Derrick White is coming off a 2018-19 season where he played unexpectedly well, or, at least, unexpected for an outside observer like myself, to average fifteen PPG per game this season off the bench on 62% shooting. We’re only four games into the season so there’s a lot of time for averages and percentages to regress, but having a second-string point guard who can score so efficiently is a luxury that very few teams can afford but every team would want.
I’m actually getting Malcolm Brogdon vibes from White, which doesn’t pain me at all to say because I hate Brogdon and I’m glad he’s not on the Bucks anymore and Bledsoe is way better. Brogdon sucks. White is actually a million times better than Brogdon on account of how totally garbage Brogdon is not only as a basketball player but as a human being as well. Nobody would ever want overpaid bum trash Brogdon. Everybody wants White.
If White can keep up his high level of play, I see no reason that the Spurs couldn’t at least make the second round. Yeah, it’s too early to talk about playoffs and seedings and stuff, but the Spurs have most of the same pieces that made them ultra-competitive against the WCF-bound Nuggets in last year’s playoffs. LaMarcus Aldridge is one year older, sure, but shooting midrange jumpers is an age-agnostic skill. And with Tim Duncan sitting on the bench sporting an audacious new hairstyle, the amount of coaching wisdom available to the Spurs is unparalleled.