Stanley Johnson disputes Van Gundy's comments about his work ethic issues
Stanley Johnson has seen his minutes drop in year two in the NBA. Stan Van Gundy blames Johnson’s work ethic, but that’s not how Johnson sees it.
Sophomore slump? Stanley Johnson in the dog house? Poor scouting evaluation by the Detroit Pistons that lead to unreliable expectations?
It could be any combination of the above or none of it at all for Johnson, but one thing is clear–his and his coach are not on the same page.
Stan Van Gundy says Johnson’s decrease in playing time is a result of inconsistent work ethic.
johnson couldn’t disagree more with that being the issue.
ATLANTA – Stanley Johnson bristled at the notion.
A few minutes earlier, Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy had described the second-year swingman’s work ethic as “inconsistent.”
Johnson, the promising prospect who has fallen out of the playing rotation, forcefully disagreed.
There’s no issue with my work ethic,” he said.
And with that, Johnson walked off the Philips Arena floor.
And here we go.
Really this is nothing new. All offseason we were given examples of Johnson disagreeing with coaches–and even doctors.
Van Gundy even went as far to say that Johnson was difficult to coach.
So why would we think that all of the sudden these two would finally see eye to eye on something like this?
At this point I’m not really sure how this thing is going to turn out.
I do think that part of this is on Van Gundy–he’s a stubborn guy too and sometimes coaching is about adapting to the players.
But on the other hand, I really think Van Gundy’s tough coaching methods bring out the best in players, that is, assuming they can weather the storm and not lose total confidence in themselves.
In the end I think it would be best for Johnson to keep his head down and just work his tail off. I think if he does that he will be just fine.
More from PistonPowered
This article originally appeared on 
