PHILADELPHIA — The Celtics’ Derrick White addition before last week’s trade deadline led to immediate results, two wins in close fourth quarters. White recorded 29 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists on 10-for-26 shooting, making quick decisions, defending and providing both catch-and-shoot and second-level drive opportunities in the half court.
Trading for a 6’4″ point guard signed for a similar role and contract as Marcus Smart raised questions about what the back court would look like into the future despite their immediate success together. Both guards struggled to shoot before the deadline and although they can operate without the ball in their hands, the Celtics dedicated serious capital to acquire White by sending San Antonio a first-round pick and future swap.
“It’s just another guy who can do it all out there, on or off ball,” Ime Udoka told CLNS Media at shootaround before the Celtics played the 76ers on Tuesday. “But at the same time. Marcus has been kind of used to that with Jaylen and Jayson. At times he’ll initiate toward the end, and we’ll use Marcus as a screener, roller and everything in-between. So it’s just another threat out there teams can’t load up on. He can obviously handle and get us into things, but also playing off the ball, which he’s been really good at, making quick decisions, I think is noticeable. How fast those 0.5 (second) decisions he makes. Just another strong guy out there to not have any drop-off defensively and have that versatility that we love, but also offensively shoot the ball, attack, transition and take a little bit of the load off those three.”
Smart still ranks second to Tatum in touches since the trade, with Jaylen Brown in third behind the duo. White and Robert Williams III took on rapid ball movement roles. Their touches average average 1-3 seconds, compared to Brown, Tatum and Smart’s possessions that all take over three seconds before they shoot or make the next pass. Boston needed more passing its second units than Dennis Schröder and Josh Richardson could provide, and if they can mix combinations into fourth quarters, they can make the Smart and White work for this season.Both defend, run good fast breaks, thrive in pick-and-roll creation and move off the ball.
Paying over $30-million combined across two players who fill similar roles will be a bigger question for Brad Stevens than Udoka once the year concludes. Smart provides the all-defense upshot, boxing out and defending bigger post players like Nikola Jokic. White is the more natural offensive player, who is more fluid in his movement on both ends. Smart’s passing is probably better overall, especially from the lead position, finding initial leads. White is the more natural shooter from distance, and Smart’s tenacity is unmatched. They’ll both inevitably stand together and take a charge in unison at some point. The team’s desire to pair Brown and Tatum with a third star was reported before the deadline and even with White largely considered a perfect fit in Boston, he acknowledged himself he’s here to help the stars.
The pair staggered throughout the wins over Denver and Atlanta before Smart and White joined the court for the final 10:43 of Friday’s win and final 3:43 during Sunday’s win. The defensive capabilities of the closing units helped the Celtics hold both of those prolific offenses to 23 and 17 points, erasing Boston’s past fourth-quarter woes. It’ll be interesting to see how far a group this extremely dedicated to defense can go with two scoring stars.
Offensive questions remain for this group though. It appeared Udoka tried to integrate Grant Williams late against the Hawks before ball control became an issue. The spacing with Smart and White almost resembles Dennis Schröder and Smart closing units, the Celtics ranking last in three-point shooting (28%) and the closers averaged 38.5 eFG% from the field — the third-worst among Boston’s lineups since the deadline.
“It’s who’s playing well,” Udoka told CLNS on the closing units. “If we need a bigger body and Grant’s available and he’s playing, that’s another option. But at the same time, we’ve closed with Rob and Al as well. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a set five. Derrick’s just another guy we can throw out there and feel comfortable, which we had done with JRich at times also. Regarding the spacing, other than Rob, when we’re talking about these units that we’re mentioning, all those guys can play inside or out, whether it’s Al, Grant, or obviously all the guards.”
The Celtics couldn’t round out the roster perfectly at the deadline, and Udoka and Stevens both mentioned they hope to find shooting in the team’s three remaining roster spots following the signings of Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet. Boston added Hauser on a deal that’ll also pay him roughly $1.5-million in the 2022-23 season, keeping him lined up as potential long-range options with Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith and Grant. Udoka hasn’t gone to those options regularly, aside from utilizing Grant in his normal role and sprinkling in some largely ineffective Pritchard minutes through his eight-man rotation. So buyout-level help probably wouldn’t break into that group.
Boston will add a ninth in Daniel Theis tonight. He hasn’t played regular minutes since Jan. 10, so he’ll be limited to around 15-20 minutes, if he gets there at all. Theis once shot the ball well from deep in Boston, averaging 34.4% from three during his first three seasons in the league. He won’t solve the team’s spacing issues, and given his recent run in Chicago and Houston, the Celtics may prefer one triple from him at most. Udoka expects Theis to be able to handle the team’s switching scheme, he told CLNS this morning, along with some tradition coverages. He’ll also fit into some additional double big lineups with Horford and Williams III.
Boston’s getting its passing and move movement game down. White cut for a key three-point play against the Nuggets in crunch time. Smart’s shooting 8-of-9 in the restricted zone in February, Tatum’s finishing 25-of-33 and Brown 20-of-30. White has hit 5-of-7, a credit to the Celtics’ increased pace, as much as anything, getting them uncontested baskets on the run. While this group may not be able to shoot, their increased activity in the half court and Smart’s continued quality decision-making on the ball have led to lobs and other easy buckets for teammates.
While Smart’s standing with the team may come into question every trade deadline and offseason for year’s to come, the guard told J.J. Redick on his podcast he didn’t lose any sleep leading up to last Thursday. It’ll be an intriguing question again when the ever-present Bradley Beal conversation arises again this summer, and if the team can’t successfully find floor spacing on its roster, Smart or White could be the tradeoff depending on other opportunities that emerge. In going all-defense, all-activity, the Celtics chose to accentuate what they already do well and not try to force feed shooting on the roster.
It’s working so far, but this league has trended more and more toward the three being a prerequisite. Especially for a team trying to create through the drive-and-kicks and attempting the league average amount of threes each night. Second-level drives have helped counteract the misses from deep, but Tatum had an excellent passing afternoon against Atlanta thwarted by Smart and White’s 2-for-15 nights from deep.
Can they play together? Philadelphia’s drop defense will be another good test.
“Since I’ve played with (Smart), he’s always been a good ball-handler,” Daniel Theis told CLNS. “He makes passes, probably not a lot of players see. Especially lob passes. He’s not afraid to throw them up there. I think overall we have so many ball-handlers and players who can make plays. So it’s easier to share the ball. Not only do Jayson and Jaylen have to run pick-and-rolls, now you’ve got Smart running pick-and-roll and making plays, you’ve got Derrick running pick-and-roll. So I think it takes a lot of pressure off those guys, because everybody can make plays, everybody can share the ball.”
