Chad Finn: ‘When the Boston Celtics acquired Brogdon, I initially wondered whether that meant Derrick White was on the move’

When the Boston Celtics first landed Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers in a trade that sent away Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith, Nik Stauskas, Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan and a 2023 first-round pick, Chad Finn of The Boston Globe believed that Derrick White would be the next domino to fall.

In a piece titled ‘If only the Celtics could have had Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari against the Warriors’, Finn got into the hypothetical of Boston having their recently acquired combo guard and combo forward (Danilo Gallinari) free agency period additions during this past NBA Finals series against Golden State and how things could have been different had that been the case.

He believes that the Cs would have instead been victorious, while also noting that the Warriors lost plenty of key pieces themselves — namely Otto Porter to the Toronto Raptors and Gary Payton II to the Portland Trail Blazers. Obviously, two teams cannot buck the NBA’s tradition and resume a Finals series, but the hypothetical was a fun one.

What was a less fun thought was something Finn would mention in passing later on his piece: the Boston Celtics trading away Derrick White to avoid a skill overlap with Malcolm Brogdon after the latter’s arrival to Beantown. Finn revealed that his first thought following the Brogdon trade was just that, though he no longer believes any moves should be made to the team’s backcourt from here on out:

"“When the Celtics acquired Brogdon, I initially wondered whether that meant Derrick White was on the move. I suppose that is still possible, but I hope it doesn’t happen. The Celtics have diverse, quality depth in the backcourt with Brown, Smart, Brogdon, White, and Payton Pritchard. It should remain that way. They’ll all be needed over the long season.”"

Payton Pritchard, not Derrick White, could be odd man out in Boston Celtics backcourt

When it comes to doing something about the team’s crowded backcourt, Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens likely realizes that something has to give with so many options at either guard spot and a dearth of true big men on the roster.

Just as Brogdon is injury prone, so is the team’s starting center Robert Williams III. Al Horford, at 36-years-old, isn’t going to be active all 82 games. Behind them on the depth chart at the pivot is Luke Kornet, likely two-way signing and UDFA Trevion Williams out of Purdue, and six-foot-five true power forward forward Grant Williams. Evidently, there are issues this roster needs to fix, and only so many means to do so.

Obviously, the free agent market could explored. With that said, only one-dimensional big men like Dwight Howard, Hassan Whiteside, Ed Davis, and Tristan Thompson (no thanks) remain outside of a gamble on the oft-injured DeMarcus Cousins.

The best way to upgrade the big man depth, in the Houdini’s eyes, is to dangle an asset unlikely to play during a deep postseason run, like Payton Pritchard, and turn him into a backup center capable of bodying up the physical frontlines the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat will throw at Ime Udoka next postseason. Derrick White proved too valuable to give up during this past postseason, making Pritchard the most movable backcourt piece.