SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The building housing one of the country’s premier workout facilities is nondescript.

Situated in a gentrifying neighborhood a couple of blocks from a beachfront nestled against the Pacific Ocean, a couple of art studios are across the street from Peak Performance Project (P3).

To the right of the entrance, a couple of beer gardens have signs touting Monday specials.

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.

Johnson, a Los Angeles kid, moved here in early May.

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.

More:Johnson's time is now after Pistons trade Marcus Morris

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.”

Supremely confident

Adversity – on the basketball court, at least – has been rare for Johnson, 21.

He is one of the top players in California high school history, leading Santa Ana Mater Dei to four straight state titles.

Also one of the top players in the country when he headed to the University of Arizona, Johnson was one of the main invitees to the annual LeBron James Skills Academy basketball camp in July 2014.

He created a stir when he rushed to the opportunity to guard James in a pick-up game, even trash-talking one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history.

Former Pistons assistant general manager Brian Wright was at the event.

Near the end of the Johnson’s rookie season, Wright, who now works for the San Antonio Spurs, gave insight into the Pistons’ attraction.

“Obviously every player that’s coming into the NBA has things they still need to work on,” Wright told the Free Press in April 2016. “There’s certain things that I don’t think you can develop, I just think you’re wired a certain way. You could see it from the minute he stepped on the floor. Going to these high school events, sometimes you’re looking for talent or where guys are. (Another scout) always said look at who the guys defer to. Look at who is like the alpha male-type personality.

“That’s what stood out about him. He was never afraid of any of that. That was big.”

After one season with Arizona, the Pistons selected the 6-foot-7, 245-pounder.

His first-year stats were modest – 8.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in 23 minutes per game.

But he was the sixth man on the team that ended its six-year postseason drought.

He established himself as one of the team’s top defenders. And he displayed a knack for performance in big games.

• There was 11 points and 10 rebounds, and a key three-pointer late in a 99-94 victory at the Boston Celtics.

• A fourth-quarter performance got the Pistons to overtime at the Chicago Bulls, a game the Pistons eventually won in four overtimes.

• His first-half performance helped erase an early double-digit deficit at Miami, a game the Pistons eventually won, 93-92.

• He starred in a close home victory against the New York Knicks on national TV with 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

A shoulder injury after the All-Star break brought on a slump, but it didn’t stop verbal sparring matches with then-Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant and James.

Nor did it stop the jabs at James came during the Pistons’ first-round playoff exit at the hand of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There’s the adage that says don’t pull on Superman’s cape.

But the Pistons were encouraged by the young prospect’s bravado and fearlessness.

Rocky season

But things worked against Johnson last off-season.

The Pistons, seeking to upgrade the talent base, signed power forward Jon Leuer to a four-year, $42-million deal.

With Leuer, Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris taking all of the playing time at the forward spots, that left Johnson to fight for few minutes at shooting guard behind Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, where Johnson had to also fend off Darrun Hilliard and Reggie Bullock.

But Johnson can’t solely blame the lack of opportunity on his second-year woes.

He spent most of the first part of last season out of shape and out of the playing rotation.

After games, Johnson was often spotted doing conditioning drills under the supervision of strength coach Jordan Sabourin. He would walk through locker rooms soaked in sweat.

Also, he struggled with nagging shoulder and foot injuries. The physical woes never prevented him from being available for playing time but definitely limited his effectiveness.

A rocky sophomore season resulted in fewer minutes and diminished performance with lower averages across the board.

And his confidence waned.

Johnson wasn’t alone. The consensus was the Pistons’ young core would continue to grow, but the team slumped to a 37-45 record and missed the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons.

And fans couldn’t help but notice how two players selected after Johnson in the 2015 draft – the Phoenix Suns’ Booker and the Indiana Pacers’ Turner – excelled.

Looking back, Johnson and the Pistons hope the adversity will help going forward.

“To rely on you, they have to be able to trust you to come out and do your job every night – no matter if you’re sore, tired, weak or mad,” Johnson said. “Now, I’m in a better position in that they believe that no matter what happens, for those 30 minutes a night, they can trust me with those minutes and trust that I will do the right thing.”

But to help the team, Johnson had to help himself. Toward the end of the season, he made the decision to move to Santa Barbara to end any possible excuse to avoid off-season workouts at P3.

Sports meets data

The brainchild of Dr. Marcus Elliott, a Harvard-educated physician, P3 was founded in 2005.

P3 director of operations Adam Hewitt said there are two main goals for the facility.

• Help athletes through data-driven, precise assessment and training. Support is provided with individualized coaching and physical therapy while at the facility.

• Advance the field of athletic performance and find trends in preventing injury and ways to increase performance.

Elliott found that modern advancements didn’t make their way to athletic training and he saw the need to fill the niche.

“Just not as evolved as it could be or as sophisticated as it could be,” Hewitt said. “So there were good things happening in sports science, but it was very researched and academic, not very applied so he wanted to take the tools, the methodology from sports science, from physiology, make it more applied for the athlete, make it more practical for the athlete.

“Athletes still need to work hard. They need to sweat, they need to push themselves, but we want to be nuanced in how we do it. We want to be precise in how we do it.”

P3 looks at how bodies perform while in motion. Through motion-capture technology similar to that used in producing modern video games, P3 is able to design exercises and drills that address specific strengths and weaknesses.

The setup looks low tech: a running track rings simple weight equipment.

But there are force plates to measure explosiveness when jumping. Cameras are situated to take motion-capture images.

And a staff of 10, which includes biomechanists and performance specialists, are there to measure performance.

More:Johnson recharged by change of scenery

And since the facility has an expansive client list – a few thousand have passed through the doors since the opening – the place is able to come up with baseline physical attributes to compare. In Johnson’s case, it’s NBA small forwards and shooting guards.

