Celtics are making a Derrick White realization that the Spurs already knew

Derrick White is a massively important player for the Boston Celtics. He steadies the offense, is the No. 2 scorer on the team behind Jaylen Brown, and remains one of the best defensive guards in basketball. At the same time, White's shooting efficiency has dropped pretty considerably as he's been given more offensive duties with Jayson Tatum sidelined.

This is pretty common, and White shouldn't be castigated for a drop in efficiency, especially with everything else he provides (and how good the team is anyway). In fact, White did the same thing in San Antonio.

Ironically, each year with the Spurs, when White's scoring went up, his shooting percentages went down. He was obviously a better player each year than the last, though, so those were easily ignored.

When White was in San Antonio, the Spurs also didn't have particularly high expectations. The team was good for his first few seasons, but were never real championship contenders. Because of these relatively low stakes, fans were just happy to see White develop, mostly ignoring small drops in shooting percentages or efficiency.

In Boston, White exploded into the best role player in the NBA and helped propel the Celtics to a title. That, however, was probably the best role for him — as a complementary option, White is elite. But we're seeing now that he doesn't quite reach star level when standing alone.

Derrick White's shooting struggles continue

After a month of December in which White shot 38.2% from 3-point range and appeared to be getting his stroke back, he's gone cold once more in January, when he is shooting just 27% from deep and 39.1% from the field.

Overall, there's no reason to panic for the Celtics. But in games like Monday's, in which White shot 7/21 from the field and the Celtics lost by two to the Pacers, it would be nice for those percentages to be at least passable.

It's not like White isn't producing anything for the C's though — they're third in the Eastern Conference without their best player and with White playing a huge role. If he can get his shooting clips close to where they've been the past few years, the Celtics get even scarier with a former Spur co-leading the charge next to Jaylen Brown.