Derrick White is perfect. So how can he get better?

Derrick White is the perfect model of Derrick White. So how does he get higher?

White occupies an fascinating place within the NBA biosphere. He has blown via each ceiling daring sufficient to attempt to comprise him, going from a strong backup level guard for an nameless San Antonio Spurs workforce to a more-than-solid backup guard on the Boston Celtics to a starter, ultimately changing into an completely irreplaceable keystone of an NBA champion making 118 million {dollars}.

For late-blooming non-lottery picks like White, that is about 20,000 occasions higher than he most likely might have hoped for. He’s beloved in Boston, utterly uncontroversial and performs complimentary basketball that by no means will get in the way in which and makes everybody higher. How on earth might we enhance this?

Effectively, should you minimize via all of the birthday cake and confetti, White remains to be most likely the fifth most essential participant on the Celtics. He’s a artful however generally restricted offensive participant who depends on constant three-point capturing to remain on the ground, and should outwork and out suppose his opponents to beat often-daunting bodily matchups. However he’s managed to do all that with exceptional consistency, and he principally by no means misses video games.

Complacency is thus White’s largest problem for the 2024-25 season. The Celtics should get higher in the event that they need to win back-to-back championships, and White is likely one of the gamers with sufficient room to develop the place it’d truly make a distinction. So what might he add?

Whereas not precisely the height of basketball evaluation, White might do with an expanded “bag,” as his offensive recreation is restricted to the massive three of position participant strikes: straight line drives, three pointers, and off-ball cuts. That’s not an issue, however a guard of his measurement — he’s a legit 6’4” — might do with develop a put up recreation in opposition to smaller matchups, one thing each Marcus Good and Jrue Vacation have developed to nice success. Maybe White might placed on some weight and turn into a extra bodily defender and scorer moderately than counting on his innate shot blocking skill.

White can also be sneaky previous, as whereas it doesn’t really feel like he’s been on the Celtics for that lengthy, he performed 4 years in school and lots in San Antonio. He’s already 30 years previous, and the historical past of NBA guards going into their thirties is a narrative of measurement. The larger, stockier guards can often translate their misplaced burst right into a grown man’s bully ball, utilizing their craftiness and bodily maturity to maneuver the beanpole twenty-something round like sacks of potatoes. White might want to determine that out sooner moderately than later if he desires to enhance.

White might additionally maybe turn into a extra artistic passer, as whereas he does effectively to maintain the ball shifting moderately than dribbling the air out of it like his predecessor Dennis Schröder, he’s nonetheless a “see it-throw it” passer, not essentially seeing the ground as profoundly as Jayson Tatum does. Vacation has by no means been a chief facilitator, and except the Celtics need to actually advance the Level Tatum agenda, White might turn into the workforce’s major table-setter if he desires to be.

White’s largest energy has been his availability, which might show even deadlier than standard if White can turn into a topflight offensive participant on this league. He isn’t missing any bodily instruments, and has loads of burst and measurement. The variety of alternatives to totally run the offense has been the primary limiter to his enchancment, however we noticed the Celtics go along with a number of iterations of “Derrick White and the Bench Squad” lineups final common season. That’s one thing they need to do extra of, even whether it is only a lab experiment.

White has been all the things the Celtics wished him to be and a lot extra. But when they need to push their already-lofty limits, White goes to must be even cooler, and he completely may be. And I’m certain we’d all like to see that.