AUBURN HILLS -- Stanley Johnson munched down a box of spaghetti tonight, something a little heavier than the rookie forward's usual pre-game meal.

The Detroit Pistons rookie appears headed for a second consecutive game as the 10th man in a nine-man rotation after spending most of the year as the team's sixth man, a surprise development for a player who never had been benched on a coach's decision in his life before.

Johnson sat out Wednesday's loss against Orlando in favor of Reggie Bullock and figures to do the same tonight in a potential playoff-clinching home game against the Washington Wizards.

"I feel like I'm a good player," Johnson said before tonight's game. "A couple bad games. But for me to get discouraged would be like selling myself short. I mean, I've played so many games in my career. I mean, I've played three bad games and the guy (head coach Stan Van Gundy) DNPs me. Am I going to kill myself over it? No. You know what I'm saying?

"The biggest thing right now is I'm on a team that's one win away from being in the playoffs. I can say I contributed to that all year whether I play another second for the Pistons this year, for our team, I know I can contribute in different ways like I've contributed all year."

Van Gundy said he had little chance to discuss the role switch with Johnson before Wednesday's game and planned to delve deeper into it with the player Friday. But the coach declined to disclose the tone of that discussion in his pre-game press conference.

Johnson, asked his understanding of why he was benched, replied, "I don't know. You'll have to ask him those questions," referring to Van Gundy.

Johnson was 2 of 18 in his last three games, and 12 of 48 in his last nine, on field-goal attempts.

He has struggled since returning March 11 from a right shoulder sprain suffered right after the All-Star break and admitted the injury still troubles him.

"Yeah, I mean, it's sore, especially on back-to-backs, it's hard to play sometimes," Johnson said. "But like I said before though, when I got injured, as soon as you get back on the court no one's going to feel sorry you because your shoulder's hurt. It's sort of if you're hurt, you should sit out."

Asked in what way the injury continues to bother him, Johnson said it is "everything at one time."

"The more you work the muscle and work the ligaments and stuff like that, whether you're shooting the jump shot, or drilling or passing -- which is every possession -- you're working that ligament out," he said. "And no matter how much icing you do, the only thing that can help a ligament is rest. At this point in the season, obviously you want to help your team as much as possible. So I'm just playing."

-- Download the Detroit Pistons on MLive app for iPhone and Android

-- Like MLive's Detroit Pistons Facebook page