White vs Richardson

[Surferdad]

Lol we’re really comparing the two?

Yeah really seems like a silly thread at this point (trade is done, can't go back, can't change anything). The thread wouldn't even exist if not for White's one bad game yesterday, and in reality is wasn't really that bad.  He missed a few 3's yes, but happens to J-Rich as well.  D-White's only really bad play was when he dribbled the air out of the ball then threw a bad pass b/c he was in trouble.

[jambr380]

People are going after the OP like he is out of his mind, when the comparison isn't so absurd. I prefer White, but the extra we paid still bothers me a little. JRich is more of a wing, so comparing the passing ability of the two seems disingenuous. All he is trying to say is that JRich was a very good defensive player, scorer, and was shooting the ball well with the Cs this year.

Just because we acquired White doesn't mean you have to hate on JRich - he was a good fit with the team and, frankly, we are still looking for somebody to fit his exact role. I think people are lumping JRich's play in with Schroder's since they both went out at the same time. While they both were a little more iso heavy than we may all prefer, it's okay for your back-up wing to do that on occasion, especially when he is a very good defensive player and spot-up shooter, as well.

[ozgod]

By the way, the subtle sleight of hand is nice. Comparison Josh Richardson's full season to White's 5 games with the Cs is a bit crafty if you want to take a dig at White.

How about we compare both players in the brief stint with their new teams?

Richardson's stats with the Spurs?

1 game played. 3 DNP coach's decision. 3ppg. 2apg.

But that doesn't quite fit the narrative that you are trying to advance.

Far too early to make any comparisons IMO. We'll have a better idea on how good or bad the White trade was by the end of the year at the earliest. By 2028 we should have an idea of whether we overpaid or not. If we did the people who guessed right can all say "I told you so" 

Just because we acquired White doesn't mean you have to hate on JRich - he was a good fit with the team and, frankly, we are still looking for somebody to fit his exact role.

I'd be surprised if more than a handful of people were hating on J.Rich. He helped our team a lot when he was here and was a solid professional. It's unfortunate that sometimes fans make it a zero sum game - if you like White, then you must have hated J.Rich. Sometimes it's only increments that separate players on a one on one comparison, but one player has specific skillsets and attributes that fit and enhance your team better than the other one overall. Of course, we all have our own personal preferences and biases too. From my own bias, I liked J.Rich, I thought he played hard, shot the ball well and was a solid defender. Plus he was an earnest, likeable kind of guy, while White is new and has a weird receding hairline. But at this early stage I 'm liking how White fits in our team and has slotted in with minimal disruption, even if his numbers might not be as good.

[LilRip]

How is this a thread? White is clearly the superior player and has superior impact on the court. C’s got a good one in White

Now, how much will we miss those picks? That is the more interesting question imo.

[GreenlyGreeny]

Knowing that we had to move Schröder (expiring contract, locker rooms issues, not the best fit), and knowing that Pritchard is not capable of being a starting PG in the NBA when the starting PG is injured, we clearly needed to get someone who is capable of being a starting PG considering Smart’s history of injuries. White became available and has a special relationship with Udoka. In addition, the availability of guards was quite low and of all of them available, frankly, White has the most potential and can play right now. This was kind of a no-brainer, really, although I wish the later pick swap (2027?) had top 10 (or even just top 5) protection instead of merely top 1 protection. Until that pick is clearly a non-lottery pick and/or we know San Antonio will finish quite a bit worse than us in 2026/2027, something we will not know for about 5 years (TBD on whether Pops is still coaching at age 78), I’ll always be a bit uncomfortable with parting with it with minimal protection. That said, it was probably a “take it or leave it because we love White, too” proposition…

White’s contract is longer than JRich, he can play point unlike JRich, he is a better defender of guards (we’ve got elite wing defenders in JT/JB already), he is a better facilitator, and he is better at hustling. Plus, he’s on friendly terms with our dynamic duo, which means a lot in this buddy-buddy era of the NBA. Finally, his intangibles are through the roof and he’s competition for Smart (one or the other may eventually end up as 6MOTY). It’s not all about shooting, folks…

Oh, and here’s this courtesy of NBA Sports prior to the win over Brooklyn (small sample size, but I’ve got a feeling it’s going to extrapolate through the end of this season):

White has averaged 12.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists over about 30 minutes per game with Boston, and the team is 3-1 with him on board.

