Derrick White is the ultimate Swiss Army knife for the Boston Celtics. He is an elite on-ball defensive specialist who frequently pulls off stunning weak-side rim blocks, an unselfish secondary playmaker capable of breaking down defenses with his penetration, and a versatile defender willing to take on any matchup across the floor.
Unfortunately, after White endured a surprisingly rough shooting slump during the 2025/26 campaign, the Celtics are facing a glaring reality: poor shot quality is actively dampening his overall impact, and it is a flaw Boston can no longer afford to overlook.
The Burden of Circumstance
To understand White’s shooting struggles last year, you have to look at the massive roster upheaval that preceded it. Following the 2024/25 season, Boston parted ways with foundational veterans like Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis. Compounding that lack of depth was a devastating Achilles injury to franchise superstar Jayson Tatum during the 2025 playoffs, forcing Tatum to miss all but 16 regular-season games.
As a result, White was thrust into an uncharacteristically heavy offensive burden. He posted career highs with 14.4 field-goal attempts and 5.4 assists per game, while his usage rate surged past 20.0 for the first time in five years.
Asking a player who expends so much elite energy anchoring the defense to carry a primary self-creation load proved taxing. The inevitable result was the worst shooting efficiency of his career, finishing at .394 overall and an uncharacteristic .327 from beyond the arc.
The Root Cause: Horrific Shot Quality
A closer look at the analytics reveals that White’s dip in efficiency wasn’t just bad luck—it was a direct symptom of poor shot selection driven by necessity.
According to Basketball Index, White ranked in a lowly 15th percentile in overall shot quality and an alarming eighth percentile in three-point shot quality last season. When you average 8.3 three-point attempts per game under those conditions, a drop in efficiency is bound to happen.
The most glaring culprit was his reliance on self-created pull-up jumpers:
- The Pull-Up Burden: White averaged 4.0 pull-up threes per game last season—double the 2.0 he attempted during Boston’s 2023/24 championship run.
- Diminishing Returns: His conversion rate on those shots steadily declined alongside the volume, dropping from 35.2% in 2023/24 to 33.2% the following year, and bottoming out at 32.1% last season.
- Self-Creation Drop-off: Furthermore, White plummeted from the 97th percentile in self-created shot-making efficiency in 2024/25 down to the 38th percentile last year.
Getting Back to Basics
The good news for Boston is that White’s shooting slump is entirely fixable. In the three seasons prior to 2025/26, he shot at least 38.1 percent from deep by operating primarily within the flow of the offense as an elite catch-and-shoot threat and cutter rather than forced self-creator.
With Jayson Tatum returning to the fold and the front office reshaping the rotation, the Celtics must actively scheme ways to get White cleaner, higher-quality looks. If Joe Mazzulla can reduce his pull-up volume and restore a healthier shot diet, Derrick White will quickly return to his sniper status—giving Boston the elite two-way engine they need to chase another title.
Do you think Derrick White’s shooting numbers will bounce right back above 38% from deep now that Jayson Tatum is returning to the lineup?
