Detroit Pistons: Anonymous Scouts Dish on 2016-17 Season Outlook

The Lineup

Stan Van Gundy has the most talented and deep roster of his Pistons tenure so far. With so many interchangeable parts, it will be interesting to see how Van Gundy utilizes the players at his disposal. At least one NBA scout would like to see him get creative.

"I’d be interested to see them experiment with some more creative lineups. Like if they played Stanley, and Tobias, and Marcus Morris at the three / four / five, and those guys just switched everything. That would be hard for teams to guard."

I wouldn’t be surprised to see some unconventional lineups at points throughout the season. Those will more likely be dictated by game situations, things like big man foul trouble or stashing Drummond on the bench to avoid opposing teams intentionally fouling him, but it isn’t inconceivable that Van Gundy would deploy a small lineup if he feels like he needs to spark some offense.

"They’re going to experiment some with playing Stanley at the two, which I wouldn’t really recommend."

It remains to be seen what happens with Johnson getting some minutes at shooting guard but this idea goes back more than a year. Will he get some minutes where he is nominally the two? I’m sure, but I wouldn’t expect him to play a major role there. That’s especially true when Reggie Jackson is healthy as Van Gundy could get some minutes with Jackson and Smith on the court together.

Johnson could give the Pistons some minutes at the two in a pinch, but the scout is right that doesn’t look like a good role for him. An inconsistent three point shot from the shooting guard is already a problem and Johnson doesn’t solve that.