"He’s a guy I don’t really have to worry about," Udoka said. "He’s accustomed to being coached hard, he’s receptive to it, and he’s ready to roll."

Source: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/derrick-white-used-being-coached-hard-ime-udoka-says

[Roy H.]

White has averaged 12.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists over about 30 minutes per game with Boston, and the team is 3-1 with him on board.

10.8 / 3.8 / 3.5 / .456 eFG% as of now, but 5-1.

[GreenlyGreeny]

White has averaged 12.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists over about 30 minutes per game with Boston, and the team is 3-1 with him on board.

10.8 / 3.8 / 3.5 / .456 eFG% as of now, but 5-1.

If we keep up the 5-1 momentum, I could care less if White’s stat line above gets cut in half because we’ll almost surely have the one or two seed in the East if we finish that strong. Stats cannot fully express the intangibles and off-ball defending prowess of White.

[Goldstar88]

How is this a thread? White is clearly the superior player and has superior impact on the court. C’s got a good one in White

Now, how much will we miss those picks? That is the more interesting question imo.

 11pts, 1reb, 0ast, shooting 4-10 from the field and 1-5 from 3pt, that’s how. I know, I know it’s 1 game...but the C’s could have used Richardson’s shooting off the bench. Pritchard is probably the biggest threat offensively for the C’s reserves at this point.

[Csfan1984]

I said it at deadline the loss of Schro and Josh means the Jays need to be even better efficient  scorers. Starting to feel it was a bad trade deadline right now.

[GreenlyGreeny]

Something else that may endear folks to White: He’s the only NBA player I know of who was taken in the first-round who had to use his rookie contract to pay off student loan debt from his freshman year because he could not get a full college scholarship at first and does not come from a wealthy family. The dude is humble and is where he is today because of hard work, listening to experts (his college coaches, Pops, and now Udoka), and learning/growing (and he’s not done by any means considering he entered the league in only 2017). He is quickly becoming one of my favorite current Celtics, alongside Grant, Timelord and Smart. I also liked JRich and would love if we had been able to keep him while adding White, but that was not possible because nobody is handing over a good player like White for just junk like Langford.

[slamtheking]

How is this a thread? White is clearly the superior player and has superior impact on the court. C’s got a good one in White

Now, how much will we miss those picks? That is the more interesting question imo.

 11pts, 1reb, 0ast, shooting 4-10 from the field and 1-5 from 3pt, that’s how. I know, I know it’s 1 game...but the C’s could have used Richardson’s shooting off the bench. Pritchard is probably the biggest threat offensively for the C’s reserves at this point.

it's not one game though.  since the first game he played for the C's, his offense (scoring) has dropped off. 

[nickagneta]

How is this a thread? White is clearly the superior player and has superior impact on the court. C’s got a good one in White

Now, how much will we miss those picks? That is the more interesting question imo.

 11pts, 1reb, 0ast, shooting 4-10 from the field and 1-5 from 3pt, that’s how. I know, I know it’s 1 game...but the C’s could have used Richardson’s shooting off the bench. Pritchard is probably the biggest threat offensively for the C’s reserves at this point.

it's not one game though.  since the first game he played for the C's, his offense (scoring) has dropped off.

You know for all the grousing done over White's shooting threes, for the year he's hitting at 31%....meanwhile our star of stars, Jayson Tatum, is hitting at 32.9% after today's showing. No one seems to complain about that.

Personally, I think both might end up having terrible years shooting the three, like lots of players, but will bounce back next year.

The trade doesn't HAVE to pay amazing immediate benefits, so long as next year and beyond it does. I'll judge the trade then

[pokeKingCurtis]

How is this a thread? White is clearly the superior player and has superior impact on the court. C’s got a good one in White

Now, how much will we miss those picks? That is the more interesting question imo.

