Celts get Derrick White for Richardson, Langford, #1, 2028 pick swap

[gouki88]

Richardson's presence and Langford's defense would've been nice tonight.

Yeah, we only won by 23 - really needed an injury-prone scrub and an end of bench guard to be the cherry on top

Definitely would have preferred those two to the guy who led the team in +/- tonight.   

Ha, yeah - White is usually on the floor when we go on big runs. Not coincidentally.

[ozgod]

Already missing the 2028 pick 

been missing Richardson, Romeo, this year's first and that swap since the trade.  White has been underwhelming to be kind and has in no way been worth what we gave up

You've really been missing Romeo?

being a tad facetious only because he's out so often but when he was on the court, his D was as good as White's (at least) and his driving ability got better as the season went.   so far in the playoffs, I seriously believe Richardson and Romeo would have been more productive than White.

White has been quite unproductive, but I take White + Pritchard over Richardson + Romeo. Because I doubt PP gets played much with Richardson

Why wouldn’t Pritchard have stepped in next to Richardson, in place of Schroeder?

I think it hinders our ball-movement (White is the vastly superior passer) and I don't think Ime would be as forgiving of the defence of PP alongside Richardson

Where is this vastly superior passing? He averaged 3.5ast for the C’s in 26 games during the regular season and in the postseason, he’s averaging 1.8ast.  He’s been a disappointment thus far,
IMO.

So White's passing has been over twice as productive as Richardson's passing. Not sure what else that could be called besides vast superiority.

Also it's not just assist numbers, especially for a team like Boston that moves the ball and has multiple hands touch it. Only the last player gets credited with the assist but everyone contributed. To capture some of that value that a player adds to those types of scores, you can look at NBA.com's Player Tracking and look at Passing. White is playing just under 20 mins a game but he is second in the team in Secondary (hockey) assists, and he is 5th on the team in Assist Points Created. Tatum and Smart's assists are more traditional ones where they will usually drive and kick or pass to a cutter to create a direct scoring opportunity, but when White is on the floor he keeps the ball moving. If you look at the graphic below he makes 27 passes in 19 minutes, which is a pass/min rate of 1.4 which is higher than anyone on the team except Smartacus. So he makes himself available to get the ball and he doesn't waste time with it in his hands.



Certainly not a max level player, and his shooting needs a lot of work, but he's not as useless as his offensive numbers might suggest.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I remain unimpressed with Derrick White. I guess his defense and passing have been alright (though I wouldn't say great), but his shooting since joining Boston has been mostly bad. Tonight he gets the start and goes 0-for-6/0-for-4 for 0 points. ZERO points in 26 minutes. Yikes. He's certainly not stretching the defense.

[GreenlyGreeny]

White is a 6th man that does all the little things to help us win. Kind of like Bill Walton back in the 1980s, albeit as a guard rather than a big. The little things he does to help us win may not always be reflected in the stats, but watch closely and you’ll see it. The 25th pick, Richardson, Romeo and a swap for White was a good move, probably the absolute best move available at this deadline to help get us to the next level.

Like Red used to say, eight solid guys to get a title. Bringing in White and Theis clearly got us there considering the supposed locker room issues with Schröder:

Smart
Brown
Tatum
Horford
Timelord
White
G. Williams
Theis or Pritchard depending on matchups/injuries

[JohnBoy65]

He does more for our team than Schroeder. Which is a net positive itself, but yeah it's hard to watch him play right now. It's too bad we couldn't have put Schroeder in that Spurs trade instead of Richardson.

[Roy H.]

He does more for our team than Schroeder. Which is a net positive itself, but yeah it's hard to watch him play right now. It's too bad we couldn't have put Schroeder in that Spurs trade instead of Richardson.

Then we wouldn't have Theis.

Perhaps the best thing to do to maximize our chances this year would have been to acquire White with our trade exception, rather than by trading Richardson.  But, even assuming the Spurs would have been okay with that, it would have cost a ton in luxury tax.

[todd_days_41]

Richardson's presence and Langford's defense would've been nice tonight.

Yeah, we only won by 23 - really needed an injury-prone scrub and an end of bench guard to be the cherry on top

Definitely would have preferred those two to the guy who led the team in +/- tonight.   

Ha, yeah - White is usually on the floor when we go on big runs. Not coincidentally.

This voodoo osmosis “glue guy” take remains the only soft defense for how badly Stevens overpaid for White.

[todd_days_41]

He does more for our team than Schroeder. Which is a net positive itself, but yeah it's hard to watch him play right now. It's too bad we couldn't have put Schroeder in that Spurs trade instead of Richardson.

Then we wouldn't have Theis.

Perhaps the best thing to do to maximize our chances this year would have been to acquire White with our trade exception, rather than by trading Richardson.  But, even assuming the Spurs would have been okay with that, it would have cost a ton in luxury tax.

Why has Theis been stapled to the bench? Is he injured?

[JohnBoy65]

He does more for our team than Schroeder. Which is a net positive itself, but yeah it's hard to watch him play right now. It's too bad we couldn't have put Schroeder in that Spurs trade instead of Richardson.

Then we wouldn't have Theis.

Perhaps the best thing to do to maximize our chances this year would have been to acquire White with our trade exception, rather than by trading Richardson.  But, even assuming the Spurs would have been okay with that, it would have cost a ton in luxury tax.

Why has Theis been stapled to the bench? Is he injured?

