Has Derrick White Been a “Perfect Fit” for the Celtics?

BOSTON — When Jaren Jackson Jr. dove into the paint and got blocked by Robert Williams III and Al Horford swatted away Steven Adams’ put back attempt on Thursday, the TD Garden crowd rose into a standing ovation. Jayson Tatum and Williams III walked to the bench following the play with the Celtics ahead by 14 points in a showcase win over the Grizzlies they’d eventually take by a score of 120-107 on Thursday.

Celtics stood as expressive as they have all season. Sending a nod to Ja Morant‘s recent feats in pre-game introductions. Ohhh!!! followed his left-handed transition slam over Marcus Smart. Gasps floated up to the rafters as Morant prepared to send home another fast break dunk that he fumbled out-of-bounds as he caught the pass. Aaron Nesmith’s slow walk to the exit following his painful-looking right ankle injury allowed silence to fill the Garden, while Derrick White’s fourth-quarter elbow injury happened quietly enough to evade its own moment. White went to the locker room with 9:00 left in the fourth quarter and only returned to the sideline, shaking out his left arm along the sideline. His impact has been subtle, statistically, but Boston missed him late.

The Celtics’ offensive fortunes have transformed through White’s quick decisions and aggressive, downhill mentality playing with the second unit and closing. Boston ranks No. 4 in offense (117.9 points per 100 possessions), No. 3 in assist percentage (65.8%) and No. 7 in effective field goal percentage (56.3%) since the trade deadline. His biggest impact has come piling up a possession advantage for Boston with extra stops though.

The Celtics held on, 29-26, in the fourth with Grant Williams finishing alongside two bigs in White’s place as White sat with a stinger. The play he got injured on saw him and Horford miscommunicate a switch, showing his continued learning curve as he tries to become the perfect fit on the Celtics that Brad Stevens predicted White would become.

“He’s a very cerebral player,” Ime Udoka told ESPN on Friday. “Has good size, so he fits right into what we’re doing defensively, but I know who he is. The continuity that he brought to the group, it’s like we didn’t miss a step. He can do a lot of things. He’s a true combo guard and fits into our versatile lineup on both ends of the court, because of what he does. He hit the ground running, had a big first game and we feel very comfortable with what he’ll do going forward. It’s just a matter of getting him up to speed with what we’re doing on both ends and tightening some things up for this home stretch, last 18 or so games.”

Opponents have shot 44.6% against White since he joined the Celtics. Only Boston’s big men, Horford and Williams, post better figures among the team’s regular contributors. Some of that success stems from facing opposing second units. It also reflects the sheer amount of shots White contests (5.9 per game), with 4.2 coming from two-point range. Players attack White, and they often don’t find success, as Morant learned on Thursday.

“A lot of these guys have played together for a while, so they kind of have done it for a minute,” White said earlier this week. “Here and there I’ll make mistakes and the coaching staff will pull me over and try to talk me through it. Just trying to limit those mistakes and figure out those grey areas where we’re switching, not switching … we didn’t switch as much in San Antonio. Just try to be in the right position. Fight them early. Be physical early and try to make them make a tough shot over me.”

White’s quickness and instincts allow him to draw the third-most charges in the NBA, boast the third-highest block percentage among guards in the league (2.5%) and his third-ranked estimated defensive plus-minus (+3.4) trails only Draymond Green and Gary Payton II on the Warriors’ No. 1-ranked defense.

While the Celtics await his full integration next to Jaylen Brown and Tatum offensively, they’ve already added one of the best defenders in the NBA to a group already ascending on that end. The Celtics doubled down on their identity.

As White and Boston’s bench pile up stops, the impact of keeping the opposing team off the board repeatedly rivals what a spark-plug sixth man provides by hitting shots in a hurry. He’s like a middle reliever after the starting five build a double-digit lead. Eating innings. White’s still waiting to emerge from a 41.1% drought through his first nine games. A 7-for-13 night against the Hawks on Tuesday helped.

“Playing on and off the ball. You need to have that with those guys,” Udoka told CLNS Media. “They’re going to have the ball in their hands a majority of the time. Especially come crunch time, and he’s really good off the ball. He’s a true combo guard that can do it with the ball in his hands and play off. You don’t miss a beat defensively, so that obviously his size and versatility there helps. You saw it the other night with Young on him. When they’re trying to hide him on somebody, there’s nobody to hide him on when you got a guy like Derrick out there. You can play him off the ball, we’ve set some walkaways for him, put him in actions as a screener and handler. So that versatility really helps us. It’s a different way than Jaylen, but he plays off those guys as well as when he has the ball in his hands.”

White’s downhill activity pressured Atlanta after he found the ball from Smart on three consecutive actions, Boston leaning on him to create off his own movement rather than with the ball in his hands. His four consecutive buckets with Young unable to stay on him turned a one-point Celtics deficit into a lead they’d build as large as 14 through the fourth quarter.

He described the process of hammering down the Celtics’ offensive terminology earlier in the week, while moving his family from San Antonio during several hectic weeks between the trade deadline and all-star break. It’s an ongoing process on the court too, the team running actions for him at times that he’s noted are similar enough to what when he ran on the Spurs to help right away.

Udoka coached White there during his first two seasons, and with Team USA during the 2019 FIBA World Cup. He constantly keeps the offense pointed toward the basket, working through a 26.7% slump from three and making nearly as many passes (28) as he receives each game (32).

On one play, he practically propelled himself into the crowd drawing a foul.

Another time, he did the same trying to get a clean look inside on the break.

“I felt like it was a good fit going in from the trade,” White said. “Just something I’m continuing to learn with and going with it. Some games are better than others and just trying to figure out where I’m supposed to be and how I can help the team win. It’s a process I’m just taking day-by-day … you definitely see some things that he took from his time in San Antonio, both playing and coaching. That definitely made the transition a lot easier. You definitely see some similarities … I feel pretty comfortable … I’m not too worried on how I’m going to adjust or fit in … we got 19 games left and that’ll be a lot of time for me to get comfortable with the guys and get ready to go for the playoffs.”

White’s key development will come alongside Tatum, as they both try to leverage matchups for each other when Tatum staggers into bench units. Their two-man game has shown stellar flashes.

The pair will also close many games together, and if teams throw their fifth-best defenders at White, he’ll be crucial to screening Tatum and Brown into advantageous matchups, or occasionally attacking himself. His catch-and-shoot threes and floaters will become important against teams with sturdy interior defense. Smart’s improved at shooting into 2022, but Boston will need White to remain a threat too if he’s going to play late over a sharp-shooting Williams.

His on-ball skills, like pick-and-roll creation, may need to wait until future seasons when the Celtics can court deeper bench units. Boston signed Nik Stauskas to a two-year deal after Thursday’s win, a potential bench shooting complement next to White. It’s more likely Udoka’s rotation remains thin since Aaron Nesmith (ankle) injured and Sam Hauser rarely played before.

That means more off-ball minutes for White in staggered second units and playing late in games. You’ll need to focus to see his subtle impact. One the Celtics hope ends up being the difference in a tightly-packed east, as White’s second units now boast a 99.2 defensive rating that’s second to Horford’s minutes since the deadline.

“You look back historically at certain actions that worked well for him, what he’s used to playing against, coverage-wise, and then ask him, ‘Do you like these actions?’ I’ve known him and been around him,” Udoka said. “So he’s really good against drop coverages, navigating that, and gets to his floater, makes right passes. And he can also take advantage of the smaller guys, like last night. And so some simple actions that we have already in our playbook, he’s quick to pick all that stuff up.”