Welcome Derrick White - (PotW, March 25, 2024)

[cl2117]

Do you really think D-white seems like the type of guy to hit free agency, uproot his family (with 2 small children and wife..his dad, a lifelong Celtics fan) just so he can try and make a few extra bucks on some other team that will probably not even make the playoffs?

He stays and we have a chance to have a dynasty.

Let's look at the guys who have been top 6 players on this team since Brad took over and how their free agency/contract extensions have gone down:

Tatum - about to sign supermax
Brown - signed supermax
Jrue - just signed extension, took less $ to stay in Boston
KP - signed extension, took less $ to stay in Boston
Smart - signed a team friendly extension
Rob - signed a team friendly extension
Al - signed a team-friendly extension

If we go a little bit further down the rotation than that, you see:
Pritchard - signed a team-friendly extension
Grant - bet on himself. Didn't sign a team-friendly extension. Went to restricted free agency, had a few teams willing to offer more $ and more of a role so he left

Hell, even J-rich signed a team-friendly extension a few days after getting traded here.

So there you have it. Out of 10 guys, 8 of them extended their contracts with Boston. 1 of them (JB) signed a supermax with BOS, 1 of them (Tatum) is about to sign a supermax with Boston. Only 1 out of 10 is gone from Boston.

Who's the one who's gone? Mr. I'ma Make Em Both. Mr. get in Jimmy Butler's face, which caused him to go off and beat us in a playoff game. Mr get in Draymond Green's face, talk smack to him which gets him amped up to beat us in the finals. Mr thinks he's way better at basketball than he is, always whining to the refs like he's a superstar. Grant, who was more motivated to go and get PAID since it was his first contract after his rookie deal. That's not the case for Derrick - arguably the most humble unassuming player in the league.

I could absolutely see White leaving in free agency if he bets on himself and has a stellar year. This will be White's last big contract as it'll take him into his mid-30's, he's going to want to maximize it. I'd assume Boston has first right of refusal to match, but if ownership wasn't willing to pay the luxury tax then and he has higher offers elsewhere I can see him leaving for more money.

I don't think it's safe to assume guys are going to forego money to stay here (although whether we win or not obviously factors into it massively as does stuff like income tax). Tatum/Brown are making the max they can. Jrue is getting that 4th year which ultimately nets him a lot more than the "discount" he took for next year. Pritchard's deal arguably wasn't "team-friendly" when he signed it. Al's extension has ended up "team friendly" but was a gamble given his age. KP took a bit of a discount but had injury concerns too. Same for Rob. Grant walked for more money. It's a pretty mixed bag.

It's not a mixed bag. Only 1 out of 10 players left via free agency. And that was the most selfish player on the team. Derrick is like the most humble, unassuming guy in the league.

Not to mention Grant wasn't even that good so it didn't even really make sense for Boston to pay him $13mil a year. Derrick is very good and it does make sense for Boston to pay him.

Sure, it might be his last big pay day. But he's gonna make *a lot* of money on his extension with Boston. Let's not act like it's either $2 mil a year with Boston or $50 mil a year with Houston. That's not reality.

Plenty of guys (steph, Jrue, CP3, LeBron, Al, etc.) have signed lucrative contracts into their 30's too..so White will likely get another pay day, even after this one.

It absolutely is a mixed bag if you take out the scenarios that aren't analogous from the list: Brown/ Tatum/ Pritchard/ Timelord/ Horford/ J Rich. The first 3 guys didn't take discounts and the 2nd pair had extenuating circumstances (Rob's injuries and Al's age). Also Horford literally left us for Philly, so there's that. J rich took a 1 year deal in the hopes of getting a longer deal.

KP, Jrue, Smart, Grant are somewhat similar situations. KP took a discount but had already made more than $100m than White has and had some injury history. Jrue overall didn't take a discount with that 4th year (and he's made $245m in his career). Grant left regardless of what you think of him. Smart signed a max deal, no discount but did sign early which saved money.

So that's 1 discount (KP), 1 guy who left (Grant), 1 guy who signed early for a discount (Smart) and 1 guy who arguably got overpaid. (Jrue). Certainly a mixed bag.

The guys who you've outlined that are signing deals into their 30's are a) better than White and b) show people aren't taking discounts (hence the lucrative deals). White has made way less in his career than them and isn't likely to start taking discounts either.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[zoyathedestroya]

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[Hal14]

Derrick means too much to this organization. He's not going anywhere.

Getting that extnesion signed this summer. Bookmark this!

