由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
扎克·洛维，ESPN 高级撰稿人
2024 年 5 月23日，美国东部时间上午 8:00
在德里克·怀特第二个赛季的早期，实际上是他自己的第一个赛季，即自他在 G 联盟度过新秀赛季以来，圣安东尼奥马刺队将他作为首发球员投入比赛。
在怀特的一次首发出场中，即 2018 年 11 月 15 日对阵洛杉矶快船队，他遭遇了帕特里克·贝弗利*全方位的考验：全场压迫、毫不留情的身材和咆哮的垃圾话。怀特表现很糟糕。第二天，他在储物柜里找到助理教练奇普·恩格兰德留的纸条。纸条上写着那场比赛的日期以及留言道：“这是发生在你身上最好的事情。它会让你变得更好。从那天起，你将有所不同。”
（马刺队内的一些人也记得曾有人将贝弗利的 Fathead 人像放在怀特的储物柜里——一些轻柔的摩擦——但怀特不记得这个。）
怀特一直保留着那张纸条，直到四年后马刺队将他交易到波士顿凯尔特人队，他说道。“那是有道理的。”在凯尔特人队在东部决赛第一场比赛中战胜印第安纳步行者队后，怀特告诉 ESPN。“这就是 NBA。每个人都会有这样的时刻。我只是知道我将继续努力。”
怀特作为一名可靠的首发球员出现在圣安东尼奥，成为球队在交易掉科怀·伦纳德后处于困境时，一个重要的发展成功案例。
消息人士称，2022 年交易截止日期前，马刺队决定交易当时 27 岁的怀特并不是一件容易的事——即使高层意识到需要重建。怀特很受欢迎——无私、几乎一切都做得好，并且愿意努力弥补自己的弱点。球队内一些人认为，怀特是马刺队想要将这位在即将到来的重建中得到的任何年轻人树立为组织楷模的那种球员。
在 2022 年 2 月 20 日交易截止日期前，当波士顿和其他球队——包括犹他爵士队，消息人士称——开始询问怀特的可用情况时，马刺队并没有轻易放手。一个首轮选秀权是不够的。怀特刚刚开始执行一份为期四年、价值超过 7000 万美元的续约合同。
他的三分球投射需要改进，但马刺队相信，对于一直过于自谦的球员（因为我们在高中时招募不足，并在二级大学开始他的大学生涯，这样的经历让他背负了沉重的负担）来说，通过一些机械调整和极大增强自信心，他一定能成功。
在媒体和球队内，许多与交易相关的焦点都集中在两种类型的交易上：巨星超级交易和实力下降的球队抛售优质老将。2022 年，布鲁克林篮网队和费城 76 人队互换詹姆斯·哈登和本·西蒙斯，而波士顿对怀特的交易只是其中的一个小细节。其他几笔在同一截止日期之前达成和未达成的较小交易成为了球队的关键转折点——包括步行者队。
一年后，另一笔交易从篮网队的残骸中产生——菲尼克斯太阳队收购凯文·杜兰特——埋没了纽约尼克斯队将一个首轮选秀权交换到波特兰开拓者队的乔什·哈特的消息分析。像波士顿在与白人达成交易时一样，尼克斯队仅略高于 0.500。尽管他们囤积了额外的首轮选秀权，但对于一支普通的纽约球队来说，用自己的选秀权来换取一个投篮不稳定的角色球员，在一些竞争对手观察者看来似乎过于激昂。
在交易发生时，哈特和怀特一样是 27 岁。他立即成为尼克斯队的一个标志性人物。纽约相信他们可以与哈特签订一份长期合同；哈特曾告诉波特兰，尼克斯是他想要去的球队，而开拓者队努力将哈特送往那里——消息人士称，他们从未向整个联盟开放交易谈判。
关于白人和哈特的交易——加上卡里斯·勒维尔进出印第安纳的同行——提醒人们，在这两种极端的交易类型之间，有很多的中介小交易，如果球队能够达成这些小交易的话，可以重新定义这些球队。
在大多数竞争者在交易未来的首轮选秀权方面受到限制的环境中，凯尔特人和尼克斯队正确地推断出他们自己的选秀权——即便这些选秀权很可能最终落在 20 名——比平时具有更高的价值。确定合适的球员，而一些看起来像是冒险，甚至可能是过度支付的交易最终会让你物超所值，毫无风险。如果他们让怀特重返赛场，他今天会给波士顿带来什么呢？
