What are the Celtics really getting in Derrick White?
White is a versatile scorer, but it's his defense that fans in Boston will love. He ranks among the NBA's leaders in charges drawn and had a game two years ago when he drew five charges.
Derrick White has been in the NBA long enough to know anything can happen at the trade deadline, especially when a seemingly too-good-to-be-true deal is put on the table.
That’s exactly what the San Antonio Spurs were looking at when the Boston Celtics came looking to trade for him.
In addition to their own first-round pick from a couple of years ago (Romeo Langford, 2019), the Celtics also offered up their first-round pick in this year’s draft and the right to swap a future first-round pick, in addition to Josh Richardson who has arguably been Boston’s best reserve.
The assets Boston was willing to part with to bring in White, speaks to how they view him beyond this season.
And after talking with Celtics assistant coach Will Hardy, it’s clear why Boston thinks so highly of him.
Hardy is in his first season as a Celtics assistant, having come from the Spurs coaching staff where he spent extensive time with White during his formative years.
“Derrick brings a lot of versatility,” Hardy, who said he picked White up at the airport yesterday, told me prior to Friday’s game against Denver. “He can play on the ball, he can play off the ball. He can guard multiple positions. He has a really good feel for the game. He’s a guy that’s going to complement our group well on both ends of the floor.”
And that is what separates him from two of the guys he will essentially be replacing, in Richardson (traded to San Antonio) and Dennis Schroder (traded to Houston).
The Celtics love White’s 6-foot-4 frame, his physical strength, court vision, and above all else, his toughness.
Of all the things Hardy and I talked about involving White, it was Hardy’s emphasis on White’s toughness that stood out.
“His teammates and the fans are going to love that he’s tough,” Hardy said. “He’s not super-loud, but he’s tough. He takes charges, winning plays, steals, blocks.”
Udoka added, “He checks a lot of boxes, as a person and player, someone we're happy to have here."
The Celtics didn’t waste any time getting White onto the floor, as he checked into Friday’s game against Denver in the first half.
It didn't’ take White long to make his presence felt at both ends of the floor.
In 11 minutes in the first half, he had eight points and two assists. In addition, the Celtics were a plus-7 (tops among all Celtics when he returned to the bench) when he was on the floor.
Having played under San Antonio's legendary head coach Gregg Popovich, White is no stranger to tough love from the coaching staff, something Hardy said the 27-year-old White got plenty of with the Spurs.
“He’s been coached hard, so you know he has a good, tough-minded foundation, good head on his shoulders,” Hardy said. “He’s just a great fit, on and off the court, or this organization.”
Getting back to Hardy’s comments about White’s toughness, pairing him up with Marcus Smart who like White is also a defensive-minded, grind-it-out type of player, bolsters a Boston defense that’s already among the best in the league.
The Celtics came into Friday’s game with the third-best defensive rating (105.3) in the NBA, which trails only Golden State (103.9) and Cleveland (105.0) this season.
White’s lateral speed and physical strength allow him to not only keep ball-handlers from getting by him, but he also draws charges…a lot of charges.
He averages 0.39 charges per game which ranks fifth in the NBA, putting him on pace to rank among the NBA’s top-7 in charges drawn for the third year in a row.
In a 127-119 win over Sacramento in the Orlando, Florida Bubble in 2020, White scored 24 points but even more impressive was he drew five - yes five! - offensive fouls.
“You don’t see teams let alone one player draw that many offensive fouls in a game,” Hardy said. “Like I said, he’s a tough guy who is going to fit in really well with our guys and this organization.”