With the 8th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select…

…Stanley Johnson from the University of Arizona!

WELCOME ABOARD, MATE! Here are Stan Van’s thoughts, plus some nice quotes courtesy of Johnson:

Yessir

“I think with the team they have now, we can be a playoff team right away,” he said. “I can be a missing piece if I produce the way I know I can. It was a no-brainer for me and I’m super happy to be a part of this organization. “I’m so happy that they believe in me as a player. They had plenty of great options at the eight spot and could have even traded up, but I’m happy that they stayed at that spot and believed in me.”

The Pistons were taking trade calls for Johnson both before and after they selected him, Van Gundy said. “The phone’s been ringing with four or five different teams wanting to trade for Stanley, offering us their first — the guy they took this year, or some people who hadn’t picked all ready — plus future pick, plus players,” Van Gundy said. “We’ve had a ton of interest the whole night. “We had a couple (trade offers) we at least had to pause and talk about. One time, we even got up from the table, Jeff (Bower, general manager) and Brian (Wright, assistant general manager of college scouting) and I, and talked. But most of them were easy to say no to. And in the end, we said no to all of them, because we have a belief that this guy not only has the game, but has the mentality that we need and want going forward.”

[The overanxious drafting of Kentucky allowed Johnson to slip down to Detroit] “Really, once Cauley-Stein went, we knew who we were going to get,” Van Gundy said.

Source: MLive.com