NBA
#29 – Derrick White – San Antonio Spurs
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
With the No. 29 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs selected guard Derrick White out of the University of Colorado.
One of the bigger point guards in the draft, White stands at 6-foot-5 with a wingspan of 6-foot-8 and an 8-foot-6 standing reach. In his lone season at Colorado, White averaged 18.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
White has all of the intangibles and high basketball-IQ you could want in a point guard. He has a good feel for the pick-and-roll, is a good shooter and is a crafty finisher at the rim. White knows how to draw contact as well, evidenced by his 182 free throw attempts. He also shot 39.6 percent from the three-point line on 144 attempts.
While he may have the intangibles, White lacks the speed many other point guards in this class possess and has an average first step into his drives. He’ll need to make adjustments to his game if he wants to make an impact at the next level, but he is in good position to learn under one of the NBA’s greatest coaches in Greg Popovich. White might be in line for playing time early on in his career as well, with the possible career-ending injury to Spurs’ guard Tony Parker during the postseason and the possible departure of sixth-man Patty Mills in free agency.
