How is Derrick white *this* good?

Every year, I like to do my own All NBA teams. I still kinda do them by position as in 3 guards or SF and 2 bigs, but discount the 65 minimum the league uses.

My First team as of the break is

Shai

Jaylen

Kawhi

Jokic

Wemby

Second team

Cade

Luka

KD

KAT

Mobley

Third Team

Mitchell

Brunson

Maxey

Chet

Bam (ya I know)

Today is usually about when I start really caring about some of the advanced numbers out there. To me, the gold standard for an advanced analytic is Bball Index’s “LEBRON”. there was post going around a couple weeks ago that showed this metric has accurately predicted every MVP out side of the Rose year.

So I was pretty shocked when I looked at the numbers today and Derrick white was 4th in the NBA.

It’s been talked about to death, but Derrick has fallen off a cliff as a shooter. A lot of that has to do with no Tatum and a bigger shot responsibility, but at 52.2% we are in the Marcus Smart efficiency neighborhood. Most of his advanced numbers are still good, but slightly down from last year including BPM VORP and ws/48.

Still, these numbers are high enough to indicate he’s an all star, with a small case for all nba.

With all this in mind, why do you think White has been able to have this impact with the shooting woes? I feel like he’s been much less productive on the floor, but the numbers point toward him being a top 20 players, and I’m starting to feel there may be an all NBA argument to be had by people like us who can’t vote.

Defensively he’s still a monster, but I think it has a lot more to do with his playmaking on that side, rather than his ability to shut people off. Offensively, he’s making great decisions, and his low turnover rate (9.8%, lowest since he’s been in boston) makes up for the missed shooting. But we are still talking about a guy who shots below 40% from the floor. It makes no sense, but if he keeps this up, and the Celtics get into that 53-55 win range, I think I’ll put him into my top 15.