When he was signed by the Los Angeles Lakers in late December, Stanley Johnson gave them some much-needed defense, youth and energy at a position that they badly needed depth at.
The 6-foot-6, 240-pound forward was so promising that after giving him a series of 10-day contracts, the Lakers signed him for the rest of the season and for the 2022-23 campaign.
His offensive game is somewhat raw, and his 3-point shooting has left lots to be desired.
But now, it looks like he’s already not only putting in the needed work to improve in those areas, but he’s doing it the right way.
Johnson has hired a trainer who helped turn Alex Caruso from a fringe player into a valuable role player who got paid handsomely last summer (unfortunately, it wasn’t the Lakers who did so).
Via Lake Show Life:
“Caruso made the necessary improvements to his game while with the Lakers to become arguably the most important role player on the team,” wrote Jason Reed. “While he was not a super dynamic offensive player, he was one of the best defensive guards in the league and went from a 33.3% three-point shooter in 2019-20 to a 40.1% three-point shooter the following season.
“To make these improvements in shooting the basketball, Caruso trained with shooting coach Jordan Lawley. Johnson is seemingly following in Caruso’s footsteps as he too is training with Lawley this offseason.”
If Johnson simply becomes an average 3-point shooter next season, which would mean hitting about 36 percent of his attempts from downtown, his value to the Lakers will go up significantly.
Hopefully, Austin Reaves and Wenyen Gabriel are putting in similar work this offseason.
