Grading Derrick White's performance in Celtics preseason opener

This upcoming season will mark Derrick White’s fifth as a member of the Boston Celtics. The two-time All-Defensive guard arrived at the 2022 trade deadline and made strong contributions to some great Celtic teams.

If the 2025-26 Celtics are going to be great, White’s going to be a big part of it. With all of the roster turnover of the offseason, combined with Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tendon rupture, more responsibility is going to fall on White’s shoulders.

The Colorado native looked up to the challenge in Wednesday’s preseason opener against the Memphis Grizzlies.

To be clear, Memphis essentially rolled out a G-League team, so everything we saw in this game should be taken with a grain of salt.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let’s get into it.

White logged a double-double with 16 points and 10 assists in just under 27 minutes. Defensively, he was aggressive, pressed up on Memphis’ ballhandlers, and made his presence felt with two blocks and a steal.

Confidence is key for Derrick White

Overall, this is probably an A- performance from “The Buffalo.” There was plenty to love, and the only real knock was his three-point efficiency at just 2-9. Even then, that’s something fans should expect to fix itself, since White’s been nails from distance as a Celtic at 38.2%.

It’s not difficult to look at White’s box score and be impressed. The way he carried himself was even more impressive.

White, a player who’s struggled with confidence in the past, showed no hesitation right from the jump. He scored the game’s first two points on a coast-to-coast drive, which he finished with a signature floater off the glass.

A few possessions later, he brought the ball up, dribbled around an Xavier Tillman Sr. screen, and drilled a three as soon as he realised that Cedric Coward had gone under the pick. This all happened less than 10 seconds into the shot clock, by the way.

The calmness that White played with once he got inside the arc was particularly impressive. He sank five of his seven attempts from two-point land, scoring on pull-ups, floaters, and drives.

Adding in more mid-range versatility will help White put more pressure on opposing defenses in pick-and-roll spots. Instead of just worrying about threes or layups, they’ll have to worry about the in between, too.

Speaking of, he did a great job of reading the defense and making them pay for overhelping.

Just look how quickly he fired this potential assist out to Josh Minott, once he saw the opposition collapse.

There were also plenty of instances where White got an assist because he simply made the extra pass or the right play, which shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Yes, this was just a preseason game. Yes, it was a preseason game against a shorthanded team. But it was still a good sign of things to come from White as he projects to have the ball in his hands more this season.

White’s development as more of a go-to-guy is going to be one of the more intriguing storylines to watch as this upcoming season unfolds.