"He will never shoot close to 50%, but 43-44% might be possible."
"The only question is, can he stay on the court?"
"Stanley Johnson might score a bunch of points but like you pointed out, it will be on poor % so that doesn't make him that valuable of an asset unless gm's prefer 28-12 on bad %'s."
Stanley Johnson has always welcomed adversity.
Stanley's raw statistics are eye-popping for a 19 year old kid freshly drafted into the CSL. 15 ppg, 7 rebounds on 42% shooting.
"Many doubted that this kid would ever shoot 40% and here he is already achieving that and then some as he learns the nuisances of the game and where his spots are on the floor," Blazers General Manager Lakeshow said. "We work with him daily, showing him how to catch an entry pass into the post, how to seal his defender, how to effectively drop step to his spot on the baseline.. just everything," Lakeshow continued.
We are likely two seasons away from seeing a player that is polished and able to dominate the game the way many expect Johnson to do so. His Effective FG (eFG) is 48% which, without doing any true research into the league, it's a safe bet that number is league average or slightly above. Effective field-goal percentage is exactly the same as true-shooting percentage but without free throws considered. "When he gets inside the paint, he shoots at a high percentage - 50%, the issue is getting him to understand the limitations of his game currently and to simply make better decisions outside of his comfort areas instead of settling for bad shots," Lakeshow added.
Stanley's True Shooting (TS) is 57%, which is likely considerably above league average given historical data and a small sample of player data that was run during this article. When you consider his perceived limitations by scouts and GM's alike, this is great news for a 19 year old kid who still has quite the ceiling of potential to reach. For reference, historically any player with a TS% above 60% is considered elite. For comparison, Kevin Love currently possesses a 54% TS, a player that some scouts compared to Stanley at Stanley's absolute ceiling.
When you consider Stanley's Point Per Shots Attempted, his shooting %'s look even better - this will be presented in a subsequent article. For a 19 year old kid who is still learning the game and developing as a player at the same time, there is a lot more to be excited about then some are giving him credit for. Once Johnson becomes more comfortable with his game and is able to take greater advantage of his shooting preferences, it may be time for the league to truly take notice as he will fill boxscores on a nightly basis.
"We can't be any more happier with where Stanley is right now.. he's got a bright future -- one that is second to not many players in the CSL," Lakeshow concluded.
2028
