No one expected the Boston Celtics to be so high on the Eastern Conference standings, except for the team and their fans. A large part of that is because of the collective effort that Coach Joe Mazzulla has pressured his team into. Defense is played in committees and offense runs through everyone without having to overly rely on a star. All of that showed in the Celtics’ 109-98 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coach Kenny Atkinson posits that there was one player who stood out for him — Derrick White.
Boston’s ace on defense is top five
White seems to be flying under the radar for most NBA fans. The Celtics guard has ranked in the top 10 for Defensive Player of the Year voting in two consecutive years since Coach Mazzulla took over. He also does not plan on stopping soon. The veteran guard is notching career-highs in steals with 1.2 of them per game and blocks which registers at a 1.5 average.
Coach Atkinson saw White’s handprints on nearly all of the Cavs possessions and just could not help but praise him, via CLNS.
“A top-five player in the league. What probably people aren’t measuring is his defensive impact. Analytically, I think it’s probably proven in various places that he is that player and that’s how we treat him. He really disrupts you defensively, he’s an elite rim protector. Probably the best guard, rim protector in the league. So just take all those things and put it in there and with the shooting, you got a great player,” the Cavs head coach declared.
White is also not a slouch on the offensive side of the court. He averages 17.4 points while also dishing out 5.7 assists per game. A point of improvement for the Celtics veteran could work on is his shooting. His field goal attempts only find the bottom of the net at a 39.4% clip and this gets worse when looking at his 33% three-point percentage. This all comes with the caveat that Coach Mazzulla gives everyone on the Celtics a green light to shoot whenever they are open, no matter the range.
Regardless if NBA fans agree with the Cavs head coach, one thing is true — White is a big reason as to why the Celtics are only just three wins away from becoming the top seed in the Eastern Conference.