Derrick White grew up hearing the stories. While he was born in Colorado, his father was born in Boston.
“He grew up watching them. He’s a die-hard JoJo White fan,” the newest Celtic said after the Celtics win over Denver. “I always heard stories about it growing up, so it’s pretty cool to be playing out here now.”
Playing out here was not something White envisioned when he went to sleep Wednesday night in Atlanta, where the Spurs had a game against the Hawks coming up.
“(Gregg Popovich) came to my room and he told me that they traded me to Boston,” White said. “It was all pretty crazy. I was pretty shocked. I didn’t see it coming.”
This is how the business works and every player will tell you he knows that. But when it’s your time to fly to a new city you’re supposed to call home, it’s jarring. At least his new home crowd welcomed him with open arms.
When he checked in with 4:35 to go in the first quarter, the crowd roared. They really got loud 40 seconds later when he picked up a Marcus Smart deflection and lobbed a pass to Jaylen Brown for a layup that led to a Nuggets timeout.
“It was crazy. I’m really appreciative of all the love that they showed me,” White said. “Kind of had some goosebumps when I was checking in and I was a little nervous, but I was extremely thankful for the ovation that I got.”
The Celtics didn’t even find out until about an hour before the game that White would even be eligible. He had crammed a bit to catch up on some of the offensive sets, relying on the overlapping concepts and terminology that Ime Udoka carried over from his time in San Antonio, but no one expected him to play.
It’s a good thing he did. The Celtics not only needed him, Udoka subbed him in with 5:19 to go in the third quarter and left him in the rest of the game.
“He looked comfortable with the group,” Udoka said. “I saved quite a few timeouts in the first half and had two extra in my pocket to rest those guys down the stretch. I knew that would take into account the long stretch he was going to be out there, so I could rest him there. What we liked about him - it took him no time to get acclimated because he knows what he’s doing. We know those guys - we ran some similar things that they’ve run in the past, so that part was like second nature for him, like he’s been here. And he’ll only get better with time.”
A common criticism of Boston is that they overpaid for White; that his statistics don’t match his contract and the potential to give up two draft picks (San Antonio has a choice to swap picks in 2028) is a bit too much. The Celtics brass argued that his fit with this team is worth the risk.
“He just makes the right play, on offense, over and over and over,” Brad Stevens said earlier in the day. “He's a guy that only cares about winning, that will do all of the little things, as you can see in some of his stats, defensively, with regard to willingness to put his body on the line, activity, shot challenges, all of those things … we felt really fortunate to be able to get a guy like that, on a long contract that we think is a perfect fit for our best players.”
We caught a glimpse of what Stevens was talking about against Denver. White came in and moved the ball just like Udoka has been preaching all season. He pushed the ball when he could, swung it when he had to, and found cutters when they were there. Defensively, he worked through switches and battled in the post to deny the entry pass.
On top of all that, he hit shots. Clutch shots. He was a big reason why Boston’s win streak is at seven games now.
It’s just one game, but you can see what these guys mean when they explain why White was worth the risk.
Now, the 27-year-old with an affinity for dad jokes (“good dad jokes,” he specified after the game), who will himself become a dad this summer, will try to gather his thoughts for Sunday when he finally gets to face the Hawks. He’ll get more familiar with Udoka the head coach rather than Ime the assistant. And in a few days he’ll probably use the All-Star break to gather his family from Texas and start figuring out a life in Boston.
San Antonio is all White has known. For four-and-a-half seasons, White has suited up for Popovic. Two of those included Udoka, and four of them current Celtics assistant Will Hardy. It’s good, White says, to be playing for familiar coaches, but tough to leave his former one.
“He drafted me, built me up, and gave me confidence and stuff like that. I'm extremely thankful for him and not even just him,” White said. “The whole coaching staff, training staff, front office, I mean, I had a lot of love for everybody, all my teammates and everything. I can't really put into words how much I love all of them and it was hard for me. But I knew once I got here, it's a new chapter and I'm ready to get after it.”