Perry A. Farrell

Detroit Free Press

Karen Taylor's dream was to see her son, Stanley Johnson, play in the NBA.

She reminded him that he was just the second-best player in the family, which he took to heart.

Johnson's heart is heavy right now, as he confirmed the loss of his mother in a tweet Sunday.

His management team, BDA Sports, said it wouldn't comment on the matter because of it being a family issue.

On NBA draft night, Taylor was with her son in Brooklyn and watched him get selected by the Detroit Pistons with the eighth pick.

Taylor played basketball at Jackson State, where she was enshrined into the school's Hall of Fame in 2009, as well as professionally in Denmark, Italy and Sweden. She also coached her son until he was 14 and is just as responsible for his toughness and development as the coaches at Mater Dei High School in California and Sean Miller at Arizona.

In an espn.com article, she said: "I built him so that he would believe in himself."

She always let her son know that he hadn't done anything yet.

"I told him he didn't break my (records) yet," she said in the article. "I still got the best jumper. Don't get it twisted. He's dunking and all that stuff. But he knows I had a flash."

Now you see why Johnson had the gall to trash-talk LeBron James in a one-on-one encounter at a camp.

Johnson gave his mother big props after being drafted.

"Today was awesome to have her there with me and experience the event," Johnson said. "She set the foundation for me. She has always been the hardest coach on me and the hardest person on me. She's also been the strongest person in my life. She's been waiting for this her whole life. I'm happy to give this to her because she truly deserves this. She coached me all the way up until I was 14, 15 years old."

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.