CelticsBlog exit interview: Derrick White is still everyone’s favorite role player

The Derrick White Experience is ever-expanding.

The Derrick White you see today is a far cry from the man who debuted in Celtics green on Feb. 11, 2022.

That version of Derrick White, sporting a headband and hair that popped out like a head of cauliflower, was truly a jack of all trades, and a master of none. From 2019-2021, he was a career 35% shooter from behind the 3-point line, a capable scorer and passer that averaged 11.6 points and 3.7 assists per night, and an admirably solid perimeter defender.

The Derrick White of today, the one who shed that hair and headband combo to be a bald-headed assassin, is a different kind of beast, and is without a doubt one of the league’s premier non-star players.

For a third straight season, White shot 38% or better from beyond the arc, this time on the highest volume of his career (9.1 attempts) and on the best self-created shotmaking efficiency of his career. In large part from his hot perimeter shooting, his 58% eFG percentage was also the best of his career.

That scoring touch only seemed to amplify when the game reached clutch minutes. In 29 regular season games, White was third in clutch scoring (2.1 points) behind the Jays, second behind Kristaps Porzingis in FG percentage (56.7%) and first in 3-point percentage (56%).

In the five postseason games to reach clutch time, which Boston went 1-4 in, White was the only shooter above 40%.

This season spelled the end of a two-year streak of All-Defensive Team honors for White, but he was still one of the league’s best perimeter defenders and the undisputed top shot-blocking guard in the NBA. White averaged a block per game for a third straight season, while 3-point shooters’ FG% was 3.8% worse when guarded by White and an absurd 13.4% worse on shots 6 feet or less from the basket.

White is also one of the best off-ball chasers and screen-navigators in the game, finishing in the 96th percentile in ball screen navigation according to BBall Index.

On top of all the statistical evidence aligning with our collective eye tests, White was also just a durable constant within the Boston rotation. This was the fourth consecutive year that White played 70+ regular season games, and in a postseason where four of Boston’s five starters dealt with some form of injury, ailment or illness, White was the only player not to be mentioned on the injury report.

The Celtics limped to their second round exit against the Knicks, but White had his fair share of playoff-rising performances. White recorded his third and fourth 30-point playoff games, one in each series, and averaged 19 points on 46% FG efficiency, following up last year’s title run with another helping of that reliable do-it-all impact.

Boston finds itself in a flux this offseason. Faces that played a part in Banner 18 will be out the door, while the face of the franchise recovers from injury. That leaves a lot of questions, and big decisions, for Brad Stevens to face, but there needs to be constants amid the roster reconstruction.

The Celtics are going to look a lot different next October, but Derrick White is a constant that has to remain. No trade nets another Derrick White, nor does a draft pick provide high enough odds of finding the next Derrick White.

Surrounded by chaos and uncertainty, it’s nice to know that there are certain constants to this world: the sun rises and sets, time always moves forward, Joel Embiid’s Sixers will finish short of the conference finals, and when the fourth quarter rolls around, Derrick White is hitting a big shot.