Analyst reveals shocking pick for second-best Boston Celtics player in Heat series

The 2023 Eastern Conference Finals has been less of a roller coaster and more of that Pirate Swing pendulum ride, with the Boston Celtics having dropped the first three games before starting to make it a series. Jayson Tatum has been consistently brilliant throughout the series — outside of Game 3, that is — but the second-best player has fluctuated game-to-game.

MassLive’s Brian Robb believes that Derrick White has been the team’s second-best player, revealing as much in a piece championing the 2022 trade deadline acquisition as a potential history-making gamble should the Celtics complete the comeback down 3-0 and advance to the NBA Finals.

“Derrick White has been the third-best Celtics player on the roster during the regular season but he has bumped himself up the list during this Heat series,” Robb wrote in his lede.

Derrick White being early addition to Boston Celtics core solidified continuity, says analyst

White was not a homegrown product in the same way Tatum Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams III are, but he was a founding member of the title-contending Boston Celtics that finally got over the Eastern Conference Finals hump last year. Now, with the Cs somehow a favorite despite being down 3-0 in the series, Brad Stevens’ gamble could lead to a major payoff because of the team’s continuity according to Robb.

“The Celtics betting on long-term continuity with their roster by gambling on a player like White early is paying big dividends now,” Robb wrote. “Boston is very much alive in this series and they have White to thank for that as much as anyone.”

Under contract for two more seasons, White has seemingly solidified himself as a long-term member of the C’s core — particularly if Jaylen Brown does see his name thrown into trade rumors this summer and does find a new NBA home. Regardless, if Boston does the unthinkable, it seems highly likely that White’s spot will be a starter, with the potential for the public to view him as a star, moving forward.