Derrick White is off to a very slow start offensively. While his 16.5 points would be a career high if he carried that throughout the season, his efficiency numbers have started out in the gutter.
Obviously, he has only played four games, so a great night against the Cavs will change everything. But right now, White is shooting just 32.9% overall, almost 10% lower than his worst shooting season. His 3-point shooting is at 25% on the highest volume of his life. He’s in a certified slump to start the season.
Taking a closer look at the numbers can tell us why.
White is being asked to do a lot more for the Celtics this year. As Jaylen Brown said after the win in New Orleans, the Celtics lost four All-Stars and an All-Star in our hearts in Luke Kornet. Five incredibly important pieces to a championship puzzle are not playing for the Celtics right now, which has put pressure on White and Brown to carry the offense while the rest of the team figures things out.
White, in particular, is playing a different brand of basketball. This season, 31.2% of his possessions are as a pick-and-roll ball handler, up from 22.8% last season. He’s being asked to initiate, make reads, and create for himself a lot more often.
That is showing up in his spot-up shooting. According to Synergy Sports, Derrick White spot-ups accounted for 34.1% of Celtics possessions. This season, it’s down to 19.5%. According to NBA.com tracking data, White’s catch-and-shoot attempts have dropped from 48.1% of his shots to 32.9% while his pull-ups have jumped to 42.9% from 32.5%. To top it off, his shooting percentage on those pull-ups has dropped 5%. Worse, though, is that the few catch-and-shoot looks he’s getting are only falling at 21.7%. Last year, he shot them at 41%.
Ouch.
White’s shot creation for himself was one of the big questions coming into the season. Without Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porziņģis to space the floor for him, White is being forced to take more early offense pull-ups and hunt his own shot off pick-and-rolls and drives.
That's leading to a massive uptick in unassisted baskets. Essentially, the assisted and unassisted buckets have flipped from last year to this one. Last season, nearly 68% of White’s makes were assisted. This year, 65.2% are unassisted.
Again, I have to reiterate that the sample size is minuscule. He’s made 23 baskets this season, and 15 are unassisted. But the trend is still there. The eye test looks like White is trying to create more offense for himself, and the numbers are bearing that out.
We can see that impact in how close defenders are to him. Last season, 36.1% of his shots were wide open, according to NBA tracking data, which classifies that as no one within 6 feet. That's dropped to 24.3% of his shots this season. Meanwhile, tightly defended shots, which are when a defender is within 2-4 feet, have gone from 9.8% to 15.7%. He’s taking more contested shots so far this season.
It might seem depressing to see the numbers change the way they have, but I actually see this as good news.
At least there's an explanation.
Without a meaningful preseason, White is only just now getting the full treatment of being at the top of a scouting report. White is a smart player who processes things well, so there's a very strong chance the game will slow down for him in relatively short order. As he gets more used to his teammates and the types of defenses he’ll see, White will make adjustments.
The Celtics are also tinkering with lineups. It’s much different having Josh Minott out there one night and Hugo Gonzalez the next. Playing with Neemias Queta is different from running with Luka Garza. As everyone figures things out, including Joe Mazzulla and his rotations, we’ll probably see a leveling off of these numbers.
And, frankly, some of this is just a plain ol’ shooting slump. Sometimes shots go in and sometimes they don’t. Right now, 21% of White’s shots are coming before 18 seconds on the shot clock, an increase of about 7%. That's a product of having the ball in his hands, trying to play uptempo, and hunting for his own shot. He’s searching for it a little too much. When he stops pressing, he’ll probably knock a couple down.
The bottom line is that White is not immune from what’s bothering the entire team. He’s being asked to do different things with different teammates. His usage rate is at 24.2%, the highest of his career. The hope is that he’ll settle into his role and the team will settle into some more regular rotations.
It wouldn’t hurt if the schedule eases up a bit so he can feast a little on some lesser defenses.
I trust White to figure it out. He’s too good not to. But there is no doubt, he is also facing a learning curve this season that is impacting him on the floor.
