Derrick White Honored with the Perfect Award To Capture His Impact for the Boston Celtics

White might not be shooting well this season, but his overall impact is undeniable, especially when you look at these metrics.

Dec 2, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Derrick White (9) blocks a shot by Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images | Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

The truest words of the Celtics season might have been spoken by Brad Stevens about a month ago, when he was asked about Derrick White and he said, “Everybody's going to focus on his shooting, but every time he's on the court, we win by a lot.”

White's impact has been incredible. He is second in the NBA in total plus/minus, at +496. Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the leading MVP candidate at the moment, has a better one (+579). You can go down the list of MVP candidates, and they're all behind White, who is averaging 17 points per game on an uncharacteristically low 39% shooting. 

How does he do it? 

According to Cleaning The Glass, the Celtics defense is nearly 12 points better with White on the floor. The only player with a better on/off defensive number is Rudy Gobert and -12.8. White is more than a point better than Victor Wembanyama (-10.6). 

NBA Defensive Impact List | Cleaning The Glass

Side note: Notice how well-represented the Celtics are here. 

These defensive metrics have earned White his first ever Defensive Player of the Month award, taking the East crown for the month of February. Wembanyama won it in the West. He was third in the East in blocks per game during the month (1.7) and he contested 75 shots overall, most among all NBA guards. That helped propel Boston to a 105.5 defensive rating in February, tops in the NBA.

“I feel like [it’s] his savviness, just the ability to go out there and just figure out how to make plays no matter what positioning or whoever he's guarding,” Neemias Queta recently said of White’s defensive skills. “I feel like he's always got a good chance of getting a stop no matter who he's guarding, or even off the ball too. … he's a Swiss army knife, and they can do a little bit of everything on both sides of the floor, but defensively, especially, like I feel like he holds his own in pretty much all types of matchups.”  

It was a long climb to the top for Boston, whose defensive rating was 116.5 in November (19th in the league), 113.3 in December (10th), and 111.9 in January (12th). 

White has made two All-Defensive teams, earning second-team honors in the 2022-’23 and ‘23-’24 seasons. He’s also appeared in the top-10 in Defensive Player of the Year voting twice. All of these happened since coming to Boston.