Derrick White
Boston Celtics

Player Facts

Height: 6'4"
Weight: 190lbs.

Wingspan: 6'7.5"

Date of Birth: July 2, 1994
College Experience: Colorado (1 year)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 1

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 8
Physical Strength: 7
Positional Size: 8
Positional Wingspan: 7
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 5
Three-Point Scoring: 4
Dribbling: 7
Passing: 8
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 8
Rebounding: 4

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Offensive Role Diversity

> Dribble Driving

> Interior Finishing

> On & Off-Ball Playmaking

> Intangibles

> Defensive Malleability

> Plus Shot-Blocking at Guard

> Disciplined Defense

> Offensive Limitations

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Derrick White is a 6-4 hybrid guard out of the University of Colorado at Boulder. He defends hard and overall is a very intelligent player. He knows his opponents' tendencies well and uses this to his advantage.

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Offensive Role Diversity

White spends a good amount of his time playing away from the rock. He can run an offense capably, though he now defers to his star creator teammates. His method of providing off-ball value is quite different than most perimeter players though.

Derrick White will act as connective tissue within the half-court offense when playing off-the-ball. He can be passable as a spot-up shooter, but focuses more on basket cutting, flashing into empty space, and making quick reads on the catch. The former Buff was in the 92nd percentile scoring on cuts in 2021-2022 (while with Spurs).

Dribble Driving

He'll get downhill via dribble handoffs some. Bigs like Jakob Poeltl in the past and now Al Horford and Robert Williams feed the ball to a tight-curling White as he gets going towards the bucket. 2020-2021 saw him land in the NBA's 86th percentile for DHO scoring.

Derrick looks to get to the rim with regularity as a means of both personal layup creation and spray-outs. White can also be pretty imaginative along his path to get there. Frequency-wise, he was sandwiched between LeBron James and Tobias Harris in 2020-2021 drives per game.

Interior Finishing

The Colorado native is an above-average paint finisher at guard despite lacking nuclear athleticism. He instead leans on craft and his decent size to finish in various ways near the cup. Derrick is also a pretty strong guard with helps in the finishing department.

His paint scoring rating can be considered higher due to his comfort level with push shots/runners. Not only does he live around 60% right at the rim, but he tends to convert a respectable clip from floater range. He uses the glass well when attacking the basket at a 45-degree angle.

One way White gets into the paint to score is the most common play in basketball, the pick-and-roll. He plays with a good pace here, methodical in his attack. The combo guard balances scoring and passing very nicely as the initiator of these actions.

On & Off-Ball Playmaking

Derrick may not be viewed by many as a high-level passer; however, the advanced metrics tend to value it immensely. A more consumable stat may be his AST/TO ratio. He has a 2.82 2020-2021 figure that edged Nikola Jokic, Kyle Lowry, Jrue Holiday, and James Harden.

One reason behind his skillful playmaking numbers is the fact that he blends on and off-ball playmaking like few players do. He's specifically a very talented lob passer from both close and far range.

He can play lead guard competently for several possessions in a row, with some deceptiveness to his distributing in the screen-and-roll. Derrick uniquely tacks on an aptitude for extra passing and general unselfishness within the flow of the offense.

Intangibles

D-White is also versatile in that he can thrive in different play styles. He can be a good transition scorer and passer when at a faster pace, but by the same coin can slow it down and be effective in PNR. Regardless, he plays heady, low-mistake basketball – supported by annually low turnover rates.

Defensive Malleability

White spends chunks of time checking all sorts of opposing players. His positional malleability is a huge boon to his squad, and it enables some creative three-guard lineups without giving much away on defense.

In 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022, he spent 30%+ of his time on forwards and 55%+ of his time on guards. D-White will be tasked with guarding anyone from Chris Paul to Paul George to Bradley Beal.

Derrick is a talented man defender and team defender. One-on-one, he mirrors opponents' movements and pursues hard when he's beat. He pressures players intensely yet under control. He even tallies some chase-down blocks this way.

Plus Shot-Blocking at Guard

White is an unreasonably good shot-blocker at guard. With a solid but not insane wingspan of 6'7.5", his swats are predicated on hustle and timing. He'll even lurch out and get a piece of some would-be three-pointers from opponents.

He rounds out his positionally outlying paint protection with the instincts and willingness to time up charges. In spite of playing merely 36 games in 2020-2021, he earned a spot in the top-ten charges-drawn list.

D-White will also accrue the ultra-rare charge taken out on the perimeter, beating his man to their spot and rapidly getting himself into legal guarding position.

Derrick can even arrive promptly on the scene as a help-side shot-blocker, mirroring that of a rim-protecting center. He forced people to shoot -6.9% at the cup and he notched a 1.2 denials per-36 season (2020-2021).

Disciplined Defense

He tallies his fair share of steals and deflections with his quick hands in addition to the blocked shots. Derrick would collect even more if it weren't for his reluctance to gamble often. Instead, he focuses on player containment and an adherence to the team's defensive principles.

The guard's point of attack defense is also strong, as is his transition defense and his ability to chase shooters around. He was in the league's upper half for defending PNR ball-handlers in 2020-2021. Across the board, he displays a high defensive floor thanks to size, smarts, and a sustained high compete level.

WEAKNESSES

Offensive Limitations

A major offensive realm that holds Derrick back from reaching a higher potential is 3pt shooting. This has been his offensive Achilles' heel in the Association. He streaks up and down on catch-and-shoots but really struggles to nail pull-up treys (28.7% in 2021-2022).

White is not the type of guard who will create a good shot from scratch in late-clock scenarios. His game is more about attacking angles and playing off others rather than being a break-you-down scorer. He rarely isolates, and when he did he landed in the 36th percentile in 2019-2020.

White simply has too many pockets on the floor where he is subpar from an efficiency standpoint. His midrange numbers are mediocre and his three-pointers from the slots and above-the-break are all underwhelming. He is pretty good from the corners though, but even this is low volume.

All told, he spits out eFG%'s in the low 50's in most seasons. In other words, he resides around or even below league average here. Moreover, he has an anemic free throw rate despite solid physical tools and dribble-drive ability.

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White started out playing college ball at a Division II school before transferring over to the University of Colorado at Boulder for his senior season