earlier this month, one word came to mind in the brief talk with Johnson.

Excitement.

“Obviously coming off the year I had, having the opportunity to play extended minutes and a role that I aim to be at in my career, it’s going to be awesome,” Johnson told the Free Press. “I’m excited to see what I’m going to be. I don’t know what I’m going to do. It could be really, really amazing; it could be mediocre. I feel like I’m the only real, full, natural (small forward) on the team that can do both ways on it.

“It’s time to shine, it’s time to do my thing.”

Source: Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press