Pistons draft Johnson No. 8: 'We love Stanley's skills'

The calls about trades started in earnest the moment the Detroit Pistons were on the clock for the eighth pick in Thursday's NBA draft.

And they continued when they used the pick on former Arizona small forward Stanley Johnson.

But the Pistons held firm, turning away trade proposals. They will gladly add one of the youngest players in the draft to their young core as he fills a gaping roster hole.

"We love Stanley's skills, he's been a winner at every level," Van Gundy told the fans gathered at the Palace for a draft party. "He's been a winner at every level – four straight state championships in California, no one else has ever done that."

Van Gundy said several teams were offering packages ranging from picks this year, future picks and players.

"We had a couple that we at least had to pause and talk about," Van Gundy said. "One time we (GM Jeff Bower and assistant GM Brian Wright) even got up from the table and talked, but most of them were easy to say no to and at the end we said no to all of them because we have a belief that this guy not only has the game, he has the mentality that we need and want going forward."

The Pistons bypassed former Duke star Justise Winslow, who came to prominence when the Blue Devils won the NCAA title.

"Justise is a very good player and a great kid and competes very hard, but the main reason people ask that question is because he's from Duke and they won the national championship," Van Gundy said. "It's not like people sat down and analyzed their games, but when the last game was played this year, Duke was playing and Justise Winslow was in there. There was little bit of a bump from that."

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Van Gundy also revealed that he got a sterling recommendation from Arizona coach Sean Miller, who worked with Van Gundy when Van Gundy was the head coach at Wisconsin.

Johnson wanted to come to Detroit.

"It's Detroit vs. everybody," Johnson said. "I've always had a chip on my shoulder since I've started playing basketball and I thought it was me vs. the world. Some people still don't believe in the player I am, the player I will be or the team that we have. It's definitely Detroit vs. everybody so we're going to take that and rock with it."

Johnson is a 6-foot-7, 240-pounder. He is only 19 and the Pistons don't expect him to start next season. The team plans to target a small forward during the free agency period that begins next Wednesday.

Johnson shot 37.1% from three-point range and led the Wildcats in scoring. Arizona advanced to the NCAA regional final, where they lost to Wisconsin, 85-78.

He is athletic and projects to be a frontline defender and along with shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the Pistons could have the makings of a tough perimeter defense.

The knock on Johnson is he struggled to finish at the rim at Arizona. And although he shot a high percentage from three-point land for the Wildcats, Van Gundy admitted his shot needs work – but not a lot of work.

"When you look at his release and his rotation on the ball and the most important thing the fact that it actually goes and a pretty good percentage, he's a pretty good shooter," Van Gundy said.

Johnson is the initial first-round pick of the Van Gundy era since the Pistons had to yield their first-round pick last year.

After the Timberwolves selected Kentucky big man Karl-Anthony Towns with the No. 1 pick, the first surprise of the draft came when the Lakers, with the No. 2 pick, bypassed Duke center Jahlil Okafor to select Ohio State combo guard D'Angelo Russell.

Okafor went third to the Philadelphia 76ers and Pistons target Mario Hezonja was picked fifth by the Orlando Magic.

When the Sacramento Kings selected Kentucky center Willie Cauley-Stein at No. 6, Van Gundy said the organization knew they had its guy, who met with the Pistons at the Chicago predraft combine and impressed with his maturity during a predraft visit to Auburn Hills.

"I think me and Stan already have a good relationship," Johnson said. "He knows exactly how I am as a player and I know what is expected of me as a player to start with. I think with the team they have now, we can be a playoff team right away."

Freshly hired last June, Van Gundy missed out on his first chance to impact the organization when he had to ship out the first-round pick because of a previous trade from the Joe Dumars regime.

Slotted in the eighth spot, the lottery dropped them to ninth so they had to ship the top-eight protected pick to the Charlotte Hornets to complete the terms of the costly 2012 trade and salary dump of Ben Gordon. With little fanfare the organization drafted Spencer Dinwiddie in the second round where there isn't much expectation.

Pistons owner Tom Gores was asked to compare this draft process to last season.

"It's more exciting to be in the first round, but for me personally it was really exciting just to go through the whole process with Stan and (general manager) Jeff Bower and the organization they had through the whole process."

Johnson joins a solid, young nucleus of center Andre Drummond, point guard Reggie Jackson and Caldwell-Pope.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.

Meet Stanley Johnson

Age: 19.

School: Arizona freshman.

Vitals: 6-feet-7, 240 pounds.

The comp: Ron Artest.

The buzz: As a former point guard in high school, he's likely the most well-rounded of a deep crop of small forwards.

In college: He was a main cog in the Arizona machine that made an Elite Eight run in the 2015 NCAA tournament. He was third-team All-America, leading the Wildcats in scoring at 13.8 points and 6.5 rebounds.

The scouts say: "Offensively, he improved his shooting. He shot 37%, 38% as a three-point shooter. That doesn't make him ... he's not a good shooter. He can make an open shot." — ESPN analyst Jay Bilas.