Derrick White never missed a single game with the Boston Celtics, showing full comfortability in his first full season. Often viewed as the third-best and most effective option, he showed big improvements on both ends in his new home. White’s historic buzzer-beater to force a game 7 in Boston after facing a 3-0 deficit to Miami was a perfect portrayal of his stellar first year for the Celtics.
He was among the league leaders in plus-minus and won an East Player of the Week award. White made an all-defensive team, mastering the intangibles and IQ Marcus Smart provided and beyond as the go-to guard, providing much more consistent offense.
His dogged, defensive instincts were so important to Boston that he led all guards around the league in blocks on the season. At the rim, he even recorded more than Giannis Antetokounmpo. Taking plenty of pressure off of the Jays, he shot 38% from three and 45% from out there in the postseason with a true-shooting percentage of 67.1.
When White was at point guard, he killed it, quarterbacking the team, as the Celtics’ coach Joe Mazzulla recently labeled him the team’s new PG. It signaled how largely crucial a determining factor in White becoming the primary guard was in this summer’s Kristaps Porzingis transition.
The Other Celtic
Another dominant collection of chatter that has been surrounding the Celtics is the status of Malcolm Brogdon. The 30-year-old suffered a partially torn elbow during Boston’s run in May, with his dream of a first Celtics season concluding. When the team almost sent him to the Clippers during their day of fireworks last month, it was also Boston that pivoted away from LAC. They couldn’t get his injured physical done in time ahead of the Porzingis midnight opt-in deadline.
Brad Stevens voiced Brogdon’s worthiness as the newest core member of the team. Rightfully so, acknowledging who just exited at the same position with an even greater image paid attention to.
One club made a call on Malcolm Brogdon and got shut down. Exec: "And I’m pretty sure we aren’t the only team that got that response."
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) July 21, 2023
Things could change, but after moving Smart, Celts need for Brogdon seems increased.
Also, did people forget his season?https://t.co/orbUrV0JJx
Brogdon added an entirely new philosophy, metric, and principle to the Celtics’ offense, helping Boston convert up until the playoffs. Besides Joe Mazzulla’s freakish offense strategies, Brogdon’s transformation of the team helped amplify their new tools. Solidifying an elite offense that went from historically being one of the best defensive teams in the previous Finals to evening it out on the other end and then some.
Through the first few months, numbers-wise, Boston had the best offense in NBA history’s modern era at one point. The recipe for Brogdon/White with Porzingis can elevate the Celtics, making them way scarier than one would imagine.
To emphasize Brogdon’s offensive alteration some more, as said, he won Sixth Man in his first season. He averaged over 14 and was second in 3P% throughout the year, with Horford at 44%. He is a rare miss, as he shoots over 50 from midrange. Words would not describe how calmly he masters all three fundamentals at an incredibly efficient level, with a good defense to go with it.
He was over 15 in the postseason prior to the injury, reaching 50% or more from three. With those limitations, Mazzulla had to place him under and Smart got the benefit of the doubt, it’s not easy for a former top-option on playoff teams to willingly take a backseat and come off the bench. He and White had to be inappropriately on a leash due to Smart’s late game and a lot of crucial playoff moments playing into Mazzulla’s struggles via prematurity.
As Brogdon labeled it, he did an excellent job checking his ego at the door, as true professionals do, with his willingness to be embedded in Boston’s foundation of winning. While Celtics’ fans were devastated by losing a fan favorite in Smart, it was maybe a blessing in disguise to imagine Brogdon in an enhanced role, similar to what he starred in alongside Domantas Sabonis in Indiana.
How Porzingis will fit in Boston
It goes without saying how much of a new dimension Porzingis adds and creates for Boston. Craving more size with the previously-stated condition of their bigs—an All-Star who is coming off the best season of his career, similar in age to the Jays—what could be better?
Porzingis adds flame-throwing abilities on all three offensive levels. Now in Boston, he will be able to quickly adapt to the Celtics’ switching defensive strategies. KP’s defense has made major strides in the last few years, with exhibit-A being in Washington with Porzingis’ elite shot-blocking.
Not only will KP help make life the easiest it has been for Tatum and Brown at the forefront as leaders opening up the world on both ends, but he also adds unusual elements. At least some that we haven’t seen since the Pierce-Garnett era. Porzingis was fourth among the bigs in post-up points last season, adding a huge arsenal and avenue that the Celtics have not been accustomed to since KG.
Porzingis’ career-best year with the Wizards was highlighted by that integration and his 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists to go with the resounding defense. He scorched in his 65 contests, shooting 49.8 percent from the field and 38.5% from distance, with Porzingis atop the league leaders in true shooting. Two of the league’s most dominant players now have an All-Star to help.
Speaking of opening up the world, Stevens has also voiced numerous times how KP can fit with any of the Celtics’ lineup combinations. Loudly preaching how Porzingis can be matched with one of Williams or Horford, he can be the five with four out. And actually, why not play him with both bigs?
Initiating Stevens and Mazzulla’s cup of tea in position-less basketball, the chance arises for one or both Tatum and Brown to be relieved, even one of the guards. All decreasing the past likelihood of Boston struggling with Tatum on the bench if Brown is not himself or doesn’t have it as seen against Miami.
How it all fits together for the Celtics.
It’s safe to say that Boston needed this for their tandem to complete a likable big three. With the way the league is trending as teams added more talent this summer, with more weaponry escalating and potentially more, they had to move with the landscape. They’ve been right there, nearly having Banner 18 in their hands, for a while now, with an All-Star joining them. The blockbuster really shows how hungry the Celtics franchise is to get the job done, with it certainly being felt throughout the organization.
Imagining the philosophy Brogdon and White have provided next to another dimension that has been unfamiliar to the Celtics being integrated with KP is special. Maybe one they haven’t seen in over a decade with Garnett in a do-it-all role, let alone a big three of this caliber with him and the Jays. The two point guards and Porzingis will elevate Boston further together. This could be tremendously scary for opposing teams as well as a dream for the Celtics’ fans, with Tatum and Brown having the cooking ingredients they never had.
Rather than slowing up the offense late in the game and playing into those usual lapses, the ball can keep swinging now in the C’s position-less scheme between their ball-handlers with all the lineup mixtures. With Smart gone, the “Westbrook syndrome” that some executives labeled him and the Jays with has now largely decreased, also factoring in Brown and Tatum’s evolution as leaders. White better fits the team’s new look, trending direction, and versatility as the Celtics’ point guard than his excellence last year.
The lineup combinations and now flexibility and versatility Boston has on both sides are currently hard to match, with them being the title favorite again. Remember the 2016 and 2017 rumors of Danny Ainge wanting to swap one of the No. 3 Brown and Tatum picks with the Knicks for Porzingis? It shows how these are the three guys that the Boston Celtics’ ownership has forever desired.
May after May, Conference Finals after Conference Finals, getting to just one NBA Finals and repeatedly falling short of Banner 18, like said before, at some point, a change is needed at the helm. And it wasn’t the tandem that could be the best to ever suit up together as they continue to grow and blossom.
Last summer, Boston’s move for Brogdon opened up the world for them as White worked to get comfortable. Now, in even greater championship desperation, the universe opens up way more with Porzingis added. Brad Stevens and the Celtics’ ownership are more all-in than they have ever been.