BOSTON — Derrick White wore his hood up to the podium after another frustrating performance. He accepted blame for his share in the team’s worst loss yet as the only minus (-8) in the starting lineup. Though he attempted only nine shots in the latest shooting letdown for the Celtics, a 105-103 loss to Utah. Eight of them came from three, where he finished 3-for-8 with three steals and two blocks.
“I thought I was shitty today,” White said. “I think I’m a big reason they got back in that game.”
White, now shooting 31.0% from the field and 26.3% from three, rode the wave of three-point variance more than any Celtic to begin this year. Even Payton Pritchard, who broke from similar struggles in the first half with a 3-for-5 start, found in-between looks to get going in Philadelphia and reached 41.8% himself by going 3-for-4 on twos on Monday.
White has attempted 60.3% of his shot attempts from three. That left him with one free throw attempt in the loss to the Jazz and only 19 for the season, which amounts to 2.4 per game. He continued to average more than 1.0 steal and block per game through his slump, but other areas raise some concerns about his ability to acclimate to a new role and the team’s ability to accentuate him.
“He’s playing well,” Mazzulla said before the game. “You take a look at what he’s asked to do, his defensive effort, his ability to create for himself and for others. It’s just him continuing to grow and get better, and us as coaches work with him and put him in great spots. He’s a competitor and he wants to do a lot. So that’s the thing I told all these guys. I don’t really care about the numbers or the adjustment to that. You’re defined by so much more than that and what we need you to do goes beyond a shooting percentage or shots. He’s a guy that’s defined by his competitiveness and making plays for us on both ends.”
Mazzulla followed that uplifting approach with Pritchard too, who’s spoken confidently about his outlook through the slow start. Mazzulla also took accountability, saying that he and the coaching staff could do more to free up the guards. That showed in a play call midway through the first quarter that slipped White out of a screen and crossed him to the corner wide open away from a cut. He missed the corner three.
He’s not the only one. Boston fell to 29th in three-point shooting (31.2%) and at one point in the second half fell into a tie with Indiana for last. That’s while the Celtics attempted 63 more than any other team. Jaylen Brown missed all nine looks, Pritchard still sat at 21.3% after mild improvement on Monday and the bench combined for 34.2% despite a solid start for Anfernee Simons (37.5%).
White shot 9-for-27 on wide open threes, 6-for-30 on regular open looks from deep and 1-for-10 against tight defense. Only 24% of his attempts have come wide open, compared to 35% last year. Teammates also assisted on 64.7% of his three-pointers, down from 80.8%.
“It’s tough,” White said in his first press conference since opening night. “Especially when you feel like you’re getting good looks. I think for a lot of us, we feel like we’re getting good looks and we keep missing them, it’s frustrating, but it’s part of the game. You gotta keep going.”
As White spoke for two minutes at the podium, Brown took two questions in the locker room, sharing frustration over what he felt was a missed call late. Mazzulla acknowledged the Jazz’ effort beating the Celtics t times, even on a back-to-back for Utah. Yet Boston won Brown’s minutes by 21 points and his 11 points in the fourth nearly turned swung the game on their own. Official Kevin Scott defended the no-call on Keyonte George’s decisive steal in the last two minute report. Fair or not, Boston just needed more from Brown’s supporting cast.
White tops that list now, an opportunity and burden as teams pay more attention to him. They’ve limited him to 0.74 points per possession in the half court, which ranks in the 14th percentile, according to Synergy. The pick-and-roll attack he honed in summer workouts has only produced 0.62 PPP when he handles (17th percentile). His spot up numbers fare slightly higher (0.94 PPP, 37th percentile). There’s some responsibility on screeners in all this, though Boston ranks fifth in screen assists per game, they haven’t generated much on the roll as a team (0.92 PPP, third percentile). They rarely cut (4.8% of the time, seventh percentile) and almost never post-up.
Elements from last year disappeared. Luke Kornet’s rolls, the Tatum-White two man game and Al Horford’s expertly solid picks. The pace hasn’t picked up quite as much as the team hoped, and White fared well in transition so far. There was more attention on his teammates before, something White’s long-time assistant and current Jazz head coach Will Hardy noted before the game while maintaining hope for a turnaround. The major silver lining stat to this point: White produced 34 assists, committed only nine turnovers and forced 13 steals through eight games.
“I don’t know if it’s a difference in the role, it’s just probably talked about more since Jayson’s out,” Hardy said. “Derrick is one of the best two-way players in the NBA in my opinion. I obviously haven’t read everything that’s been written about the team in the last couple of years, but it always seems like he’s understated and that’s very Derrick. But I think you see his impact on both sides of the ball.”