Theis is fine, and we ended up lucking out having him when Williams was out, but I just don't value him that much. He's the 4th big that didn't get many minutes when we traded for him, and we saw last night it looks like he's not going to get many minutes moving forward. Williams and Horford had 5 fouls last night and Ime didn't put Theis in.

** Edit: I think Richardson would have more value to our team than Theis.

[celts55]

While I’ll admit that watching him miss wide open shots is hard to see, at least he only took 6 shots. It’s easier to watch than Smart chucking up shot after shot.

In his defense, he was plus 22 last night. As long as he doesn’t shoot too much, plays good D, and continues to find the open man, he be okay.

Certainly wish he could hit a shot, but at least it can’t get worse.

[Roy H.]

He does more for our team than Schroeder. Which is a net positive itself, but yeah it's hard to watch him play right now. It's too bad we couldn't have put Schroeder in that Spurs trade instead of Richardson.

Then we wouldn't have Theis.

Perhaps the best thing to do to maximize our chances this year would have been to acquire White with our trade exception, rather than by trading Richardson.  But, even assuming the Spurs would have been okay with that, it would have cost a ton in luxury tax.

Why has Theis been stapled to the bench? Is he injured?

Theis is fine, and we ended up lucking out having him when Williams was out, but I just don't value him that much. He's the 4th big that didn't get many minutes when we traded for him, and we saw last night it looks like he's not going to get many minutes moving forward. Williams and Horford had 5 fouls last night and Ime didn't put Theis in.

** Edit: I think Richardson would have more value to our team than Theis.

It's hard to say, but I think that Richardson in place of Theis makes it much harder to get by Brooklyn in the first round.

[Vermont Green]

He does more for our team than Schroeder. Which is a net positive itself, but yeah it's hard to watch him play right now. It's too bad we couldn't have put Schroeder in that Spurs trade instead of Richardson.

Then we wouldn't have Theis.

Perhaps the best thing to do to maximize our chances this year would have been to acquire White with our trade exception, rather than by trading Richardson.  But, even assuming the Spurs would have been okay with that, it would have cost a ton in luxury tax.

In the White trade, I am not sure that SAN wanted Richardson as much as we wanted to shed salary.  There probably was a scenario where we end up with Richardson but not Theis but pay tax.  Tax was potentially a factor but there is also the trade off of do you want more depth at big or at wing?  It is reasonable to assume the team thought big depth was more important than wing depth.  To me, White was about replacing Schroder.  White is under contract, Schroder was not helping all that much and would be 1 and done.

As to White, he continues to clearly help the team win in mysterious ways that are not reflecting in his traditional stats.  I honestly don't fully understand it.  He clearly has the "yips" shooting.  MIL will adjust and exploit this more when he is on the court.  That is my fear.  But so far, that has not really mattered.  We continue to do well when White is on the court.  By the blind squirrel theory, White has to hit some shots eventually, right?

[gouki88]

Richardson's presence and Langford's defense would've been nice tonight.

Yeah, we only won by 23 - really needed an injury-prone scrub and an end of bench guard to be the cherry on top

Definitely would have preferred those two to the guy who led the team in +/- tonight.   

Ha, yeah - White is usually on the floor when we go on big runs. Not coincidentally.

This voodoo osmosis “glue guy” take remains the only soft defense for how badly Stevens overpaid for White.

Only if you don't appreciate upgrading passing and defence

[SHAQATTACK]

Does mean my Romeo is coming back 

[jambr380]

He does more for our team than Schroeder. Which is a net positive itself, but yeah it's hard to watch him play right now. It's too bad we couldn't have put Schroeder in that Spurs trade instead of Richardson.

Then we wouldn't have Theis.

Perhaps the best thing to do to maximize our chances this year would have been to acquire White with our trade exception, rather than by trading Richardson.  But, even assuming the Spurs would have been okay with that, it would have cost a ton in luxury tax.

In the White trade, I am not sure that SAN wanted Richardson as much as we wanted to shed salary.  There probably was a scenario where we end up with Richardson but not Theis but pay tax.  Tax was potentially a factor but there is also the trade off of do you want more depth at big or at wing?  It is reasonable to assume the team thought big depth was more important than wing depth.  To me, White was about replacing Schroder.  White is under contract, Schroder was not helping all that much and would be 1 and done.

As to White, he continues to clearly help the team win in mysterious ways that are not reflecting in his traditional stats.  I honestly don't fully understand it.  He clearly has the "yips" shooting.  MIL will adjust and exploit this more when he is on the court.  That is my fear.  But so far, that has not really mattered.  We continue to do well when White is on the court.  By the blind squirrel theory, White has to hit some shots eventually, right?

At this point, White is a good luck charm at best. People who are boldly coming to his defense need to chill out a bit. We had already turned around our season before the trade deadline and just continued to play well after it. This was because of our stars and the rest of our starters, not Derek White. It's pretty annoying hearing that one of White's best attributes is that he keeps the ball moving. Like, of course -he is so bad at shooting/scoring, but I guess he has self-awareness. I always feel bad for him when he has to take a wide open 3 - he and everybody else in the world knows it's not going in. But it's not even just the 3s - he can't hit midrange and his floater has completely fallen off a cliff.

Frankly, with the way White is playing, people are delusional right now if they wouldn't rather have JRich and Romeo - both versatile, willing defenders. We also haven't had a back-up wing on this team since the deadline. Like I said, I am pulling for White, but let's stop pretending he has been good - he hasn't.