Da’Rique Wheat Re-Signs for Cheap
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His 3 point journey should be aspirational. He was inconsistent at best as a 3 point shooter with the Spurs, and was a flat out bad shooter when he get to Boston. .306 in the regular season with Boston in 2022, and .313 in the playoffs. He was left wide open repeatedly, and it clearly messed with his confidence. He was 28 and after 5 seasons and 1000 career 3PAs, you'd figure that was gonna be about it for him. There are worse things to be that a smaller, quicker, more durable (and more self-aware) version of Marcus Smart, but still.
Last year his % shot up to .381 in the regular season and a crazy .455 in the playoffs, and this year he was .396 in the regular season and .404 in the playoffs. The improvement from last year to this one is even more impressive when we see that his volume went way up - from 4.8 attempts to 6.8 in the regular season, and from 5.5 attempts to 8.5 attempts in the playoffs. And he's not just hitting open corner 3s, he hits them off the dribble, above the break, with a hand in his face, etc etc. He had a handful of deep hand grenade 3s with the shot clock running down in these playoffs, and seemed to hit all of them. He was a bad 3 point shooter at age 28, and at age 30, is an elite high volume 3 point shooter who gets favorable comparisons with Ray Allen. Fun times.
The interesting thing about him: when he came over, he had a very high FT percentage, and a rather flat-looking three-point shot, so it seemed that there might be something fixable there. And, voila.
And he has a very quick release, which you need. Never thought he’d turn into such a 3pt weapon and all my Spurs fans friends are annoyed that we unlocked this version of him.
I didn’t see this kind of overall improvement from him but he’s the reason why I was in favor of the Smart trade…because he’s a very good defender with a much higher offensive ceiling.
In a way, he's the prototype of the Brad guy: good net rating (suggesting he impacts winning in ways that may not always make it into the box score), very good on both sides of the ball, high character, willing to subordinate his ego to the betterment of the team.
And as another hat tip to POBOBS, he basically predicted this would happen with DW. I believe his words were, "He's going to get a ton of open looks playing with the Jays and he'll make those."
I suspect that BOS had looked at a lot (all?) of DW's 3Ps with SAS and found that he had to shoot contested 3Ps, late in the shot-clock because they lacked a real primary creator.
If this is true, then DW didn't necessarily become a better shooter (though it's obvious he worked through his shot and has said as much) as much as he is taking better shots. It would be interesting to see the data on his shots with SAS versus his shots with BOS.
Also, watching a few easy ones go in have to help when he has to throw up a few prayers too.
+1... Out of all the great deals Brad has done in 3 years the White deal stands out as my favorite.
Go to minute 2:30 for D.White interview in the 2022 pre-season about his comfort, work on 3-pt shot with Ben Sullivan, flatness, etc
https://www.clnsmedia.com/how-derrick-white-fixed-his-shot-entering-celtics-year-2/
bad hair day for DW
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He was a pretty lousy shooter in 2022 next to the Jays, though obviously a smaller sample.
Coming from a guy who has had confidence issues, I thought his answer about Joe Mazzulla at the post title press conference was pretty interesting. Joe deserves some credit here:
View: https://youtu.be/FERJj6jOivQ?si=CsTVIb-oPFibwyWe&t=106
He flat-out became a much, much better shooter. He takes assisted looks that aren't that open, and he has a *very* quick trigger off the dribble.
He's one of the better shooters in the league now, full-stop.
I always say how difficult it is for most guys to fit in at the trade deadline when everyone else is on the same page….except you. Shooting is confidence/comfort zone and we saw White be unsure of many things that year both offensively and defensively which certainly hurt his shooting. He was never a bad shooter just streaky and mechanically inconsistent but he’s really found his comfort zone here.
Steve Kerr is a fan:
The U.S. team in France now has 11 current All-Stars. The only player who isn’t one, Derrick White, is getting major minutes because he is one of their best perimeter defenders. He scored 10 points with three steals Wednesday, and in close games, Kerr has him on the floor at the end because he is so good on defense.
“Derrick White’s a phenomenal basketball player,” Kerr said of White, who is on Team USA as a replacement for Kawhi Leonard. “He’s a winner. He’s a FIBA player. FIBA is different for every single guy. There’s some different rules, different flow. Derrick’s a champion. He’s a phenomenal basketball player and he’ll continue to make a huge impact for us.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5673358/2024/08/01/jayson-tatum-joel-embiid-team-usa-olympics-bench/
The U.S. team in France now has 11 current All-Stars. The only player who isn’t one, Derrick White, is getting major minutes because he is one of their best perimeter defenders. He scored 10 points with three steals Wednesday, and in close games, Kerr has him on the floor at the end because he is so good on defense.