 11pts, 1reb, 0ast, shooting 4-10 from the field and 1-5 from 3pt, that’s how. I know, I know it’s 1 game...but the C’s could have used Richardson’s shooting off the bench. Pritchard is probably the biggest threat offensively for the C’s reserves at this point.

it's not one game though.  since the first game he played for the C's, his offense (scoring) has dropped off.

You know for all the grousing done over White's shooting threes, for the year he's hitting at 31%....meanwhile our star of stars, Jayson Tatum, is hitting at 32.9% after today's showing. No one seems to complain about that.

Personally, I think both might end up having terrible years shooting the three, like lots of players, but will bounce back next year.

The trade doesn't HAVE to pay amazing immediate benefits, so long as next year and beyond it does. I'll judge the trade then

Yea people always talking about the potential downside to this. There is upside too.

[Roy H.]

How is this a thread? White is clearly the superior player and has superior impact on the court. C’s got a good one in White

Now, how much will we miss those picks? That is the more interesting question imo.

 11pts, 1reb, 0ast, shooting 4-10 from the field and 1-5 from 3pt, that’s how. I know, I know it’s 1 game...but the C’s could have used Richardson’s shooting off the bench. Pritchard is probably the biggest threat offensively for the C’s reserves at this point.

it's not one game though.  since the first game he played for the C's, his offense (scoring) has dropped off.

You know for all the grousing done over White's shooting threes, for the year he's hitting at 31%....meanwhile our star of stars, Jayson Tatum, is hitting at 32.9% after today's showing. No one seems to complain about that.

Personally, I think both might end up having terrible years shooting the three, like lots of players, but will bounce back next year.

The trade doesn't HAVE to pay amazing immediate benefits, so long as next year and beyond it does. I'll judge the trade then

Yea people always talking about the potential downside to this. There is upside too.

I think we bought high.  To some extent, that means that unless White meets expectations, the trade was a failure.  He needs to progress, not only playing up to his contract, but exceeding the play of Richardson + #1 + swap rights.

You can see the flashes of excellence, but we paid for more than flashes.  White needs to play at the level of a good starter for the trade to make sense.

[slamtheking]

How is this a thread? White is clearly the superior player and has superior impact on the court. C’s got a good one in White

Now, how much will we miss those picks? That is the more interesting question imo.

 11pts, 1reb, 0ast, shooting 4-10 from the field and 1-5 from 3pt, that’s how. I know, I know it’s 1 game...but the C’s could have used Richardson’s shooting off the bench. Pritchard is probably the biggest threat offensively for the C’s reserves at this point.

it's not one game though.  since the first game he played for the C's, his offense (scoring) has dropped off.

You know for all the grousing done over White's shooting threes, for the year he's hitting at 31%....meanwhile our star of stars, Jayson Tatum, is hitting at 32.9% after today's showing. No one seems to complain about that.

Personally, I think both might end up having terrible years shooting the three, like lots of players, but will bounce back next year.

The trade doesn't HAVE to pay amazing immediate benefits, so long as next year and beyond it does. I'll judge the trade then

Yea people always talking about the potential downside to this. There is upside too.

I think we bought high.  To some extent, that means that unless White meets expectations, the trade was a failure.  He needs to progress, not only playing up to his contract, but exceeding the play of Richardson + #1 + swap rights.

You can see the flashes of excellence, but we paid for more than flashes.  White needs to play at the level of a good starter for the trade to make sense.

this is my point that's getting glazed over.  We overpaid for what we're getting.  I'm not saying White's trash, he's not.  He's also not a good starter -- certainly this year.  if that changes next year and he shoots better, I'm certainly open to reconsidering the value of this trade but so far, he hasn't been worth what we gave up.

@Nick - I'm not grousing about White's 3's -- I'm grousing about his offense in general.  he's having issues hitting from everywhere this year.   And trust me, I've definitely been expressing my discontent with Tatum's offense (and the team's offense in general) this year.  Last night was another stinker by both Tatum and White.  This team isn't good enough to overcome that and have a good chance at winning.