BOSTON — As Derrick White went to the goal line for his 25th and 26th points of the night, the TD Garden crowd showered Celtics guard in “MVP” cheers usually reserved for teammate Jayson Tatum.
“So, this is how you feel?” White asked Tatum after their 119-106 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
“Yeah,” said Tatum, who was led 2-0 by the Celtics in their first round of playoff games. “I think so.”
Boston fans confirmed what White rediscovered in his first full season with the Celtics: He belongs.
White’s basketball journey is unlike that of Tatum or anyone else in the NBA. Barely 6-foot-1 and 155 pounds as a high school senior, he received no scholarship offers, and settled on a Division II salary from University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The move to DI’s Boulder campus took three years and a late growth spurt. Weeks before putting together the 2017 draft, White grabbed one of a handful of invites from a graduating seniors show, and there the San Antonio Spurs saw enough to make him their 29th overall pick.
Behind Dejounte Murray, Patty Mills, and Tony Parker on the depth chart, White spent most of his rookie year in the G League. A torn ACL Murray, Parker’s exit and Mills’ success as a spark off the bench left a vacant spot in the 2018-19 starting line-up, and Tottenham manager Gregg Popovich rewarded White’s improvement.
“Derek is a really special case of someone who has discovered over time that he belongs,” Popovich said when the Spurs made their annual visit to Boston last month. “Most NBA players don’t know how to play. He did, and skill development added on top of that. Convincing him that he really belonged so his confidence would grow.”
That scouting report accompanied White on his trade to the Celtics at the 2022 deadline. He had moments from Boston’s run to the Finals, including 21 points in Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors, but he disappeared down the stretch that series. Born through the Eastern Conference Finals, the son of White has been thrust into a new role on and off the court. How do we belong was his question again.
That changed over the course of this season, White’s first full team with the Celtics, as Tatum and Jaylen Brown encouraged fellow NBA players to make defenses pay for the Boston All-Stars.
Brown would remind White during the time-out, “Come on, D, be aggressive. Do what you’re doing.”
“We’re just a much more dynamic team when D-White asserts himself and is aggressive,” Tatum said after scoring 29 points in Tuesday’s victory. “We’ve talked about him being very passive and looking up to guys a lot. It’s like also Good for a man. These last few games, being aggressive, doing the right play, attacking the edge, not necessarily waiting around just makes us a much better team.”
“It’s great to hear that from these guys,” White said, “and they’re enabling me to go out and play my game.”
That game was a revelation for the Celtics this season. White started in the backcourt alongside Marcus Smart when Boston picked the small ball in the injury-exhausted absence of Robert Williams III, and his performance left Celtics coach Joe Mazzola no other choice but to play him as often as possible.
White’s 65.6% shooting on the edge and 38.1% clipping from 3-point range is easily the most efficient of his career, and he deserves his first-team All-Defensive selection. His +9.3 on/off rating is nearly double the mark for the next best member of the Celtics, whose +6.7 net rating led the NBA during the regular season.
“It’s more confident, it’s more comfortable, it has more identity,” Mazzola said. “Anytime you join a team late, especially a team that has spent a long time with high expectations, you are just trying to figure out how and where you can have an impact. Things like that come with time, and now he has a clear identity. He can handle. With us, and he can play off the ball, and he’s really used to our defensive schemes as far as substitution and how we meet and what covers those games are based on.It’s an off-the-ball effect, on the ball, on the edge sometimes, so I just think he has a clear identity. “
In two games against the Hawks, White’s 50 points is second only to Tatum. Atlanta’s Trey Young overheard White’s five blocks in the third quarter on Tuesday, powering short floats as Boston extended their lead to 20. White was the best point guard in a series that includes Smart (defensive player of the year), Malcolm Brogdon (sixth man and finalist ), Young (a two-time All-Star) and Murray (a 2022 All-Star who recently lamented, “They really made me compete against Derek Whitein San Antonio).
“Last year was a bit of a whirlwind since I got traded for a few reasons, but this year, from day one, I felt great,” said White, who turns 29 in July. “I just try to get better every day, and the team does a great job of strengthening me and helping me through the whole journey.”
He may not be the best player, but arguably on the deepest team in the NBA, White was the third best player behind Tatum and Brown, and the Celtics know full well he can turn the Finals in their favor this year.
“We need more of that from D-White,” Brown said. “I need him to continue it.”
“S***, I’m happy for him,” Tatum added. “He’s been playing his ass in those last two games. He’s obviously a big, big reason we’ve won the last two games. We need him to keep playing at that level, and he can.”
Yes, Derek White belongs.