Comparisons like this seem to forget that Richardson is having a career shooting year, but his counting stats have declined for like 4 straight seasons.
Meanwhile, White's general numbers continue to improve while he is having his worst shooting year of his career.
It's just very obvious that Brad Stevens traded for Richardson while his value was at an all-time low (arguably a negative value contract), rehabbed his value, and then traded him for a better player.
And White's passing is lightyears ahead of Richardson. He doesn't just get assists, he stirs the offense, cuts off-ball (Richardson was meh at this), and gets hockey assists. Richardson was serviceable with the ball in his hands.
Oh, and White is better defensively than Richardson. He is much better off-ball as a helpside defender and he's better on-ball against guards. Richardson might have guarded up a little better than White, but that is very minimal as I've watched him.
Bingo!
White’s decisiveness is valuable especially to this team. He immediately passes, shoots, or makes the move to pass or shoot. When he does dribble, he gets into the paint with ease and shoots a high % FGA, passes, or dribbles out.
On a team that stopped the ball as often as this one did, he’s highly valuable and translates well to high pressure situations, although difficult to measure by traditional/individual stats.
I was very supportive of the Richardson signing and extension, and preferred to keep JR pre-trade, but I was similarly vocal about adding a PG with his attributes (and he’s a better defender than my options of VanVleet or Brunson). We got White for less assets than VanVleet without having to breakup the core that has been the best 5-player lineup in the NBA!