“Derrick White’s a phenomenal basketball player,” Kerr said of White, who is on Team USA as a replacement for Kawhi Leonard. “He’s a winner. He’s a FIBA player. FIBA is different for every single guy. There’s some different rules, different flow. Derrick’s a champion. He’s a phenomenal basketball player and he’ll continue to make a huge impact for us.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5673358/2024/08/01/jayson-tatum-joel-embiid-team-usa-olympics-bench/
It's not just a FIBA thing: pretty soon everyone is going to realize that this All-Defense guy who also is one of the top shooters in the game is a legit All-Star, who's better than a lot of guys commonly put ahead of him.
Would Indy be better if they swapped Halliburton for Derrick?
Probably not because White is still 6 years older and we don't know if Nembhard is the guy who averaged 9 ppg on middling efficiency in the regular season or the guy who averaged 21 ppg and was unstoppable in the ECF, but it's an interesting discussion.
If someone thinks that Haliburton is on the same path as Young (another all-world offensive guard that gives almost all of it back on defense), you might say that Indy can't win a title with him as their best player. When was the last time one of the best pure point guards won a title while in their prime? It seems like the last couple generations of players in this mold (Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, John Stockton) haven't been good enough, and it might be wise to build around something different.
Honestly, to my casual eye Indy looked better after Halliburton got hurt in the recent playoff series. To be fair, some of that was insane heaters from every other guard on their roster I guess.
IDK, I'm not dialed into the Pacer's team dynamic.
How about we ask the inverse, would the Celtics be better with Halliburton over White?
That's a pretty easy NO in my book since White's superpower is making everyone better around him while being box-score efficient.
3-2-1... themoopes about to tell us we're nuts
Yeah, assume I'm ignoring age, since we're talking about present production here. (Although his young age is exactly why Halliburton could improve further).
The point is mostly to note that there are some pretty big names for whom "could you replace him with Derrick White?" is an uncomfortably tough discussion.
If Phoenix swapped out White for Beal, they'd be an instant top tier title contender IMO.
lolol
I love Derrick White. You won't find me disparaging that man.
I am also very low on Haiburton because I see him as a worse defender than Trae Young.
However, I do not think Indy would be better if you swapped them. Probably a pretty even swap in terms of wins/losses IMO
For what it's worth, DARKO thinks White is currently more valuable than Haliburton and Beal. It's not just green colored glasses to say White is the best of the bunch.
Haliburton of course is young so could definitely trend higher. Beal is just.... meh now.
Derrick White now owns one of these shirts. A buddy made these (terribly designed but still cool) and his daughter was wearing one after game 2 maybe? Not sure what game but anyway was at bar and White was there and he gave her an address to send it to.
Attachments
But it even has White as higher than Beal's peak. And peak Brad Beal was a very good player.
Nice. great idea.
It's hard to say "Mr White" in anything other than Jessie Pinkman's voice
I'm surprised he didn't use a goatee'd Derrick with the Heisenberg hat & sunglasses
Obviously DARKO isn't perfect, but what White provides at a higher level than Beal has a higher impact on winning. Don't get me wrong, Beal is a really good scorer, but it's mostly at good percentages, not great/elite. I'm going to do head math/approximations, his best 3 year stretch, 2018-2021(age 25-27), he shot roughly .475/.350/.840 for 27.5 PPG. He never averaged over 23.2 PPG in any other season, and since 18/19 has only played 60 games once(granted that was the shortened COVID season). Plus, while I haven't followed Beal much it seems like his D is subpar.
Basically I guess it's easier to find a Beal than a DWhite and that's what might make him more valuable to DARKO
Would Team USA be better with Brown instead of DWhite?
Even a priori it was pretty obvious that the answer was no. There's a decent argument Brown should have made the team over someone like Booker for example, but White was always the better fit for the group when replacing Kawhi. There are so many offensive superstars on the roster that you need some elite 3&D guys (or Bam types for the bigs) to balance out the chemistry.
Even a priori it was pretty obvious that the answer was no. There's a decent argument Brown should have made the team over someone like Booker for example, but White was always the better fit for the group when replacing Kawhi. There are so many offensive superstars on the roster that you need some elite 3&D guys (or Bam types for the bigs) to balance out the chemistry.
The league knew White was a defensive standout and a high-end glue guy.
BUT I think it is donning on the NBA that Derrick White could easily be a 20+ ppg scorer if he wanted to be. Offensively he is looking for a great FGA from his team over a good FGA. As opposed to the score-first player who immediately opts for "good looks"
Jrue Holiday is the same type of player & averaged over 20 for a season when his team needed it.
The basketball world is experiencing what we experienced last season. A great team needs to have high level all around complementary players along with their superstars. Jrue Holiday is the best connector in the NBA, and DWhite is probably the second best. Jrue took to the connector role last Olympics, and USA basketball doubled down this one with White.
