{"id":23309,"date":"2019-07-06T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T20:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=23309"},"modified":"2019-07-06T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T20:30:10","slug":"toronto-raptors-sign-free-agent-stanley-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2019\/07\/06\/toronto-raptors-sign-free-agent-stanley-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Raptors Sign Free Agent Stanley Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsst04.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stanley Johnson<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0has signed with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/toronto-raptors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toronto Raptors<\/a> for a two-year, 7.4 million dollar contract according to Shams Charania. It is the first move that the Raptors have made since the departure of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a><\/strong> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/los-angeles-clippers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>. This move fills a big hole at the small forward position for Toronto. Johnson was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and was selected 8th overall in the 2015 NBA Draft by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/detroit-pistons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Detroit Pistons<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Free agent Stanley Johnson has agreed to a two-year, $7.5M deal with the Toronto Raptors, with a player option in the second season, agent Nima Namakian of BDA Sports tells <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthleticNBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheAthleticNBA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Stadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1147559914228912130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h1><strong>Toronto Raptors Sign Stanley Johnson<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a promising rookie season, one where he showed his defensive prowess in the playoffs against <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a><\/strong>, his numbers improvement flatlined. Johnson is a powerful athlete. But he has never seemed to put the offensive part of his game together. He has only averaged 7 points on 37 percent from the field over his brief NBA career. Johnson&#8217;s inability to shoot is why he is already on his third NBA team. Johnson finished last season with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/new-orleans-pelicans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> after being involved in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mirotni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Nikola Mirotic<\/strong><\/a> deal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fit In Toronto<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Raptors need players who can defend multiple positions now that they no longer have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a>. It is clear that the organization has shifted to make <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pascal Siakam<\/a><\/strong> the face of the franchise. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/powelno01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Norman Powell<\/a><\/strong> and a healthy <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anunoog01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OG Anunoby<\/a><\/strong> should be moved into starting roles for the team. This means Toronto will need depth at the wing position, something Masai Ujiri will hope to get from Johnson. Siakam and Anunoby will have to continue to make shots. Them doing so will allow for Johnson to be thrown onto the floor to have an ultra-switchable defensive unit. Defense was the calling card for the Raptors throughout last season. As long as Johnson plays well on that end of the floor and stays within himself offensively he could see extended minutes for the defending NBA champions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"UyL5ijPCTWFdcxNOE_-TnQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/515635282\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'UyL5ijPCTWFdcxNOE_-TnQ',sig:'yGimcBB0w2dmJrypVcG8IViVcchfZT9V-NU-m-jeK2o=',w:'594px',h:'431px',items:'515635282',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stanley Johnson\u00a0has signed with the Toronto Raptors for a two-year, 7.4 million dollar contract according to Shams Charania. It is the first move that the Raptors have made since the departure of Kawhi Leonard to the Los Angeles Clippers. This move fills a big hole at the small forward position for Toronto. Johnson was a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1501,"featured_media":23312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1790,318],"class_list":["post-23309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raptors","tag-stanley-johnson","tag-toronto-raptors"],"modified_by":"Tyler Marling","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1501"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}