00:00 So here are some numbers that will certainly support people.
00:03 Now, Smart and White on the court together last year,
00:07 the team had a plus 12 net rating.
00:10 Now, Smart, no White even, or, you know, negative 0.2.
00:15 White, no Smart, plus 10, plus 10 net rating.
00:19 With Derek White on the floor, Marcus Smart not on the floor,
00:22 neither plus two, so still efficient.
00:24 So, you know, this would tell you,
00:26 with Smart on the floor, no Derek White,
00:28 he has, you know, been a net negative, at least last year.
00:31 You are someone who, at least a year ago,
00:35 was still kinda not really a Derek White guy.
00:38 Now, obviously, he obviously had a very good year
00:41 this past year, so from where I stand right now,
00:44 is Derek White, obviously he is the new starting point guard
00:47 for this team, but are you comfortable with that?
00:49 - No, I'm not.
00:50 Like, and I'm not, nothing against Derek.
00:53 I just think, like, I mean, him playing point guard,
00:57 like, I think he's probably played flashes in San Antonio,
01:00 a point, but like, championship point guard,
01:06 I don't know, that's a big responsibility.
01:08 I think he was very good in his role last year,
01:11 coming off the bench, playing that kinda like, you know,
01:15 supporting cast role, but like, running the show,
01:18 telling guys where to be on the floor,
01:20 running the offense, getting the guys the ball,
01:23 like, I just needed to see it.
01:24 And I'm not saying he's not capable, don't get me wrong.
01:26 I'm not saying, oh man, this is gonna fail.
01:29 No, no, no.
01:30 I'm just concerned, I think I'm gonna need to see
01:34 Derek White log serious minutes at point
01:38 with that combination and how it works.
01:40 And do they need to get another point guard?
01:44 You know, is it gonna be Peyton Pritchard, Delano Banton,
01:49 whoever they're talking about, I don't know.
01:52 But I do think that this is someone,
01:56 it was eye opening when Mazzullo said that,
01:59 but they know more than me,
02:00 so I'm sure they're confident that Derek can do it.
02:02 So I'm not gonna like, doubt Derek.
02:04 I said, I didn't think he had a very,
02:06 he didn't have a good season coming in,
02:08 like the half season he spent.
02:09 I thought he disappeared at times.
02:11 He didn't play with confidence.
02:13 Last year, I thought he had a tremendous season,
02:15 all defense, just, you know,
02:18 was just completely comfortable with a full training camp
02:20 and his confidence was brimming.
02:23 I mean, I think he's one of those guys
02:25 that confidence is a big deal to him.
02:27 Some guys, their confidence never wavers.
02:29 They're gonna take shots.
02:30 They're gonna do, Derek's not one of those guys.
02:32 Derek needs to have confidence in order to flourish.
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03:07 - So you hope that he can deal with adversity,
03:12 deal with maybe a bad turnover and come back
03:15 and make a good pass
03:18 make a good play, make a good shot.
03:20 So I'm, you know, him being the floor leader in a sense,
03:23 I'm just, I'd like to see that before I'm like,
03:26 oh yeah, it's gonna work.
03:28 That's a, it's a little, I thought they would make,
03:32 you know, Malcolm has been point guard in previous years
03:35 in as much as he was a six man of the year.
03:40 A lot of people in the analytical folks
03:43 thought he was terrible in terms of certain situations
03:45 defensively, that he just shot too much or he was not,
03:50 he didn't make his teammates better.
03:53 So I thought maybe he would get the opportunity
03:55 since he had been pointed in and in Milwaukee previously.
04:00 So I just wanna see it.
04:02 I'm not as convinced, like that's not an instant
04:05 plug and play Derek White at point guard
04:10 as I think maybe other people are looking at it
04:13 'cause I just haven't seen it.
04:14 I don't know if you guys have seen him play point
04:17 extensively, if you wanna count the San Antonio days,
04:21 how much point did he play, you know, next to Tyus Jones.
04:26 Does Tyus, that's the one in San Antonio, right?
04:32 - Yeah. - Or, okay.
04:34 - There's, yeah, I think you're right.
04:36 - Yeah, 'cause there's the brother
04:38 who just got traded to Washington.
04:42 And so Tyus Jones or other guys, like, I don't,
04:45 that's a good question.
04:46 I don't know how much extensively he played.
04:49 - Tyus just went to Washington.
04:50 - Sorry, Tyus. - Yeah.
04:52 - Yeah.
04:53 - The younger brother, the one that's with the Spurs.
04:56 I don't know how much he played or that.
04:59 So I need to see, huh?
05:02 - Trey Jones.
05:03 - Trey Jones, exactly, Trey.
05:05 Yeah.
05:06 - Gotta be another letter than T, guys.
05:08 - Yeah, I gotta get my Jones brother together.
05:10 - I'm in Tyus.