I’m excited to see how this backcourt fares over the next few seasons, as they get more chemistry with each other and the rest of the Celtics, after already having a phenomenal season together. Any incremental improvement is going to be bad for the rest of the NBA.
I’m excited to see how this backcourt fares over the next few seasons, as they get more chemistry with each other and the rest of the Celtics, after already having a phenomenal season together. Any incremental improvement is going to be bad for the rest of the NBA.
What's great for the Celtics is that if/when KP or a Jay isn't available, either Jrue or DW can capably step into the role of third scorer.
Remember when "elite 3&D guy" was JB's ceiling?
One thing at which JB is probably better than DW is on-ball defense and I think USA could use that from JB.
But since I don't really want to compare the two, I will say that the best thing DW does for Team USA is move Haliburton to the "bench" - if JB was playing, the US would be short a PG (unless they started using JT as a point guard) which would necessitate more Haliburton minutes, which would make Team USA markedly worse on defense.
To your point, two seasons ago, with Brown/Smart out, White stepped into the scorer role.
https://www.nba.com/celtics/news/derrick-white-earns-first-career-player-of-the-week-award
It’s great is not that White (and Jrue) can put up numbers when stars are out, and it’s equally great that they don’t feel compelled to put up numbers when stars aren’t out.
Brad Stevens found the two best rotation mates possible for the Jays
As evidence of that, with literally hundreds of available players as options, Team USA picked those same two to play real minutes in the Olympics to support the stars.
I think this is correct but my knowledge of the NBA outside of the Celtics is limited. Are there back court players out there that would potentially be a better fit with the Jays?
It's a pretty small group. Ideally they would've already made their money (i.e. not on a rookie deal) so that they can be happy with not being a go to guy, while still having the skills to do it from time to time. Mikal Bridges is the first guy that comes to mind, when thinking of just below all-star level guards that are essentially superstar role players. I'm not sure if he'd be happy being a role player and 3rd/4th option here (like he'll be in NY, with his college buddies), but he's younger, bigger, cheaper (for the next two years) and more durable than both White and Holiday, while likely providing a similar level of defense and slightly more scoring, but less playmaking. And there's an alternative universe in which Boston doesn't trade their 1st round pick in 2018 for Kyrie and uses is to draft Bridges (he was drafted 10th, the pick we traded ended up being 8th).
Better? Outside of guys like Steph? Probably not.
The other 3 all-defensive guards were: Caruso, Suggs, and McDaniels. Those three would fit nicely but frankly Jrue and DW are much better offensive players than the rest of them. Desmond Bane would fit in well. Van Vleet would probably fit in well. But none better IMO.
I was just about to reply to say the same thing. Our Celtics backcourt is so good, and meshes so well with star primary-option scorers, that they are the primary options (aside from Steph Curry) at crunch time in the Olympics, even though the USA can pick from nearly anyone they like in the entire league.
Our 4 American starters plus (say) Anthony Davis or Bam or even KAT at center, would probably roll through FIBA competition. And I would love to watch it.
They'd be better with DWhite and Jaylen replacing some of the other guys they have.
The Celtics just have a lot of really good players, who are some of the best Americans at contributing to winning at the highest levels.
More Celtics = more winning.
+1
non-superstar, cheap WINGs that fit the Alfred mold: Herb Jones, Hauser, Melton, Jacquez Jr, Joe, KCP
#^@&!!! Kyrie
Bridges or SGA
and they also probably retain Rozier
Doncic and SGA were first team All NBA. Both are high USG% players that need the ball in their hands considerably more than White or Holiday. I don't think Doncic would be a better fit with the Jays but switching out one of White or Holiday for SGA would certainly be interesting.
Certainly agree but just to clarify, I'd put Doncic and SGA in the Steph category - i.e., not gettable. And I'm pretty certain that BOS would not be better switching out Luka for either DW or Jrue.
Agree. I was approaching it from a thought experiment only perspective. Gettable did enter the equation for me.
In any case, the current back court is amazingly well put together to fit the Jays. And there is no practical way (or need) to upgrade it which is remarkable and really fun to see from my perspective.
It's also ideal under the new CBA, which attempts to prevent teams from upgrading a roster once they hit that level.
2nd apron penalties don't really have any teeth if a team isn't looking to upgrade and in fact helps BOS as it prevents other teams from upgrading other than the margins (looking directly at PHO and MIN).
A Doncic-Embiid pairing on the court would be great fun to watch. Would they fight for the ball openly, or only during timeouts?
I’m sure you could make it work with SGA at point, but all the guys you would put ahead of White and Holliday are stars. Probably the closest swap-in would be FVV.
Building a supporting roster around those two would be a fun project. The Process 2.0.