Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, 2022 First Round Pick and 2028 First Round Pick Swap for Derrick White

[exstatic]

I think the Josh he’s talking about is Primo.

If so, we’ll all need to start referring to them by last name. Landales given name isn’t Jock, it’s Josh, so there’s three of them now.

[CGD]

^ what a trash take by that BOS blogger.

But his take about wingspans sounds like something I’d read in this forum tbqh

[Maddog]

Nah, this was not a disaster for Boston
I think this is one of the few trades where everyone did ok.
I really like DW, but this is a good move for him. I think he'll flourish being a third option and on a team whose time is now as opposed to 2 to 3 years down the road. Spurs get a good pick. Will they get someone better than White with that pick?, Statistically speaking probably not. But the Spurs need Stars, not more good players , and more picks increases the odds

[mo7888]

The Derrick White trade is a disaster
Sorry, folks. Brad Stevens made his first major mistake as GM.
By Neil Iyer Feb 11, 2022, 12:59pm
Photos by Logan Riely/NBAE via Getty Images
Back when newspapers were more important ins utions, they had general sports columnists who’d write scathing one-sided columns, devoid of any acknowledgement to the opposing argument. In that spirit, while I’m not a fan of the Derrick White trade, my actual opinions are more nuanced. I understand that it’s absurd to judge a trade less than 24 hours after it’s made. Regardless, I enjoyed writing this hit piece from the perspective of a blowhard writer (which, at times, I can be).


Just a few hours before the NBA trade deadline, the Spurs traded Derrick White to the Celtics for Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2028 first-round pick swap. This was a senseless and shortsighted trade from Brad Stevens, a man who was once considered a basketball genius.

The Twitter reaction from the toxically optimistic Celtic fans was predictable. There was a lot of “nobody’s gonna score on a Derrick White / Marcus Smart backcourt,” and “I was glad to see Romeo gone,” and “Josh Richardson wasn’t that good anyway.”

Here are the facts. Josh Richardson is a better shooter than Derrick White, and aside from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, he was the best shooter on this team. Richardson is 6’5” with a 7-foot wingspan, White is 6’4” with a 6’8” wingspan. White was never asked to defend wings in San Antonio. Richardson did that regularly, and now there’s no wing depth with Langford gone, too. Richardson makes $11.6 million this year and $12.3 million next year, while White is on the first year of a four-year, $73 million contract.

When I saw the first tweet from Shams Charania, I assumed it was Richardson for White straight up, and even then, I wasn’t happy. They’re roughly the same level of defender, Richardson is a better shooter, and White is a better ballhandler. Additionally, Richardson is on an outstanding contract while White is overpaid.

Later, we learned Boston included Romeo Langford and their 2022 first round pick in the deal. I couldn’t believe it. Romeo was turning into a plus defender who effectively played his role on offense. He shot 36 percent from three when he played over 18 minutes. He became a steady rotation player after injury-plagued rookie and sop re seasons.

For whatever reason, the Celtics no longer care about their first round picks. As recently as January 14th, the Celtics were 11th in the Eastern Conference standings. As of today, they’re positioned for the 18th pick, but it’s certainly possible they fall within the 10 to 14 range. They really couldn’t get it lottery protected, or even top-10 protected?

Then the nail in the coffin — the Celtics inexplicably included a 2028 pick swap, lightly protected for the first pick. I couldn’t believe it. Yes, 2028 is six years away, but moving a future asset like that is irresponsible from a team building standpoint.

Josh Richardson was a valuable player for this Celtic team. He defended well, shot 40 percent from three, was a good locker room presence, and was on a great contract. If you think White is a significantly upgrade, congratulations, you’ve successfully been brainwashed by Celtics Twitter propaganda.

I can say this without hesitation: Derrick White is the most unspectacular player in the NBA. He’s not fast, can’t jump, doesn’t have the handle or passing to be considered a pure point guard, and lacks the bucket-getting instincts of a modern scoring guard. He’s shooting 31 percent from three on 5.3 attempts. Richardson, and even Langford, were more reliable outside shooters. The Celtics currently rank 22nd in three-point percentage and unfathomably traded their best catch-and-shoot player.

Admittedly, Derrick White plays hard on both ends of the floor. Coaches love him because he extracts the most out of his physical ability and always makes the right play. He’s got some quickness, he gets to the rim, and he’s a solid off-ball cutter. However – and I cannot emphasize this enough – there’s no dynamic quality to his game.