恰当地，哈特的交易涉及另一名前锋，他与波士顿收购怀特时几乎同时被交易——一位曾经比他们俩都更受追捧的球员。
凯尔特人队高度考察了白人在 2017 年选秀前的表现，当时马刺队最终在第 29 位选中了他。波士顿没有那范围内的选秀权，但参加了纽约 Excel 体育经纪公司组织的职业日，观看怀特进行训练，并询问 Excel 怀特是否会来波士顿进行私人训练。Excel 拒绝了；他们说，在波士顿能选他之前，怀特就会被选走。
但是凯尔特人队继续在远处观察怀特。在他们 2022 年的后卫轮换阵容中，没有人完全像他——一个身体强壮、传球本能强、愿意作为组织者和掩护者做出快速反应的双向球员。肯巴·沃克已经离开了。佩顿·普里查德是一个二年级替补，小丹尼斯·施罗德是一个替补枪手。马库斯·斯玛特在防守上比怀特更强壮，在进攻上更注重得分——与杰森·塔图姆和杰伦·布朗搭档时，这形成了微妙的平衡。
2022 年 2 月的波士顿仅略高于 0.500，但球队已经开始在第一年教练伊梅·乌多卡和一个魔爪般的防守的周围团结起来。乌多卡和威尔·哈代（现在是犹他队的教练，但当时是波士顿的助理教练）都认识怀特，因为他们曾是马刺队的助理教练。他们都敦促波士顿交易来他。消息人士称，哈代尤其是一个响亮的鼓吹者。
消息人士称，塔图姆、布朗和斯玛特曾在 2019 年国际篮联世界杯期间与怀特一起效力于美国队，并对他高度评价。在波士顿交易了他三天后，斯玛特邀请怀特到自己家观看超级碗。塔图姆也在那里，并花时间与怀特打成一片。
“对于巨星来说，你只需要耐心等待，”参加聚会的马库斯·梅森说道，他近二十年来一直是怀特的教练和导师。“杰森整晚都和我们在一起。他非常热情。这表现出领导力。”
马刺队告诉所有怀特的追求者，在单一的首轮选秀权中添加第二轮选秀权是不够的。在截止日期前的最后 48 小时内，波士顿提出了一项有趣的提议：2028 年的首轮互换权利，仅受第一选择保护。
凯尔特人知道风险。在与布鲁克林的那些交易中，他们处于那些交易的获利方。塔图姆和布朗都可能在 2028 年之前进入无限制自由球员阶段，也许两次。到那时，马刺队的下一个年轻核心可能正在崛起；他们 2028 年的选秀权可能会落在 20 名，这会让他们任何的交换对他们更有价值。
马刺队同意了交易。他们还收购了乔什·理查德森，随后将理查德森换成四个次轮选秀权。关于怀特的交易给了他们一个强有力的基准，以便后来就德容特·默里进行交易谈判；这两笔交易——加上好运——让他们得以得到维克多·文班亚马。
在 2022 年的同一周，印第安纳让卡里斯·勒维尔出场。步行者队在 2021 年从休斯顿火箭队收购了勒维尔，作为哈登第一笔交易的一部分。消息
原文如下：
Lowe: Derrick White, Josh Hart and the ‘small’ trades that turn good teams into title contenders
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Zach Lowe, ESPN Senior WriterMay 23, 2024, 08:00 AM ET
EARLY IN DERRICK WHITE’S second season – but really his first, given he spent his rookie year in the G League – the San Antonio Spurs threw him into the fire as a starter.
