Chicago Bulls News: Why Stanley Johnson was a perfect signing

Things have slowed down a bit for the NBA and free agency news, but the Chicago Bulls continued to round out their roster over the past few days.

Chicago signed former no. 8 overall pick Stanley Johnson this week, who will come in and provide depth on the wing. The former Detroit Pistons first rounder comes to Chicago on a non-guaranteed contract, but should prove to stick around if all goes well.

The Bulls have had quite the offseason thus far, giving their roster one gigantic face lift. Adding guys like Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan among others will prove to finally put Bulls basketball back on the map.

But, it’s the little signings that will also make an impact in ways we might not see evidenced by the box score each night. Johnson is a perfect example of such a signing.

The Chicago Bulls’ signing of Stanley Johnson will prove to be exactly what the team needed.

If you look at the Bulls’ roster last year, they hardly had a perimeter defender to save their lives. Chicago was not known for their defense, although they weren’t necessarily bad on that side of the court.

Since entering the NBA back in 2015, Johnson’s focal point is on the defensive end. In fact, he had his best overall defensive season just two years ago with the Toronto Raptors when he finished the year with a defensive rating of 103, per Basketball Reference.

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Johnson will not offer the Bulls much on the offensive side, but with a bench unit that includes Coby White and 3-point shooter Alex Caruso, they don’t need much scoring from him. This signing was purely about depth and defense.

Now the Bulls’ second unit features a few players who can offer a boost defensively, if need be. Johnson joins Caruso, who is known for his meddling defense, as well as big man Tony Bradley, who is an underrated paint defender.

Johnson’s game has always been about defense first, as evidenced by his impact on all three teams he’s played for throughout his career. Even dating back to his time with the Pistons, Johnson came into the league known for this aspect of his game. Although he offers minimal impact on offense, Johnson is well-worth a roster spot because of how well he defends.

Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley have done an excellent job with putting together this year’s roster. The diversity in terms of each player’s skill set is a thing of wonder. Previous years’ rosters haven’t been this well-rounded. Johnson is just another example of the front office proving they care about both ends of the floor and want to put together a real playoff contending team.