He’s also got an injury history. Last season he only played 36 games battling ankle and toe injuries. He’s had everything from heel injuries, glute contusions, fractured wrists, and plantar fascia tears.

The Spurs had no issue trading him during the first year of his four-year $73 million contract. Why would they draft Josh Primo – a guard projected as a late first-rounder to early second rounder – with the 12th pick if they already had Derrick White? Gregg Popovich didn’t care about cutting bait to make way for Primo and Lonnie Walker.

I don’t want to hear that this year’s pick doesn’t matter. It’s negligent trading away your first-round pick in back-to-back years. Teams need to have young talent coming up the pipeline. They can’t solely rely on free agent signings. Especially this team that’s barely above mediocre.

People are saying “2028 is so far away, who cares about a pick swap.” Trading an unprotected pick several years into the future is inherently dangerous. The Kings got killed for trading their 2017 pick swap to Philly in 2015. In 1997, the Grizzlies traded their 2003 top-one protected pick swap, and it turned into the 2nd pick of the draft (which was Darko Milicic, but could have been Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, or Dwyane Wade). The Nets didn’t care about throwing in a 2017 pick swap to the Pierce/Garnett trade, and it turned into Jayson Tatum.

I keep seeing tweets about how this defense will be elite. It already was elite! The Celtics have the 3rd best defensive rating and the best over the last month-and-a-half. If there’s one thing they didn’t need, it’s more defense. Why trade your best spot-up shooter for a slightly better (but less versatile) defender?

This will rank among the worst trades in Celtic history. It will be remembered in the same category as Chauncey Billups for Kenny Anderson in 1998, the 8th pick in 1999 (Andre Miller) for Vitaly Potapenko, three first-round picks for Bob McAdoo in 1979, and Joe Johnson for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers in 2002. Apparently, Brad Stevens has been possessed by the ghost of Rick Pitino.

Yesterday, the Suns acquired Aaron Holiday from the Wizards for cash. Where were the Celtics? If they needed a point guard to replace Schroder, they could have targeted Tomas Satoransky or Ish Smith. They could have acquired Montrezl Harrell, Serge Ibaka, or Donte DiVincenzo as relatively low-cost options that would immediately improve the roster.

Brad Stevens was opposed to giving Evan Fournier a four-year, $78 million contract last summer, but he has no problem trading a high-level bench player, a young rotation player, a first round pick, and a future swap for a worse offensive player on a four-year, $73 million deal? The Knicks are certainly regretting that Fournier contract, but he’s shooting 40 percent from three on seven attempts. The Celtics could use that.

Don’t get me wrong. Derrick White is a solid two-way player who’ll play big minutes on this team. He’s a good defender, but certainly not the disruptive force some of you on Twitter think he is. He’ll never be a top-15 point guard. He’ll never be as impactful a player as Marcus Smart, and we’ll be lucky if he ever has a season shooting 40 percent from three.

Here’s how everything will play out from yesterday’s mistep.

The Celtics will come back to earth after their recent stretch of success. They’ll continue to blow fourth quarter leads as everyone will recognize that beating Orlando, Detroit, and New Orleans shouldn’t be celebrated. Jayson and Jaylen will have no space attack the hoop. Get ready for a gluttony of contested 18-foot jumpers. More importantly, get ready for the play-in tournament.

Brad Stevens won’t be the GM for long. Either next season or the year after, Rick Carlisle will get fired from Indiana. Wyc Grousbeck will allow Brad to interview for the job, which he’ll eventually accept.

Jaylen Brown will leave Boston when he hits free agency in 2024. The Celtics won’t trade Tatum, thinking the supermax will entice him to stay, but he too will leave Boston during his 2025 free agency. The Celtics will be a bad team for the years to come, and in 2028, we’ll have to relinquish our top-5 pick to the Spurs. It won’t fall in the top-1 protected range because we’ll be punished by the basketball gods. It’s Tim Duncan all over again.

I know I’m right about this trade. I’ll be right two games from now, two months from now, and two years from now. I don’t care that we ducked the tax. I don’t care that we collected some trade exceptions. I do care that our current roster is worse, and our future outlook is bleak.

This was a disaster.

Wow....what a true idiot...

[objective]

You think Pop held Derrick back? I felt like we all, all of Spursdom, Pop included, were begging Derrick to show out constantly.

Did Pop always put him in a spot to succeed? Of course not.