In one of White’s first starts, on Nov. 15, 2018, against the LA Clippers, he encountered the full Patrick Beverley experience: full-court pressure, unrelenting physicality, roaring trash talk. White struggled badly. The next day, he found a note from assistant coach Chip Engelland in his locker with the date of that game and a message: This is the best thing that has happened to you. It’s going to make you better. You’ll be different from this day on.
(Some within the Spurs also remember a Fathead of Beverley being placed in White’s locker – some gentle ribbing – but White does not recall that.)
White kept the note up until the Spurs traded him to the Boston Celtics four-plus years later, he said. “It was humbling,” White told ESPN after Boston’s comeback win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. “This is the NBA. Everyone has a moment like that. I just knew I was going to keep working.”
White emerged in San Antonio as a reliable starter, an important developmental success story for a team trapped in purgatory after trading Kawhi Leonard.
The decision to trade White, then 27, ahead of the 2022 trade deadline was not an easy one for the Spurs, sources said – even as higher-ups recognized the need to rebuild. White was beloved – selfless, good at pretty much everything and willing to work hard on his weak spots. Some within the team argued that he was the kind of player the Spurs should want as an organizational exemplar for whatever young guys the coming rebuild would net.
The Spurs did not let go easily when Boston and other teams – including the Utah Jazz, sources said – began inquiring about White’s availability before the Feb. 2022 trade deadline. One first-round pick would not be enough. White was just starting a four-year, $70-plus million extension.
His 3-point shot needed work, but the Spurs were confident it would click with some mechanical tweaks and a major boost of confidence for a player who always seemed overly deferential – baggage from being under-recruited in high school and beginning his college career in Division II.
A lot of trade-related focus in the media and within teams coalesces around two sorts of deals: superstar megatrades, and sinking teams unloading quality veterans. In 2022, Boston’s deal for White was a footnote beneath the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers swapping James Harden and Ben Simmons. Several other smaller trades made and not made at that same deadline emerged as critical pivot points for teams – including the Pacers.
A year later, another deal made from the wreckage of the Nets – the Phoenix Suns acquiring Kevin Durant – buried analysis of the New York Knicks flipping one of their first-round picks to the Portland Trail Blazers for Josh Hart. The Knicks, like Boston when the Celtics struck the White deal, were barely over .500. Despite their hoarding extra first-rounders, an average New York team trading its own pick for a shaky-shooting role player seemed to some rival observers as overexuberant.
Hart, like White, was 27 at the time of the trade. He instantly became a defining Knick. New York was confident it could re-sign Hart on a long-term deal; Hart had told Portland the Knicks were his preferred destination, and the Blazers worked to send Hart there – never opening trade talks to the entire league, sources said.
The White and Hart deals – plus the concurrent journey of Caris LeVert in and out of Indiana – are a reminder that between those extreme trade types, there is a huge middle-ground of smaller deals that can redefine teams that nail them.
In an environment in which most contenders were handcuffed in trading future first-round picks, the Celtics and Knicks correctly deduced that their own picks – even ones likely to end up in the 20s – carried greater value than usual. Identify the right players, and trades that look to some like gambles and maybe even overpays end up risk-free bargains. What would White net Boston today if they made him available?
Fittingly, the Hart deal involved another wing originally traded around the same time Boston acquired White – a player who had once been more coveted than both of them.
THE CELTICS HAD scouted White heavily leading into the 2017 draft, when the Spurs ended up selecting him at No. 29. Boston did not have a pick in that range, but it attended Excel Sports Management’s pro day in New York to watch White work out and asked Excel if White might come to Boston for a private workout. Excel declined; White, they said, would go before Boston could pick him.
