{"id":17635,"date":"2024-12-15T12:30:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T12:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=17635"},"modified":"2024-12-15T12:30:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T12:30:11","slug":"derrick-whites-shot-blocking-is-still-shocking-the-nba-but-it-shouldnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=17635","title":{"rendered":"Derrick White’s shot-blocking is still shocking the NBA (but it shouldn’t)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It’s a well-known phenomenon, yet players continue to test White at every turn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Boston<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When Victor Wembanyama trolls the paint, NBA players cower. Ball-handlers will literally turn around in search a better shot rather than challenge him, as doing so is effectively asking to be blocked. Guys like Chet Holmgren and Walker Kessler emit a similar eerie feeling.<\/p>\n

Those guys lead the league in blocks this year, but teams know what to expect. It\u2019s a visual manifestation of everything defenses should be weary of when they go up for a shot attempt: Seven feet tall with long arms. Towering presences.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s part of why Derrick White is such an elite shot-blocker.<\/p>\n

Derrick White’s shot-blocking shouldn’t surprise anyone – yet it still does<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYou got to have an awareness to it,\u201d said Jordan Walsh, who gets a consistent first-hand view of White\u2019s incredible feats in practice and games. \u201cI feel like a lot of guys don’t. Once you beat your first defender, you think, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to the rim finishing whatever.’ But then he here, he comes out of nowhere and just smacks your stuff off the glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yeah, I definitely feel like there needs to be an awareness, but I also feel like there’s not one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last few years, White has emerged as one of the NBA\u2019s best shot-blockers. Not just for a guard but in general. A beautiful blend of unexpectedness, timeliness, and ferocity make his rejections some of the most potent to watch unfold.<\/p>\n

At this point, it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy now, it’s on everybody’s scouting reports,\u201d said Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. \u201cBut if you challenge him, he’s got a way of doing it without fouling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet simultaneously, opponents still seem unable to prepare themselves for the inevitability of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s one of those things that, at his size, it’s difficult to game plan for,\u201d said Detroit Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff. \u201cBecause it’s a lot of his will, and it’s hard to game plan for will. He just does not want to let you score. He just doesn’t give up on plays. No matter your size.\u201d<\/p>\n

Player by player, shot by shot, White\u2019s abilities have continuously been underestimated. Even the best players in the world treat him as any other 6-foot-4 guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cDerrick is uncanny,\u201d said Spoelstra.<\/p>\n

When Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks were in town on October 28, the Greek Freak fell for the trap. A two-man game with Damian Lillard freed him up for a roll to the rim, with only White left in his path.<\/p>\n

Had it been Rudy Gobert, Wembanyama, or any other seven-footer standing in front of him, he may have approached his next action differently. But it wasn\u2019t. It was White. And he went straight at him.<\/p>\n

Every single coach, player, and GM around the league knows about White\u2019s aptitude for sending shots packing, yet the approach to attacking him hasn\u2019t changed. But that part doesn\u2019t surprise him.<\/p>\n

\u201cUm, no,\u201d White said with a grin when asked if he\u2019s surprised to see players keep challenging him at the rim. \u201cI mean, I wouldn’t put myself in that category. But I’m just out there trying to make a play. I don’t even really need to get the block. Just force a miss and try to get a stop for us. So, it’s fun out there. I like blocking shots. It’s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of it is perception. Bigs are bigs, and guards are guards. Seeing one radiates a certain level of hesitancy, while the other breeds confidence.<\/p>\n

From the very beginning, even White\u2019s coaches didn\u2019t know he\u2019d be capable of doing what he now does best.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Derrick got settled in, we understood, ‘Man, this guy can really pass the ball. He’s unselfish. He could play point. He could knock down shots.’ He’s doing all these things. But then we noticed how great he was defensively,\u201d White\u2019s G League coach from the Austin Spurs, Blake Ahearn, told Hardwood Houdini. \u201cAnd that was something me, personally, I didn’t expect from him. Like, that really wasn’t on my radar. Like, ‘Man, this guy is going to be an elite defender.’\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t the blocks themselves that stood out at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cContesting shots, that was where I first started to notice it,\u201d Ahearn said. \u201cHe was so good defensively, good moving his feet, he could stick with guys, get around screens. And then his ability to contest shots was pretty uncanny, even at that level. It’s something that we talked about, myself and then one of my assistants, Mitch Johnson, who’s now the interim coach there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just always remarked about how his ability to get to contested shots, even get those blocks from just a jump-shooting perspective, was really, really at a high level, and it was something that I wasn’t prepared for, but then you saw the value of it as we moved on into the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even when White doesn\u2019t get credit for a block, his impact on shots is there. A come-from-behind hand in the face. A miraculous vertical leap to contest a shot perfectly at the rim. A full-sprint run out to put off a jump shooter.<\/p>\n

