The other Celtics dimmed so Derrick White could shine

And they wouldn't change a thing

The Celtics may not fit the modern criteria for a superteam, which usually involves a bunch of ball-dominant superstars trying (and often failing) to mesh around a patchwork supporting cast. Instead, they’ve spent years accumulating a bunch of A-/B+ lower-wattage stars around their one All-NBA titan, Jayson Tatum. The offseason additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday gave the Celtics the most talented roster in the league.

However, having five former or current All-Stars on the team at once still demands enormous sacrifice from almost everyone involved. Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis, Jaylen Brown, and Jrue Holiday have all seen scoring average drops of at least three points per game, a big number to stomach for players in or near their prime. Al Horford’s scoring dropped, too, although he was already scoring fewer than ten points per game as he nears the end of his illustrious career.

These are five proud players who sacrificed significant personal stats to team up and power toward a championship, and the results have spoken for themselves. The Celtics obliterated the league this season, finishing as many games ahead of second-seed New York (14) as New York did tenth-seed Atlanta in the East.

But one starter has pulled a Klay Thompson: he hasn’t sacrificed sh*t.

Despite the new presences of Holiday and Porzingis and all the star power around him, Derrick White increased his scoring average in Boston to 15.2 points per game, nearly three more than last season. True, Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Smart exited the team, but it would have been easy — natural, even — for those shots and points to go to Holiday, Tatum, or Brown. Instead, White has been the big beneficiary:

It’s a massive credit to the team’s players and culture that so many are willing to take a step back so that White can take a step forward. It’s also a credit to White himself. After years of being a system player, someone who shot when he was open and didn’t if he wasn’t, White has found some swashbuckling selfishness. He knows he’s a damn good shooter, and he’s finally willing to act the part.

The transformation has been an ongoing process. White was brought into Boston halfway through the 2021-22 season from San Antonio at a steep price for a role player: Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, Boston’s 2022 first-round pick (which turned into Blake Wesley), and a 2028 first-round pick swap. White had a reputation as an excellent defender (particularly as a shotblocker) and passer, and he’d shown encouraging flashes of being able to shoot the three. San Antonio coaches raved about his work ethic. Boston president of basketball operations Brad Stevens also appreciated that White was on a reasonable contract for three more years; cost control was an important consideration with massive extensions for the Jays around the corner.

Initial returns were uneven. White proved to be an even better defender than anticipated, but the three-pointer never fell — and often never even went up. He averaged just 4.6 three-pointers per 36 minutes, a below-average volume for the position, and struggled with his accuracy and confidence. Despite his defensive excellence, his playing time bounced around like a toddler on a trampoline as defenses increasingly ignored him on the perimeter. His season culminated in nightmarish one- and two-point efforts in Games 5 and 6 of the NBA Finals — the exact time the Celtics needed him most.

White went into the 2022 offseason knowing he had to get better from deep to make the impact Boston needed. He returned with a higher-arcing jumper that paid immediate dividends. Despite the offseason addition of fellow combo guard Malcolm Brogdon, White earned the starting role and promptly shot 38% from deep, up from 31% the year before despite a higher volume of shots.

The playoffs were an improvement, including an incredible game-winning tip-in during Game 6 against Miami. (That shot would’ve been immortalized in NBA mythology had the Celtics successfully won Game 7 and completed a historic comeback from down 3-0.) But there were still moments where coach Joe Mazzulla went with the offensively-oriented Malcolm Brogdon over White for long stretches.

That’s no longer the case. Brogdon is gone, and starting point guard Marcus Smart was swapped for Jrue Holiday. Secure in his playing time, White entered the season with a freshly shaved head and a targeting laser where his left eye used to be — if you look closely, you can see it flashing red before he splashes yet another jumper.

White has cracked 30 minutes of playing time in every Celtics playoff game except for their Game 5 demolition of Miami, in which the starters got much of the night off. Not only that, but he’s had long stretches (particularly in Round 1) where he’s been Boston’s best player. For the playoffs, he’s averaging more than 18 points per game on outstanding 64.1% true shooting (which accounts for three-pointers and free throws); for comparison, Rudy Gobert, a dunk first, second, and third center, sports a 64.8% true shooting mark.

White is doing most of his damage beyond the arc, where he’s hitting 43.6% of his 8.4 three-point attempts per game, both of which lead the Celtics. Of the remaining four playoff teams, nobody is lacing more threes per game than White.

Just look at some of the attempts this man has put up in these playoffs. The old Derrick White would never have even looked at the rim here:

This one, a missed heat check against isolation jailer Bam Adebayo, would’ve made the aforementioned Thompson blush at the sheer audacity:

Encouragingly, White has sustained this level of aggression even after some poor shooting performances, games that would have wrecked his confidence in the past. A 2-for-7 performance from deep in Game 3 against Miami preceded an astonishing 8-for-15 carpet bombing in Game 4; a 1-for-8 game against Cleveland was followed by a 3-for-8 showing in the next. He isn’t letting misses get to him.

All this long-range firepower has opened up easy sashays to the rim, too, where White made a career-high 74% of his layups in the regular season and is nailing 75% in the playoffs. It hasn’t had a chance to show in the postseason yet, but White has developed particularly excellent chemistry with Porzingis. White loves using the threat of Porzingis’ shooting to turn Porzingis’ defender into an inadvertent screen-setter, particularly in semi-transition:

It’s not a surprise that White’s FG% (48%→42%) and 3P% (42% → 35%) dropped precipitously in 21 regular-season games without KP, although his playoff percentages have rebounded beautifully.

White’s shooting transformation has opened up not just his drives but his passing, too. Although White doesn’t have the assist numbers of a full-time point guard, his 5.3 assist:turnover ratio is the best of any remaining playoff player by far. His passes aren’t as flashy as Holiday’s, and he doesn’t garner as many assists as Tatum, but White is, in my opinion, the best passer on the team. As his scoring prowess grows, White has gotten better at leveraging defensive attention to open up teammates:

We must spare a few words for his impeccable defense, as well. White is the Celtics’ best off-ball defender, a skill the league increasingly values. Guarding a lesser threat allows White the freedom to play free safety, where his reputation as the league’s best shotblocking guard is well-earned.

White’s blocks aren’t cute little Fred VanVleet-style swipe-downs as a shooter gathers the ball. White pops up from out of nowhere like he’s wearing a Scream mask, smacking shots with startling violence. This thing should be R-rated:

He’s hardly an on-ball slouch, either. White is one of the best screen navigators in the league. You’ve likely heard the phrase “getting skinny” around a pick; this is the textbook definition, as White slithers past Bam Adebayo like a cat burglar slinking along a fourth-story window ledge with his back to the wall. The textbook definition doesn’t usually include a preposterous squid-armed block, though. That’s a White specialty:

White has now made the All-Defensive Second Team two years in a row, and he might have made First Team this year without the switch to positionless voting, which favored big men.

The Celtics are still the Jays’ team, obviously. For all of White’s talents, he’s certainly benefited from playing next to higher-volume scorers. But it might be fair to say that White has outperformed his role on the team to a greater degree than anyone else. White has driven much of Boston’s success all year, and he’s only gotten better in the playoffs. If Boston does end up hoisting trophy # 18 at year’s end, it’ll be in large part because Derrick White has shone as bright as any of the stars around him.