But the Celtics kept watching White from afar. They did not have anyone quite like him in their 2022 guard rotation – a two-way player with size, passing instincts and a willingness to make snap reads as both playmaker and screener. Kemba Walker was gone. Payton Pritchard was a second-year backup, Dennis Schroder a reserve gunner. Marcus Smart was a little stouter than White on defense, and more scoring-oriented on offense – making for a delicate balance alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Boston in February 2022 was barely over .500, but the team was starting to come together around first-year coach Ime Udoka and a vise grip defense. Udoka and Will Hardy, now Utah’s head coach but then an assistant in Boston, both knew White from their time as Spurs assistants. Both urged Boston to trade for him. Hardy, sources said, was an especially loud proponent.
Tatum, Brown and Smart had all played with White on Team USA during the 2019 FIBA World Cup and spoke highly of him, sources said. Three days after Boston traded for him, Smart invited White to his home to watch the Super Bowl. Tatum was there, too, and made a point to engage White.
“With superstars, you are just waiting to see,” said Marcus Mason, who attended the party and has been White’s trainer and mentor for nearly two decades. “Jayson spent the whole night with us. He was so inviting. That showed leadership.”
The Spurs told all White’s suitors that adding second-round picks to a single first-round selection would not be enough. In the last 48 hours before the deadline, Boston offered something interesting: first-round swap rights in 2028, protected for only the No. 1 selection.
The Celtics knew the risks. They had been on the winning side of those kinds of deals with Brooklyn. Both Tatum and Brown could hit unrestricted free agency before 2028, maybe twice. The Spurs’ next young core could be rising by then; their 2028 pick might land in the 20s, making any swap more valuable to them.
The Spurs agreed to the deal. They also acquired Josh Richardson, and later flipped Richardson for four second-round picks. The White deal gave them a strong baseline for later trade negotiations surrounding Dejounte Murray; those two deals – plus good luck – positioned them to land Victor Wembanyama.
Over that same week in 2022, Indiana made Caris LeVert available. The Pacers had acquired LeVert from the Houston Rockets in 2021 as part of the first Harden deal. The Celtics were not interested in LeVert, sources said.
Nor did they show interest in former Duke standout Cam Reddish, a wayward lottery pick for the Atlanta Hawks who was also available then. New York ended up trading one protected first-round pick for Reddish in January 2022; he logged 653 minutes over two seasons for the Knicks before they offloaded him.
Boston preferred White’s quick-twitch passing and defense to LeVert’s more ball-dominant scoring. The Cleveland Cavaliers ultimately acquired LeVert, sending Indiana three picks – one first-rounder and two-second rounders, including what became the No. 31 pick in 2022. (The Cavs had also shown interest in Hart in free agency before the New Orleans Pelicans re-signed him in 2021, sources said.)
The Pacers turned that No. 31 pick into Andrew Nembhard, a critical starter who grinds on defense and has enough on-ball juice to punish teams who hide weak defenders on him. (Unfortunately for Indiana, Boston has none of those.)
The first-round pick Indiana nabbed for LeVert became Ben Sheppard, a key reserve already as a rookie.
WHITE IS THE one player in this constellation who broke out as a star. He earned All-Star consideration this season while averaging 15 points on 47% shooting – including 39.6% on 3s – along with 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2.2 combined steals and blocks. He made his second straight All-Defensive team.
There are rival coaches and executives who argue White was Boston’s second-best player this season. He was their best player in the first round against the Miami Heat.
He is more than a role player – more than even an apex role player. White has run 25.3 pick-and-rolls per 100 possessions, No. 1 on the team – just ahead of Tatum. He is a good passer, and can provide the kind of pick-and-roll scoring that is typical of more heralded players; White hit 74% at the rim and almost 45% on floaters. He can manufacture points when Boston’s offense stalls.
“Not a lot of guys can score 35 one night, take a back seat the next two, and then score 25 again,” Mason told ESPN.