“Having the data allows us to correlate good and bad things that happen when a guy’s on the court,” Hewitt said. “We can go and do prospective and retrospective injury analysis to see which movement patterns are leading to injuries in NBA players.

“What factors contribute to a high jump height? What factors contribute to a fast agility time? So we’re really decoding performance in basketball, right now.

“Without context, you really don’t know those things. You’re kind of guessing, kind of trying to figure it out so I think we have a firm handhold in certain areas because of our context.”

Pistons center Andre Drummond and Bullock are P3 clients, as well. Tigers starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez visited last winter.

Since 2014, P3 has set up a biomechanics lab at the NBA’s annual Chicago draft combine in May to assist prospects.

A person with firsthand knowledge of the situation told the Free Press that the Pistons are discussing possibly bringing P3 technology to the new practice facility to be built in the New Center area as a result of the franchise’s move downtown.

The person requested anonymity because the deal isn’t final.

Stanley’s day

Johnson arrives at P3 shortly after 11 a.m., where he is greeted by high-powered agent Bill Duffy of BDA Sports, the agency that represents Johnson.

He typically is there for the 9 a.m. session, but he wasn’t feeling well on this day.

He missed an early-morning session with NBA players Patrick Patterson (Oklahoma City Thunder), Frank Kaminsky (Charlotte Hornets), Kyle Korver (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Josh Richardson (Miami Heat).

The NBA guys were joined by Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee and former University of Washington volleyball star Cassie Strickland.

After a brief warm-up and stretch with other athletes – a group that includes a UCLA women’s water polo athlete – Johnson proceeds to a workout that lasts roughly an hour.

The next hour is remarkable for how ordinary it appears.

There isn’t straining. There is very little evidence of major exertion – just short bursts of high intensity, explosive movements.

From tossing a medicine ball to quick reps on exercise machines, Johnson does keep a brisk pace.

“I feel like I’ve put a lot of work in – more than I did last off-season,” Johnson said. “It’s smart work and I feel – at this point in time – if you put good things into the pot, you’re going to get good things out of it.”

And there is work that’s not apparent.

P3 director of biomechanics Eric Leidersdorf allowed the Free Press to glimpse at some of Johnson’s data.

Johnson’s measurements began May 8.

Leidersdorf says Johnson is one of the stronger wings in the NBA, but there’s an emphasis on getting Johnson to improve lateral movements.

He shows an exercise from May. Johnson is at a standing rest but is asked to explode as far as he can to his right.

Motion-capture dots adorn his lower body, and the monitor breaks down the movement on a skeletal level – stuff that’s straight from the movies.

Hewitt says the technology allows P3 to identify things that the human eye can’t see.

Take jumping, for instance. A guy can display a spectacular vertical jump with everything seemingly normal.

But the technology can see if someone is overloading one side, the type of inefficiency that can lead to injury.

Training can decrease the odds of injury and make movements more efficient.

Johnson has a long history with P3 – he worked out there first when he was in high school. But he didn’t go last summer, a decision he regrets.

Johnson’s advisers are happy that he decided to move to be close to the facility, escaping the distractions from his native Los Angeles area.

Johnson says he’s down to 235 pounds, 10 pounds below his listed weight from last season.

“Last season, before I got done with the season and my vacation stuff, I was already planning to move out here,” Johnson said. “I feel like they have the same mind-set that I have, regarding what I want to do on the court and what I want to do basketball-wise. I feel like last season I took a step back because I didn’t come here.

“Being here now, I think I’m in better position, obviously, to impact the game – especially now when I have so much opportunity to play coming up this season, and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to come here.”

Big chance

While Johnson was making off-season plans, the Pistons' front office was thinking of the future.

With the payroll potentially moving into the luxury tax, there were financial concerns.

Another consideration?

Johnson was still behind Morris, Harris and Leuer in the pecking order, a fact that Johnson assumed would continue.

The team was planning on re-signing restricted free agent shooting guard Caldwell-Pope, but the evidence is in and Johnson is out of position in the backcourt.

When the Pistons traded Morris to the Celtics for shooting guard Avery Bradley and rescinded their rights to Caldwell-Pope, the forward logjam wasn’t the only issue resolved.

The Pistons' cap situation isn’t as dire with Caldwell-Pope gone, and Johnson now has an open path to the starting lineup, possibly earning the small forward spot opposite Harris at power forward.

“We knew at some point that we were going to have to try to move the roster around to get another guard and one of our forwards would have to go,” Pistons president and coach Stan Van Gundy said at the time of the trade.

“We didn’t plan on it being Marcus, but you go with the deals you have. For a chance to get a guard of Avery’s caliber, it was a move we left we had to make.”

Johnson at small forward is the lineup that makes the most sense.

Johnson’s offensive rating of 104.2 points per possession at small forward is seven points better than his 97.1 rating at shooting guard last season, according to 82games.com.

He is also a solid three-point shooter from the corners, making 14-for-39, nearly 36%.

Johnson also will likely get the toughest forward matchups on a nightly basis.

“Really, a key piece of this for us, not the biggest piece, but a key piece is we need to get more out of Stanley,” Van Gundy said. “One of the things we talked about is we were disappointed in his year, quite honestly, but in fairness, I think we played him out of position a lot.”

It makes for a situation that pleases Johnson.

His anticipation was noticeable as he walked to his vehicle, parked a short distance from P3.

“It’s all about opportunity and there’s not nothing for sure,” Johnson said. “I’m going into camp, obviously focused. I feel as though I’m ready to take a step forward in my game. I feel with more opportunity, I’ll be a better player. With more room for error, I’ll be a better player, I’ll play better. I feel I can help the team in various ways – especially for the team we have now. I’m very excited for next season.

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

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