Derrick White

[Mugen]

Spurfan wanting to trade away the only other perimeter defender on the team....

[objective]

Labeled positions are overrated. No they dont matter skillsets do.

1. Dejounte has improved his shot. He showed that early on in pre season ( he worked his ass off).

2. If you watched the games more closely, you would understand how much he can impact the game off the ball w out needing to spot up. He's great at cutting, also great on the glass -- optimizing the opportunity for extra possessions. A lot of times, last year SA had him on the weakside dump down spot to use his height & length advantage vs other guards on the offensuve boards or to finish plays off dump downs. He made an impact off the ball and would have made an even bigger impact now that he was very confident in his shot.

Labeled positions do not matter, skillsets do and both White & Murray are extremely versatile to play on or off the ball and are elite defensively in switches, on ball, or off ball.

I'm with Manu4Tres

Murray made winning, impactful plays with a roster more flawed than this one. Pick a random game from March or April and you'll see a typical starting lineup of LMA-Anderson-Green-Mills-Murray. So that's

- a bigger wing who refused to shoot
- a wing with at minimum a strained groin who couldn't penetrate or create his own shot or run a pick and roll who was shooting terribly (3pt 34% in March, 21% in April)
- a midget guard who couldn't defend and was also shooting either poorly or marginally (3pt 33% in March, 36% in April) but also often leading the team in minutes for some reason

If the Spurs bring back Gay and keep him upright you might expect an LMA-Gay-DDR-White-Murray lineup.

That's Gay who can shoot and score
DeRozan might not shoot threes but can penetrate, run a pick and roll, and get his own shot
White who can shoot threes, penetrate, pass, run plays, and defends at a high level

Murray would have a better chance to succeed, and he was already pretty impactful despite not shooting threes, or off the dribble, or finishing well in the halfcourt. ANY improvement over last year for Murray and his production goes up, and it was already at 10 points on 9 shots in 26.5 minus over the last 20 games last year (march and April)

I look forward to his grab and go, pushing after defensive rebounds. If nothing comes of it you can reset with White or DeRozan. Murray will have better open looks in the spot up generated from those two than he was getting from Mills or Green. And if White can continue to be the primary defender, Murray should gobble up all those defensive rebounds the Spurs aren't getting now and just take off down the court.

[HarlemHeat37]

Poor guy, Pop is getting all the credit for his game

[Chinook]

From RealGM last month:

Gasol derrick white for courtney lee and lance thomas is appealing to me

Part of the major disconnect here is people talking about Derrick White in terms of "asset" and "not likely to be dealt" and listed with an implication that he's worth more than a first.

I'm sorry but this is one of the worst rotation guards in the entire league and it's not that he's some young high ceiling kid being forced minutes for his development. This is a guy in his mid 20's who wouldn't be playing at all if not for Spurs desperation at PG.

[r0drig0lac]

Poor guy, Pop is getting all the credit for his game

unfortunately this is a standard not only in ST but also in the world of nba (some still talk as if Pop had created Duncan when he had to go against Kobe / Shaq for 6 years)

[Pavlov]

unfortunately this is a standard not only in ST but also in the world of nba (some still talk as if Pop had created Duncan when he had to go against Kobe / Shaq for 6 years)

The Spurs don't develop players?

[r0drig0lac]

The Spurs don't develop players?

yep "all the credit" is the question

[Pavlov]

yep "all the credit" is the question

Since no links or quotes are showing up anywhere I'm just going to conclude it's another ST molehill mountain based on nothing.

[Gordy58]

He's already a surprisingly good finisher. Shooting 68% within 0-3 feet on 2 attempts per game according to Basketball Reference.

Not surprised at all. If he can gain a little more strength and develop more consistency on absorbing and finishing through contact, he’ll be dangerous. He already has a deceptive first step to take it to the hole.

[cd021]

I'm with Manu4Tres

Murray made winning, impactful plays with a roster more flawed than this one. Pick a random game from March or April and you'll see a typical starting lineup of LMA-Anderson-Green-Mills-Murray. So that's

- a bigger wing who refused to shoot
- a wing with at minimum a strained groin who couldn't penetrate or create his own shot or run a pick and roll who was shooting terribly (3pt 34% in March, 21% in April)
- a midget guard who couldn't defend and was also shooting either poorly or marginally (3pt 33% in March, 36% in April) but also often leading the team in minutes for some reason

If the Spurs bring back Gay and keep him upright you might expect an LMA-Gay-DDR-White-Murray lineup.

That's Gay who can shoot and score
DeRozan might not shoot threes but can penetrate, run a pick and roll, and get his own shot
White who can shoot threes, penetrate, pass, run plays, and defends at a high level

Murray would have a better chance to succeed, and he was already pretty impactful despite not shooting threes, or off the dribble, or finishing well in the halfcourt. ANY improvement over last year for Murray and his production goes up, and it was already at 10 points on 9 shots in 26.5 minus over the last 20 games last year (march and April)

I look forward to his grab and go, pushing after defensive rebounds. If nothing comes of it you can reset with White or DeRozan. Murray will have better open looks in the spot up generated from those two than he was getting from Mills or Green. And if White can continue to be the primary defender, Murray should gobble up all those defensive rebounds the Spurs aren't getting now and just take off down the court.

I'm curious to see how careful Pop is with Murray next season, he's never really coached a young player coming off a significant injury before but I suspect 30 mpg is certainly off the table.

I could see him doing something super conservative like starting and playing him the first six minutes of each half and the final seven minutes of the second and fourth quarter - at least for a decent stretch of the season.