Boston’s offense doesn’t stall as much with White on the floor; he might be the Celtics’ best improvisational playmaker and screener – on and off the ball. Boston’s most efficient offense flows out of two-man actions pairing White with Tatum or Brown. When White screens for Boston’s superstars, he can zip out in any direction – drifting for 3s, or slipping to the paint like a rim-running big. Hitting White there on 4-on-3s – the defense trapping Tatum up high – almost always ends in a good shot.
Some of that owes to teams slotting their smallest defenders onto White simply because Boston offers no safe hiding place. Most opponents don’t want to switch those players onto Tatum and Brown. The only other choice is getting themselves into rotation, which activates Boston’s passing game.
Some rival scouts suggest switching is a better tactic, even if it leaves smaller players on Tatum. The thinking is that Boston’s offense stagnates, and that Tatum might settle for fadeaways. There has been some truth to that in the past, and even now mixing in switches is probably smart. But Tatum has been more diligent about playing bully ball when he has to.
Another potential counter is putting weaker defenders elsewhere to coax Boston’s offense away from the White-Tatum two-man game. The Heat tried this for parts of the first round by stashing Tyler Herro on Brown – with bigger, more switchable defenders on White. The Golden State Warriors in one regular-season game tried to shift more of Boston’s offense toward Brown – and away from White and Tatum – by ignoring Brown away from the ball.
The Pacers began Game 1 with the weakest defender – Tyrese Haliburton – on Jrue Holiday, likely in part to confuse Boston’s path toward those White-centric actions. Holiday brutalized Haliburton in the post; the Pacers toggled Haliburton onto White, and Boston after some aimless stretches refocused its offense around White and Tatum.
None of these actions have teeth without White’s midcareer transition from sometimes skittish 3-point shooter into ace gunner. White hit below the league-average on 3s as a Spur. His shot needed tweaks; White sometimes leaned back and raised his chin instead of staring straight at the rim.
Upon arriving in Boston, White went through slumps in which he was reluctant to shoot. Some if it was his tendency – the worn-in habit of someone who was never the star – to defer to bigger-name players. He was also adjusting to a new city and new team – all while his wife, Hannah, was pregnant with their first child.
Some of it was wavering confidence.
“You miss a couple in a row, and you start thinking,” White said. “I was thinking so much, on every shot: Is this really the one to take? Can we get a better one?”
Defenses noticed. They ducked further under screens against White and strayed from him away from the ball. The trickle-down effect hurt Boston’s offense; the paint was cluttered and defenses stayed out of rotation.
It was especially glaring for parts of the 2022 conference finals against Miami and then in Boston’s six-game Finals loss to the Warriors.
“Basically, they weren’t guarding me in the Finals,” White said. “You gotta take that personally and grow from it.”
White spent that summer working on his shot and internalizing what teammates and coaches were telling him: “Be aggressive. Don’t defer to us. [Head coach] Joe Mazzulla was giving me confidence. My teammates were giving me confidence. Hearing stuff like that from great players – it just gives you confidence.”
White hit 38% from deep last season and ratcheted that up to 39.6% on a career-high 6.8 attempts this season. That one change lifted every other part of his game, effectively transforming White into a different player. The increased attention he receives gives him access to more drives and passing reads. Shooting is basketball’s meta-skill, interacting with every other subset of offense.
White’s development freed Boston to make a seismic move: trading Smart for Kristaps Porzingis and two first-round picks. Three months later, Boston flipped one of those picks to Portland in the Holiday trade. White’s growth is a big reason both Porzingis and Holiday are Celtics. White will be eligible this summer for a four-year, $123 million extension. One way or another, sources close to the situation expect him to continue as a core part of the Celtics.
White has transcended the basketball lexicon. He’s more than a role player, but not a “star” in the traditional sense – though advanced metrics characterize him as one, and he can score at star levels here and there when the Celtics need it.
“I’m not into labels,” White said. “I don’t even know what label I am anymore. I just know that whatever the team needs, I’m ready to do it.”
via ESPN
