the pace on which he's improving is scary. He seems to get better every 10 games or so
Game’s definitely coming easier to him. Love the way he’s able to draw the double and then punish the other team for it. Probably the best true PG Spurs have had forever. Parker was very impactful but in a different way, very effective but not a true classic PG.
What's Derrick's ceiling?
Seriously.
To the veterans: do you remember Tony looking that good on his first season running the team? I don't remember very well.
He has the whole package: the physical tools, the IQ, the personality, a complete set of skills, the hunger for winning and the will of being coached... White looks like the perfect point guard. We knew he was good but what he's showing is too much.
I want to keep my feet on the ground thinking he's playing 120% of his capabilities and he can't sustain this rhythm for the rest of the season. Otherwise...
Tony even in his first couple of seasons as a teenager was getting to the rim and finishing with ease and he was instantly one of top 3 fastest players, arguably the fastest. So he had 2 elite skills coming into the league - super talented.
Derrick is good obviously, but he's more a jack of all trades, he doesn't really have an elite skill yet. And he's not 19 either, so his ceiling is lower than Tony's imo. But he can be a very solid combo guard for years to come. Barring injuries he'll easily have a 10+ years NBA career.
Being 25 and having a year in the Gleague helps a lot. Derrick White worked really hard from being a 6'0" freshman in college. His game is fundamentally sound and he has little savvy tricks here and there. Tony came in a 19 year bullet. Took Tony about 4 years. He was about 23 or 24 when he looked as good as Derrick Whote does now.What's Derrick's ceiling?
Seriously.
To the veterans: do you remember Tony looking that good on his first season running the team? I don't remember very well.
He has the whole package: the physical tools, the IQ, the personality, a complete set of skills, the hunger for winning and the will of being coached... White looks like the perfect point guard. We knew he was good but what he's showing is too much.
I want to keep my feet on the ground thinking he's playing 120% of his capabilities and he can't sustain this rhythm for the rest of the season. Otherwise...
White is like Duncan and Green in that his birthday is in the off-season. He's only 24 and will be for every game he plays this season. He's 25 the same way Murray is 23. I don't know if I'd compare him and Parker. White is a really good PG. His understanding of his position on the court and how his actions cause other players to react. But Parker's ability to penetrate was always tremendous. He had to learn what Derrick knows, but Derrick probably isn't going to ever learn to do what Tony did. Very different players.
Duncan's birthday is in April
White's play style reminds me a lot of Derozen, when Derozen is playing the PG role. They both make the game look simple, the difference obviously being Derozen being bigger and more naturally gifted while White has the higher BBIQ, which is the better quality to have with their play style imo. Derozen often makes a great move and then takes an ill advised shot or passes out of a drive to someone who's not open. Derozens skillset would be better suited for a Westbrook.
Can you imagine the hype White would be getting if he played for a market like LA or NY? This kid is good, real good, and only getting better. Crazy efficient as well. Might even be an all star next season.
People talking about SA not having what it takes to trade with the Pelicans, I'll tell you something, I like white more than any scrub on the Lakers. Tbh
It's not a bad idea to compare TP to Derrick. TP is the standard bearer of point guard for the Spurs. What TP did is what Derrick will eventually have to learn. Derrick was weaving through screens and the paint and making the offense flow. TP in around 2007 and especially around 2012 to 2013 was doing that samething. Derrick is no young TP but he sure can learn from the older Tony.
I imagine the ae hype Josh Hart and Kuzma got. White is not a super star. He is a great find and in a very efficient system that matches his strengths. If Spurs drafted Kuzma and Hart they would be much better off than having to play Lebrony ball.
Who do you think will be the starting point guard by mid-season next year? Murray or White (or someone else)?
Just ordered his jersey.
Off-season had he been traded to the Lakers then.
I so want to know what he would do if given a bigger role.
I don't think it's someone else unless injuries strike again. Right now, I'm expecting Pop to keep starting them both. Murray being unable to shoot from the three might cause him to rethink it and put Forbes in, but I don't think he's against running White and Murray as starters and Mills and Forbes as backups at all. If something happened to cause only one guard spot to be open or if Pop had to keep Forbes starting, I'd put money on White to keep the job. He's the team's best defensive ace, and putting him on opposing perimeter players to slow them down makes a ton of sense. Murray might be a better dynamo, but that works just as well on the bench. Something like Mills, Murray, Beli, Bertans and Poeltl should be a very good bench on both ends. White would run the second-unit really well and make Poeltl's offensive life easier. But his defensive ability wouldn't be as useful there. No one really uses one-on-one defenders off the bench. By the time they come in to check someone, that player's either already out of the game, or they're in a rhythm and that much harder to slow.
