Pistons' coach Flip Saunders told the Detroit Free Press that he plans to continue playing forward Amir Johnson even though the matchups aren't always favorable.

Saunders wants to allow his younger bench players to earn their minutes as the team heads into the second half of the season.

"We need to see what we have with a lot of those guys," Saunders told the Free Press. "We can't expect to not play them, and then all of a sudden playoff time comes and we play them. So we might as well find out how some of our guys match up -- especially with these guys because there's a chance we could see them in the playoffs."