Derrick White has earned the trust of Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla to run the team’s offense as he sees fit, and the importance of that trust is not lost on the Colorado native. “Having that freedom and the confidence to call something, it’s pretty cool,” said White via The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. “(…) I’m just continuing to grow and build, and that is exciting.”
“Every now and then, I’d say a suggestion or something like, ‘Let’s go this,’ or whatnot,” he explained about his expanded role. “But I think I have a little bit more freedom in that aspect, this area.”
The Colorado alum used his thinking about how to deal with the problem that is Anthony Davis when facing the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day to illustrate how he uses that freedom on the court. “Every big’s natural reaction is to protect the paint and AD’s one of the best rim protectors in the league,” he related.
Celtics Lab 233: Boston beats the Lakers on Christmas Day, and making sense of trade rumors with Bobby Krivitsky https://t.co/GzzNf981pe via @thecelticswire pic.twitter.com/H9HizoNJAM
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 26, 2023
“So any chance we can keep him spaced just allows us to get easier finishes at the rim,” said White. “Then naturally, he’s going to come in and help, so then trying to find KP, and he’ll make the right read after that. So we (have) got a lot of options.”
Having all those options is one big part of the puzzle creating the Celtics’ success this season. But someone needs to decide which way to lean, and so far, there have been few better than White to make them — and we have the record to prove it in Boston’s win column.
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