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[hugepatsfan]

Under the new CBA, all you can really do as a 2nd apron team is re-sign guys. If you just let guys go you can't replace them adequately and in our circumstance you run the risk of wasting Tatum's prime to where he might become a disgruntled star that asks out. So I think we'll keep running the playbook of keeping the core pieces like we have been. White probably won't be extended this offseason because he's earned himself more than he's eligible for. But we'll re-sign him when he's a free agency.

If the bill does get out of hand, I think you address it by moving someone on the roster for a deal that sheds some money. Presumably Brown or Holiday by that point.

[Hal14]

Under the new CBA, all you can really do as a 2nd apron team is re-sign guys. If you just let guys go you can't replace them adequately and in our circumstance you run the risk of wasting Tatum's prime to where he might become a disgruntled star that asks out. So I think we'll keep running the playbook of keeping the core pieces like we have been. White probably won't be extended this offseason because he's earned himself more than he's eligible for. But we'll re-sign him when he's a free agency.

If the bill does get out of hand, I think you address it by moving someone on the roster for a deal that sheds some money. Presumably Brown or Holiday by that point.

Eh, idk. Guys who are eligible for that type of money on an extension pretty much never turn it down.

They usually (at least during the past 3 years or so) secure the bag, lock that extension in as soon as they can..rather than risk going to free agency..and who knows, maybe during that season before free agency they tear their ACL or their play starts to drop off or something.

He's having a career year at age 29. Better to secure the bag now..he's unlikely to be better next season at age 30.

Either way, I don't see why we would have to trade Brown or Jrue. Bird rights allow us to resign all of our key pieces, without losing any of them.

It just means that everyone on the back end of the roster is on cheap contracts, which is fine.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[zoyathedestroya]

List of players with 180 made threes + 80 blocks this season:

Kevin Durant
Derrick White

List of Celtics players with 180 made threes + 80 blocks in any season:

Paul Pierce (2001-02)
Derrick White (2023-24)

[celtxman]

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Someone has to answer me one question. Why did the Celtics not sign him this past offseason?

[brackdan70]

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Someone has to answer me one question. Why did the Celtics not sign him this past offseason?

My guess is he didn’t want to sign then. I believe he could have only done a 3 year extension. I believe ( I have no clue though) that both sides agreed to wait so they can do the extra year this offseason.

[KamikazeK]

Pay him whatever it takes, especially if we win it this year. Locking up the whole gang long-term.

[brackdan70]

Pay him whatever it takes, especially if we win it this year. Locking up the whole gang long-term.

I agree. I assume they offer him a max extension which is about 4/122…but he might choose to wait another year and hit FA.
I hope he accepts the security and consistency of the extension this summer.

[celtxman]

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Someone has to answer me one question. Why did the Celtics not sign him this past offseason?

My guess is he didn’t want to sign then. I believe he could have only done a 3 year extension. I believe ( I have no clue though) that both sides agreed to wait so they can do the extra year this offseason.

I just hope whatever was decided was mutual. It would be hard to accept the Celtics waiting.

[Hal14]

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Someone has to answer me one question. Why did the Celtics not sign him this past offseason?

It's extremely rare for a guy to sign an extension when he still has 2 more years left on his contract. Only time recently I recall it happening was with Giannis.

So unless it's a superstar player (2x MVP, 1x Finals MVP) it's probably not gonna happen.

No reason why it can't just wait.

Plus, there was a very short window of time before the season started where White was eligible to sign an extension..and White was probably more focused on gearing up for the season (or getting in a little more family time before the long, grueling season when he wouldn't see them as much), maybe Brad was more focused on signing more guys to round out the training camp roster..

[celtxman]

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Someone has to answer me one question. Why did the Celtics not sign him this past offseason?

It's extremely rare for a guy to sign an extension when he still has 2 more years left on his contract. Only time recently I recall it happening was with Giannis.

So unless it's a superstar player (2x MVP, 1x Finals MVP) it's probably not gonna happen.

No reason why it can't just wait.

Plus, there was a very short window of time before the season started where White was eligible to sign an extension..and White was probably more focused on gearing up for the season (or getting in a little more family time before the long, grueling season when he wouldn't see them as much), maybe Brad was more focused on signing more guys to round out the training camp roster..

I love it here. It’s been great being here, being a Celtic,” White said prior to the deadline, per Bobby Manning of CLNS Media. “That’ll never change, whether I sign before the season or not. If it happens, great. If not, I’m still excited for the season.”

This is what White said during the process. So if somehow White goes somewhere else it's squarely on Management. By White's own quote his signing would have been "great." He would have been focused enough to sign.
This Celtics management has "walked the walk" with a willingness to go far into luxury tax and aggressive successful trades. I don't love loose ends that appear could have been tied.

[zoyathedestroya]

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