Derrick White is probably one of those people that come from a eugenics program (see: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Khan_Noonien_Singh ).
A late bloomer that started college at 6' and gained 4"+ playing in division 2.
There's an IQ advantage of staying young much longer. Humans and dogs are examples of primates and wolves that stay young much longer.
Look at the guy's forehead, it's much larger than Sam Cassell. If you remember Sam Cassell when he was a rookie in the Rockets NBA championship team, the guy could not miss!
Usually guards this good can't shoot (see: Kid, Rondo), this guy can hit the 3 and can do in consistency on the dribble!
He's not as big as James Harden, so that where you can mark his limit!
The white supremacist on the board are probably torn. They love his last name, but he is black. Tough position for them.
Good point, Derrick has extra finesse, and tricky and savvy ways of attacking and finishing to the rim. It probably benefitted him to hone his game as a smaller player which required more skill and then he grew into his current NBA body. This guy is going to be good for quite a while.
Currently among 2018 draftees, White is 16th in career WS, 10th in WS/48, 8th in BPM, 10th in VORP.
WS
1 Jayson Tatum
2T John Collins, Jarrett Allen
4 Bam Adebayo
5 Donovan Mitc
6 Kyle Kuzma
7 Josh Hart
8T Jordan Bell, Lauri Markannen
10 OG Anunoby
11 Lonzo Ball
12 Monte Morris
13 Luke Kennard
14 Thomas Bryant
15 Terrance Ferguson
16T Zach Collins, De'Aaron Fox, Derrick White
WS/48
1 Thomas Bryant
2 Jarrett Allen
3 Bam Abedayo
4T John Collins, Jordan Bell
6 Justin Patton (4 minutes)
7 Monte Morris
8 Jayson Tatum
9 D.J. Wilson
10T Ivan Rabb, Derrick White
BPM
1 Justin Patton (4 min)
2 Jordan Bell
3 John Collins
4T Lonzo Ball, Jarrett Allen, Bam Abedayo
7 Thomas Bryant
8T Donovan Mitc , Derrick White
VORP
1 Donovan Mitc
2T John Collins, Lonzo Ball
4 Jayson Tatum
5 Jarrett Allen
6 Bam Abedayo
7 Jordan Bell
8 Josh Hart
9 OG Anunoby
10T Derrick White, Kyle Kuzma
Those years playing as a smaller play helped him develop a unique game that makes use of positioning and shifts in movements. It's like he's doing some kind of jujitsu on the opponent. Notice how he feels where defensive players are at and makes a move in reaction.
I don't see White as a true classic point guard, tbh. True classic point guard to me is in the John Stockton or pre-Rockets Chris Paul mold. White is never going to be a huge assist guy. I see White more as a combo guard who dribbles well enough to play point guard, has great court vision and is unselfish. I'd be surprising if he turns into an assist-generating point guard who spends all game setting up his teammates.
And, really, that's a good thing. If he can play 1, 2 or 3 offensively and 1, 2 or 3 defensively, that is more valuable than a true classic point guard you have to build around.
Parker was 19 so it's difficult to compare but TP was an obvious born point guard with that typical alpha point guard mentality. He was more of a score-first point guard, obviously, but there was no question he was a point guard.
White is different. He looks really good, don't get me wrong, but nothing about him screams that he needs to be a long-term point guard. If Murray comes back next year healthy and improved and White needs to shift to shooting guard, he can do so and play a similar role to what he's playing right now.
How do you think White would fare in a Murray/White/DeRozan/Gay/Aldridge unit? I see that as a lineup with both a high ceiling and disappointingly low floor. Feel like he suffers a lot in such an offense unless Gay and Murray move mostly off the ball. Derrick isn't Stockton, but most PGs aren't. I don't think it's useful to compare him to extremely ball-dominant players to say what he isn't. He's more of a PG than most who play the position today. Guys who focus on assists like Westbrook and Rondo may not even be playing the position properly anymore. White's ability to balance scoring and play-making and using one to set up the other makes him exactly a modern-day PG in my eyes. I see combo-guards closer to Mills or Forbes in their skill-sets.
white is in the mold of brandon roy
roy was easily the better athlete, but they have similar games. roy started alongside steve blake who was the "point guard" even though roy ran the offense.
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