05:11 - Tyus Jones. - I love Tyus.
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05:28 - Well, I mean, look, Gary, I think of the three of us,
05:35 Evan here is the one who is probably most comfortable
05:37 with the idea.
05:38 - Well, let's-- - He's been on it
05:39 for a while.
05:40 - Let's break down what Gary just said,
05:42 'cause I think there's a couple of good points in here.
05:43 First off, let's also admit that I would not be shocked
05:48 if they flipped Malcolm and Derek at some point
05:51 in the season if Malcolm's running better with that group.
05:55 I have a little more confidence in Derek White
05:56 just because I think last year was sort of a revelation.
06:01 We'll see if we can do it again.
06:03 But he comes from a good system with the Spurs.
06:07 I just think that he's one of these connector guys
06:10 that seems to just try and make things work,
06:14 not trying to get in the way too much.
06:16 You wanna let Jason and Jalen kind of dictate
06:18 most of what happens, but he's always one
06:20 to kind of make that extra pass.
06:22 I like him a lot, I love him defensively.
06:24 That jump shot, we'll see if it sticks.
06:26 I think him and coach, was it Ben Morrison
06:31 that spent a lot of time with him
06:32 and working on that jump shot?
06:34 But I will say one thing that I think
06:37 Gary brought up is confidence.
06:39 One of the things that you don't want your point guard
06:43 to lack is confidence 'cause the game ebbs and flows.
06:46 There are highs, there are lows, everybody goes on runs.
06:49 So in that regard, the confidence issue would be one
06:54 that I think would give me a little bit of pause.
06:56 But my question to Gary is more about maybe the lack
07:00 of championship point guards in the NBA today.
07:03 How many true championship level floor generals
07:07 are out there?
07:08 You could argue two of them are on the same team
07:09 in Golden State with Chris Paul and with Steph Curry.
07:13 I just don't think there are a lot of guys out there
07:18 that when, I mean, Jimmy Butler is one of these guys
07:20 that can dictate a game when it gets tough.
07:23 LeBron, obviously, that goes without saying.
07:26 I just don't think there are that many level guys
07:29 in the NBA anymore.
07:30 I think it's kind of a, everybody's a combo guard now,
07:33 right, everybody, no, true point guard kinda die.
07:37 And true point guards are more like point forwards now,
07:40 like you're seeing more of a Luka or more of a LeBron
07:43 and a James Harden and stuff, guys like that.
07:47 It's not really just about one guy controlling the flow
07:50 of the game anymore.
07:51 So my question to you is as we look back at this team
07:53 and try and figure out, do they have a championship level
07:57 table setter on this team?
07:59 I just don't think there are many out there,
08:02 A, and B, if it's one of them,
08:03 I almost think it's Tatum rather than Derek White.
08:06 - Yeah, I'm just afraid of putting more responsibility
08:10 on Tatum and saying, okay, Jason, be all NBA first team
08:15 and also run the damn offense too.
08:17 And just run and walk the ball up the floor
08:20 and also defend well.
08:21 And like, that's a lot.
08:23 Like I just rather see less on Jason's plate
08:27 in terms of ball handling than more,
08:29 although I think he can be a good point guard
08:31 or kind of floor leader, maybe not point forward.
08:34 So I'm not as highly enthusiastic about like,
08:41 okay, we'll just make Jason the point forward.
08:43 Now that might work, you know,
08:45 but you just want him to be preserved throughout the season
08:48 and not having the responsibility of running the offense.
08:51 I mean, the thing that I look at with Derek is
08:56 there's a couple of things that stand out previously
08:59 in San Antonio.
09:00 He played, according to basketball records,
09:02 he played point guard his first,
09:04 like his first year he played 17 games.
09:06 So you throw that out.
09:08 The second year he played point guard,
09:11 he played 67 games, he started 55, 3.9 assists per game,
09:15 1.4 turnovers.
09:18 Now the 50, he played 49 games
09:21 before he was traded to Boston
09:23 and he averaged six, 5.6 assists to 1.8 turnovers.
09:28 So that's a very good, you know, if I do my math,
09:32 but that's more than a three to one
09:34 assist to turnover ratio.
09:36 So he averaged nearly six assists
09:38 and was kind of classified as a shooting guard
09:41 in his stint in San Antonio before he got to Boston
09:45 in '21, '22.
09:47 So for those looking for encouragement,
09:50 that's a, to me, that's an encouraging sign
09:52 that he can, he almost had six assists a game
09:55 in that stretch.
09:56 In the year before he played,
10:01 you see here, 3.5.
10:04 So that one, I think he was hurt most of 2021,
10:08 but '21, '22, in that stretch with San Antonio,
10:14 he averaged nearly six assists a game.
10:16 So to me, that is a very encouraging sign
10:21 in terms of him being able to distribute the ball.
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