[cd021]

I wouldn't be shocked if White is the 6th man next season and plays something like 27 mpg at PG and SG while Forbes continues to start at the 2 with Murray back but expect the closing lineup to be Murray, White, DeRozen, Gay and LMA.

[exstatic]

I'm curious to see how careful Pop is with Murray next season, he's never really coached a young player coming off a significant injury before but I suspect 30 mpg is certainly off the table.

I could see him doing something super conservative like starting and playing him the first six minutes of each half and the final seven minutes of the second and fourth quarter - at least for a decent stretch of the season.

If he's ready to play, he's ready to play.

Oh, and your scenario adds up to 26 minutes, just shy of 30. He might play him that for a couple of weeks, tops. He also coached Tim Duncan, post 2000 knee injury, and then TD played some of his highest minute seasons of his career.

[Chinook]

I wouldn't be shocked if White is the 6th man next season and plays something like 27 mpg at PG and SG while Forbes continues to start at the 2 with Murray back but expect the closing lineup to be Murray, White, DeRozen, Gay and LMA.

I certainly think Murray in an energy role with shooters and Poeltl around him would work very well.

Forbes, White, DeRozan, Gay, Aldridge
Mills, Murray, Belinelli, Bertans, Poeltl

Two good units with Walker, Metu and a couple of vets/prospects makes for a nice round roster. Can really draft any position, though with most of the vets expiring over the next two seasons, having a couple of front-court guys under contract may be for the best.

[tbdog]

The way I see it was Pop and co were building with Murray as a main piece. Pop said the team was built around Murray. I don't necessarily agree with that and think it was a poorly worded description, but I assume they felt Murray was going to make a huge leap and play a very important role that the team was going to feed off.

[313]

So far, Murray’s preseason has shown fruitful results and he is shooting 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from mid-range. While it’s a small sample size, it is encouraging to see some progress in that aspect of his game.

Murray connected on only 29.1 percent of his attempts from beyond 10 feet last season. During his first two preseason games, he is already 7-for-14 (50.0 percent) from this area...

One thing to note for White and Murray is that neither rack up a ton of assists. Demar is still the best point guard on the team in that aspect.

[DAF86]

One thing to note for White and Murray is that neither rack up a ton of assists. Demar is still the best point guard on the team in that aspect.[/FONT][/COLOR]

Only reason White doesn't average a lot of assists is because he doesn't have the ball on his hands as much. I would say that for his usage, 3.5 assists per game is quite good.

[Chinook]

One thing to note for White and Murray is that neither rack up a ton of assists. Demar is still the best point guard on the team in that aspect.[/FONT][/COLOR]

White and Murray both average(d) about five dimes per 36, compared to DeRozan's seven. Give Derrick time to catch up, because he's routinely having games with six, seven or eight assists. I think with a bit of growth, they could facilitate just fine without DeMar with them at all, especially as long as they can feed it to LMA.

I was encouraged by DJM's shot, but it's not enough of a sample to say that's part of his game yet.

[GreekSpursfan]

Pop didnt create anyone but its very important to guide said person to the right path and challenge them the appropriate way for each individual. Not many coaches know how to do that, Pop is at the top of that list who knows how its done

[ceperez]

Only reason White doesn't average a lot of assists is because he doesn't have the ball on his hands as much. I would say that for his usage, 3.5 assists per game is quite good.

I think what's missing in White's game are the kind of bounce pass assists that the likes of Kidd, Manu and Nash had mastered. This is where you can get the ball to a shooter with impossible angles.

White is still a very good passer and one that reads the defense well. But it'll take a while to become an elite assist man.

The kind of assists that DeRozan and Westbrook make are based on superior athleticism and drawing a crowd. This is not something White can do.

[Mikeanaro]

White and Murray can definitely play together. Would love to have those two D-ing up Steph and Klay in a 7 game playoff series.

But to be able to do that Murray needs a solid 3 pointer.
We can only afford one mid-ranger like DeRozan in todays nba.

[Spurs da champs]

The kind of assists that DeRozan and Westbrook make are based on superior athleticism and drawing a crowd. This is not something White can do.

what? I'm not saying White is the same athlete those 2 are, but there's been multiple times where he's drawn a crowd for the easy feed to Aldridge or the corner man.

[spurraider21]

But to be able to do that Murray needs a solid 3 pointer.
We can only afford one mid-ranger like DeRozan in todays nba.

i do think the spacing with murray/derozan is a concern, which is why i think that unit only really works with bertans instead of gay to help compensate. i know gay has shot well this year, but there's bound to be a regression there and even now he doesnt give the same spacing as davis

[Chinook]

what? I'm not saying White is the same athlete those 2 are, but there's been multiple times where he's drawn a crowd for the easy feed to Aldridge or the corner man.

Don't mind him. He was just having a #ceperez moment.

White doesn't have the gravity of an offensive superstar, at least not yet. He'll have to gain a rep as an elite scorer before teams bend their D too much to stop him. He still manages to get a lot of leverage assists at it is.

[Maddog]

did he get that block last night and on Kyrie Iriving new years eve with his off hand?

[cd021]

If he's ready to play, he's ready to play.

Oh, and your scenario adds up to 26 minutes, just shy of 30. He might play him that for a couple of weeks, tops. He also coached Tim Duncan, post 2000 knee injury, and then TD played some of his highest minute seasons of his career.

That was prior to Duncan getting Plantar Fascitis in his foot and Pop cutting his minutes and then significantly reducing his workload for the rest of his career. I think that changed how he managed his stars minutes -not that Dejounte is a star.

I am fully aware that 26 is less than 30 and if I were a betting man, I would wager that is probably fairly close to his mpg next season. Gay had 9 months of recovery time but he still seemed to manage his minutes last season.