None of those will show up in a box score or on a highlight tape, but they change the course of a possession.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not so much the blocks that were noticeable, but it was just the fact that he was so relentless with his contest,\u201d said Ahearn.<\/p>\n

And sometimes, he does get the block.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne a game. That’s always been the goal,\u201d said White. \u201cBut just going out there, flying around. I’ve just always had pretty good timing and instincts for it. Just use that, and just try to be active.\u201d<\/p>\n

White\u2019s not the first guard to thrive as a shot-blocker. Guys like Michael Jordan and John Wall were incredible. But over the last two decades, nobody sticks out quite like Dwyane Wade.<\/p>\n

At his peak, Wade had 106 blocks in the 2008-09 season. For context, White had 87 last year. Yet even Spoelstra seemed more enamored with the way White puts his numbers on the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s totally different,\u201d said Wade\u2019s long-time head coach. \u201cDwyane had a knack for the spectacular. We tried to design our defense for a handful of years where we wanted him to be the low man in every situation because he was just brilliant at either a two-on-one situation where he could a steal, or you roll the big man down there and they think they’re going to do something, and Dwyane would go up and get that highlight, spectacular block. But he could also block people’s jump shots, all that stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cDerrick is really, really unique. It’s an incredible talent that he has. It’s a timing, and he’s bigger longer than most people you know think that he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far this season, White has tallied 25 blocks in 24 games. That\u2019s on par with guys like Ivica Zubac (26), Clint Capela (24), Nicolas Claxton (24), and Jarrett Allen (23).<\/p>\n

Not even White\u2019s Team USA teammates were safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did it all summer long, too, in practices,\u201d Spoelstra, an assistant with Team USA at the 2024 Olympics, recalled. \u201cI think he got everybody at some point in practice. And in the competitions, he just had a knack for the timely block. It wasn’t just the number of blocks, but they were always at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe it was Kevin Durant. Maybe LeBron James. Even Stephen Curry. \u201cI think he got everybody at some point\u201d makes it seem like White pulled no punches. But he wasn\u2019t ready to reveal the specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan’t think of one specific one,\u201d White said with a sheepish grin when asked to reveal his favorite block from Team USA scrimmages. \u201cSome were probably cooler than the others. But I don’t know. I think if I say one, then they’re going to hear about it, and then they’re going to try to dunk on me. So, that might not work out for my benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

White has been blocking shots at a high level since his days in Austin, but since joining the Celtics, the phenomenon has hit the main stage.<\/p>\n

The sudden surprise of a small guard rising up 10 feet into the air is enough to catch even the league\u2019s best players off-guard, yet at the same time, they should all know better by now.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does have some sneaky athleticism,\u201d said\u00a0 Ahearn. \u201cI mean, he’s not the first guy that comes to mind when everybody straight athleticism like that. But as I said, his ability and his timing are really, really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the most unique talents in the NBA. A precisely concocted blend of his own exceptional skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, he has the athletic gifts to do it,\u201d said Tyler Lashbrook, the Maine Celtics head coach who was a player development guy in Boston last year. \u201cTwo, he has the IQ to sort of understand when. And then, three, he plays with great effort at all times. And I think the combination of those three things makes him pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Antetokounmpo to Jaden McDaniels to the entirety of the Team USA roster, nobody is spared from the wonder of a White rejection. Whether he\u2019s battling straight up in the paint or helping over from the weak side for a thunderous swat, he\u2019s always there.<\/p>\n

Afterward, he\u2019ll just gallop down to the floor as if it was a completely normal play. And perhaps that\u2019s the part that stings the most. The defeat of getting blocked is one thing. Looking up to see it was White is another. But knowing that it was just another walk in the park for the Celtics guard is a brutal pill to swallow. Because, as Spoelstra so aptly said, it\u2019s on everyone\u2019s<\/em> scouting report.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s such a skill set to be able to be composed under control,\u201d said\u00a0 Ahearn. \u201cHe would do some remarkable things, and then he’d just start trotting down the court. You kind of see his head bobbing up and down, just kind of like, ‘I’m just out here just playing a pickup game’ type of demeanor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that’s such an asset, especially when he’s going to have to guard some of the best players and the moments that he’s been in and has been successful at.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone around the NBA knows about Derrick White’s shot-blocking, yet the Boston Celtics guard still gets challenged at every turn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nDerrick White's shot-blocking is still shocking the NBA (but it shouldn't) - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=17635\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Derrick White's shot-blocking is still shocking the NBA (but it shouldn't) - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Everyone around the NBA knows about Derrick White's shot-blocking, yet the Boston Celtics guard still gets challenged at every turn.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=17635\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-15T12:30:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-4-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=17635\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=17635\",\"name\":\"Derrick White's shot-blocking is still shocking the NBA (but it shouldn't) - 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