Refused to play him as a rookie when it was obvious that he was one of the 4 best guards on the team

Then after his second year where he finished the regular season great and pretty much was the reason they made the playoffs as the starter, be gets limited off the bench to 23 minutes a game because Pop refuses to give him time with Dejounte until covid

Then the next year for much of it he refused to stagger and play them apart, I guess because Mills had to get his.

Then as things this season weren't going great, and with several other guards to experiment with as starters like Vassell and Primo and Walker, Pop doesn't try White off the bench. Somehow Pop had no problem asking a hall of famer Manu to come off the bench for sandbaggers like Hero, Barry, Finley et Al but couldn't try White off the bench to get him going better and jumpstart one of the other players. The one time he came off the bench this year after missing games he was pretty good.

[Ocotillo]

From the Boston writer....

Gregg Popovich didn’t care about cutting bait to make way for Primo and Lonnie Walker.

If it helps you feel better, we'll throw in Lonnie as well.

[Dex]

From the Boston writer....



If it helps you feel better, we'll throw in Lonnie as well.

Yeah, he makes some decent points and it's a good sign a beat writer for the Celtics feels so strongly about assets that now belong to the Spurs.

But he apparently hasn't watched us much if he thinks Lonnie is our future

[Dejounte]

Not sure why the opinions of a Celtics blogger are being invalidated, the guy has watched more Celtics games than Spurs fans

He’s not really trashing Derrick White, he’s moreso saying Josh is better. And he’s en led to that opinion, it might end up even being true.

his primary concern is the 2028 FRP which is a legitimate concern. It’s very stupid for the Celtics to include that for Derrick White.

[exstatic]

Nah, this was not a disaster for Boston
I think this is one of the few trades where everyone did ok.
I really like DW, but this is a good move for him. I think he'll flourish being a third option and on a team whose time is now as opposed to 2 to 3 years down the road. Spurs get a good pick. Will they get someone better than White with that pick?, Statistically speaking probably not. But the Spurs need Stars, not more good players , and more picks increases the odds

Don’t forget the 2028 FRP swap option. That might wind up being the best part of this trade.

[exstatic]

Not sure why the opinions of a Celtics blogger are being invalidated, the guy has watched more Celtics games than Spurs fans

He’s not really trashing Derrick White, he’s moreso saying Josh is better. And he’s en led to that opinion, it might end up even being true.

his primary concern is the 2028 FRP which is a legitimate concern. It’s very stupid for the Celtics to include that for Derrick White.

If you closely read the first part, he basically says that the trade result is more nuanced, but he’s going to emulate old time print journalists with a one sided hit piece. That makes it fair game.

[Atl Spur]

We came up but I still liked Derrick regardless.

[objective]

One thing about White that has gone unappreciated is how he's one of the best pick and roll ball handlers in the league and managed that without ever playing with an above the rim big who could really go get it. Poeltl likes the ball low, and his other partners have been the likes of Pau, Aldridge, Eubanks, Joffrey, Dieng, Thaddeus, Trey Lyles and old Rudy Gay

[The Truth #6]

Re: that Boston blogger: his post was better written than most things here. Lol. Probably overemphasized some key points, probably underestimated White’s defense (he DID have to guard wings sometimes), but yeah, makes me think that like the DDR trade, our GM did about as well as one could hope for given the situation. I’m thrilled. And he’s absolutely right about the injury history. White had an atypically injury free season this year. Also, his insight gives me more hope for Richardson and Langford. I did think it was a weird, bad move by boy genius Brad Stevens. That’s great.

[exstatic]

Re: that Boston blogger: his post was better written than most things here. Lol. Probably overemphasized some key points, probably underestimated White’s defense (he DID have to guard wings sometimes), but yeah, makes me think that like the DDR trade, our GM did about as well as one could hope for given the situation. I’m thrilled. And he’s absolutely right about the injury history. White had an atypically injury free season this year. Also, his insight gives me more hope for Richardson and Langford. I did think it was a weird, bad move by boy genius Brad Stevens. That’s great.

Richardson doesn’t fit our timeline. He’s already on the market, and he hasn’t played a minute yet. He’ll be shopped during the draft, free agency, and next season. He’s a serviceable player who can shoot and defend on a decent deal. In other words, catnip to playoff teams. We should get a decent asset for him.

Langford will be given a shot to stick. He’s in the timeline, and has the toolset. There’s some chatter about his motor/ethic on Twitter, but Pop will sort that out one way or the other. As strong defender with a decent 3 pointer, he can always be flipped next year, too.

