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Boston Celtics guard Derrick White was omitted from ESPN’s Top 100 list for the 2023-24 NBA season. That didn’t sit well with Celtics fans, who believe White deserves much more credit than he gets for what he does. Many took to their X accounts to express their disappointment in White missing the cut.
One fan wrote, “Derrick White wasn’t voted as a top 100 player in the ESPN voting… I just… what,” via their X account. Another directly condemned ESPN, writing, “ESPN leaving Derrick White out of the top 100 players is just disgusting to me,” via their X account. Another mocked the list for having former Celtic Grant Williams, now with the Dallas Mavericks, on the list instead of White, writing, “Grant Williams made the top 100 list but Derrick White didn’t??” via their X account with a GIF of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker laughing.
Barstool Sports’ Dan Greenberg had a different take on the matter, believing that White’s snub will only be good for the Celtics since it means he’ll have something to prove.
“ESPN leaving Derrick White completely out of their Top 100 might be the best thing to happen this entire offseason,” Greenberg wrote via his X account. “We already had a leap on the horizon due to his evolution into Bald Derrick, now we get Bald Disrespected Derrick.”
ESPN leaving Derrick White completely out of their Top 100 might be the best thing to happen this entire offseason
We already had a leap on the horizon due to his evolution into Bald Derrick, now we get Bald Disrespected Derrick
The last fan had a point. How did Williams, who was in and out of Joe Mazzulla’s rotation, make the cut but not White, whose place in the rotation was never an issue?
ESPN Calls Derrick White ‘Single Most Glaring Omission’
It appears ESPN’s Kevin Pelton is aware that excluding White from their list would be noticeable to their readers. Pelton not only explained why White was so important to the Celtics but also that White had a good case for being in the top 50.
“The single most glaring omission from the top 100, White had a case as the most important player on last season’s Celtics outside of stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. With White on the court, Boston outscored opponents by 11 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA Advanced Stats, which dropped to 1.3 without him. While White did benefit from weaker opponent shooting on 3s in his minutes, he also played a key role in that differential with his career-high 38% 3-point shooting and secondary playmaking on a team badly in need of it. There’s a better case for White as one of the NBA’s top 50 players than outside the top 100,” Pelton wrote in an October 10 story.
If the Celtics go on another extended run, with White factoring into their results, it would be hard for ESPN to pass up on him again.
Kristaps Porzingis Ranked No. 62
While former Celtics Robert Williams (No. 89) and Marcus Smart (No. 59) made the bottom half of ESPN’s Top 100, Kristaps Porzingis was the only Celtic mentioned on that same list, coming in at No. 62. Tim Bontemps explained why Porzingis was placed there.
“How will he handle heightened expectations? There have been few more fascinating trades in recent memory than the Porzingis-Marcus Smart swap this summer, a move that completely remakes the identity of the Celtics, who have more playoff wins than any team but the Golden State Warriors since the start of the 2016-17 season. Porzingis, who only has 10 playoff games in his entire career, will now be judged on how he performs next spring.”
Porzingis was ranked higher than he was coming into the 2022-23 season, being ranked at 86. If Porzingis proves to be a perfect fit, it’d be hard to see him not get ranked higher for the 2024-25 season.
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Celtics Fans React to Derrick White’s Snub by ESPN