San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
‘He’s almost himself ’
Finally healthy, White back at top of his game
When Gregg Popovich looks at the man wearing No. 4 for the Spurs lately, he sees a player who looks suspiciously like Derrick White.
This is a welcome turn of events.
For much of his fourth NBA season, White either has been injured, recovering from injury or struggling to find his rhythm after returning from his latest injury.
Though it says
“White” on the back of his jersey, the 26-yearold guard has taken until April for his coach to fully recognize him.
“I think he’s gotten to the point where he’s almost himself,” Popovich said.
In truth, the Spurs haven’t quite seen this version of White before.
In the first 13 games of April heading into Saturday’s contest in New Orleans, White averaged 18.5 points.
Before now, the high
est-scoring full month of White’s career came in January 2019, when he logged 15.3 points per game.
White has scored in double figures in a dozen April games, topping 25 points five times.
It has been the closest approximation yet of the star turn White enjoyed in the Orlando, Fla., bubble to conclude the 2019-20 campaign.
White is beginning to agree with his coach. He at last feels like himself.
“I just want to keep working and looking at what I can improve on,” White said, “but we are getting there.”
When the book closes on the 2020-21 season, it will go down as a career year for White.
He is averaging 15.4 points, a career high. He is also posting 1.0 blocks per game, tied with Philadelphia’s Matisse Thybulle for tops among NBA guards.
There is no question White has earned the four-year, $73 million extension he signed in December.
But as far as career years go, White’s has been something of a slog.
Physical ailments limited
White to 34 appearances in the Spurs’ first 58 games. He opened the season on the inactive list while recovering for offseason foot surgery, missed 14 more games after fracturing the same foot, and endured a five-game break because of a positive COVID-19 test in late February.
White’s teammates appreciate the struggle he has faced coming back from each new layoff.
“In the beginning, you’re trying to get your groove, get your rhythm with your teammates,” said guard Lonnie Walker IV, who had a nine-game hiatus of his own this season while dealing with a wrist injury.
“Sometimes it feels sped up and you don’t feel like yourself. It takes a couple of games.”
The fits-and-starts nature of White’s season is most readily apparent in his shooting numbers.
He is making 40.7 percent from the floor his season, nearly 5 points below his career average.
A little more than two weeks ago, there were lingering questions about where White’s 3-point stroke had gone.
In a six-game span from April 3 through April 12, White made only 8 of his 39 attempts from distance.
In the six games since that slump, White has made 22 of his 50 3-point tries, a 44 percent clip.
“We all know what he’s capable of,” Walker said. “Little by little, month by month, week by week, you see nothing but improvement every single day.”
As White has waited for his jump shot to come around, he has continued to provide the little things that have typified his time with the Spurs.
He leads the Spurs with 11 drawn charges, despite playing 21 fewer games than second-place Patty Mills, who has drawn five.
With the Spurs shorthanded against Detroit on Thursday, White picked up his game to fill in other blanks.
Playing without point guard Dejounte Murray and leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, the Spurs got a game-high 26 points from White.
White also set a season high with seven rebounds and matched season bests with eight assists and three blocks.
“Dejounte steals a lot of the rebounds and DeMar was out, so I felt I had to step up and pick up their slack,” White said. “I don’t really focus on what I should have each and every night. I just go out there and try to impact the game.”
White is starting to find his groove just in time to help the Spurs’ playoff push.
Popovich is beginning to see visions of the player who opened eyes in Orlando, putting up 18.8 points in seven games last August.
“He’s pretty close,” Popovich said. “He’s doing a great job in a lot of different ways.”
Walker calls White’s injuryplagued start to the season “a minor setback for a major comeback.”
As that comeback appears headed to a crescendo, the Spurs are just glad to recognize the guy wearing No. 4 again.
“Derrick is who we all know Derrick can be,” Walker said. “He’s a very special player. We’re grateful to have him.”