[Dejounte]

This whole timeline thing is overblown

the Wolves aren’t rushing to get rid of KAT because he’s 26 and because that team isn’t yet compe ive

The Wizards can continue to surround 28 year old Beal with players and look to compete. They tried to do that this past offseason.

older players have a place on any team. Especially if that role isn’t a primary one.

A team doesn’t have to be filled with prepubescent teenagers to fit any timeline.

[exstatic]

This whole timeline thing is overblown

the Wolves aren’t rushing to get rid of KAT because he’s 26 and because that team isn’t yet compe ive

The Wizards can continue to surround 28 year old Beal with players and look to compete. They tried to do that this past offseason.

older players have a place on any team. Especially if that role isn’t a primary one.

A team doesn’t have to be filled with prepubescent teenagers to fit any timeline.

Rebuilding teams need assets, and the best way to get those is to trade experienced players for youth and picks from playoff teams. I can think of two clear cases of the reverse, when playoff teams should have traded their picks. The first one should be familiar: Boston, and pick #14 in 2019, Romeo Langford. They were a deep playoff team, and didn’t have time or minutes to develop a young wing player. Second case, same as the first: Phoenix and pick #10 in 2020, Jalen Smith. He was buried 4th on their center depth chart as a rookie until Saric was injured during the playoffs.

Veteran players tend to want more money, which also interferes with paying the young players, and preserving cap room for rentals to accrue assets.

[The Truth #6]

This whole timeline thing is overblown

the Wolves aren’t rushing to get rid of KAT because he’s 26 and because that team isn’t yet compe ive

The Wizards can continue to surround 28 year old Beal with players and look to compete. They tried to do that this past offseason.

older players have a place on any team. Especially if that role isn’t a primary one.

A team doesn’t have to be filled with prepubescent teenagers to fit any timeline.

Yeah, I agree with that. For me, I think it’s less about age/timeline but fit, meaning can they accept and fulfill the role Pop has in mind, which may be to complement our younger players. Maybe Richardson motivates Vassel or Primo to play harder. Really hard for me to predict at this point. But yeah, Langford/Richardson could also easily be traded. The rest of the season will be interesting.

[MannyIsGod]

Did Pop always put him in a spot to succeed? Of course not.

lmao what

This is insane. Pop bent overbackwards to enable Derrick. Derrick is good, but there's no need to completely rewrite history to one where Pop did anything but constantly support this dude and put him in places to succeed.

[R. DeMurre]

What can really be overrated is the age expectations of a great team. The '96 Bulls that went 72-10 and won a championship started five players that were 34, 32, 32, 30, & 27... and the 27 year old was the least consequential player of the bunch.

[MannyIsGod]

This whole timeline thing is overblown

the Wolves aren’t rushing to get rid of KAT because he’s 26 and because that team isn’t yet compe ive

The Wizards can continue to surround 28 year old Beal with players and look to compete. They tried to do that this past offseason.

older players have a place on any team. Especially if that role isn’t a primary one.

A team doesn’t have to be filled with prepubescent teenagers to fit any timeline.

White =! Beal and KAT but also both those teams are pretty bad at rebuilding so I'm not sure you want to use them as examples.

[exstatic]

What can really be overrated is the age expectations of a great team. The '96 Bulls that went 72-10 and won a championship started five players that were 34, 32, 32, 30, & 27... and the 27 year old was the least consequential player of the bunch.

The timeline is the timeline. It isn’t always young, and in fact, with contenders, it almost never is. Our Chip squads were usually among the oldest in the league.

[R. DeMurre]

Anyone like this Boston blogger looking at Derrick White and declaring him "unathletic" is falling victim to the shortcomings of the eye test. His objective draft combine numbers were excellent.

[RC_Drunkford]

Then after his second year where he finished the regular season great and pretty much was the reason they made the playoffs as the starter, he gets limited off the bench to 23 minutes cause Pop wanted to start Bryn Forbes

FIFY

[R. DeMurre]

That 2028 pick swap is really incredible. Tatum has a player option in 2026. If he decides to leave, the Celtics could easily be in rebuild mode come 2028. Kudos to Brad Stevens for identifying White as a non-glamor player who can legitimately make the Celtics better, but that pick swap is a crazy risk to take as a GM.

[Russ]

That 2028 pick swap is really incredible. Tatum has a player option in 2026. If he decides to leave, the Celtics could easily be in rebuild mode come 2028. Kudos to Brad Stevens for identifying White as a non-glamor player who can legitimately make the Celtics better, but that pick swap is a crazy risk to take as a GM.

If the GM thinks he'll be around in 2028 . . .