Celtics’ Derrick White ‘Privilege’ To Play With Marcus Smart

Boston Celtics guard Derrick White is poised to take on a larger role on the court after the trade of gritty veteran Marcus Smart, but the seven-year veteran is going to miss the outspoken leader.

"You can't replace what Marcus Smart does, on both sides of the ball. There's only one Marcus Smart and he's special," White told NBC Sports Boston's Chris Forsberg on the "Celtics Talk" podcast. "He was always pushing me and driving me to be better. And he made up for a lot of mistakes that we made last year. It's going to be a big hole to fill. Everybody's going to have to step up and try to fill those shoes."

Despite losing a valuable teammate, White acknowledged the caliber player they got in return, Kristaps Porzingis.

"The trade has been crazy," White said. "I've got a lot of love and respect and it's been a privilege to play with Smart. I wish him the best of luck in Memphis. But I'm excited to play with KP, too, so I'm looking forward to that.

"He's super talented. I remember the game in Washington, he was unreal. We couldn't do anything to stop him," said White. "On both ends of the ball, he can do a lot of things for us. So I'm looking forward to getting to know him better and welcome him to the team."

With the Celtics moving on from Smart, White should take over more of the ball handling in his absence.

"We kind of have a lot of guys that handle the ball. But I'll probably have more of the point guard duties than I did last season," said White. "I'm just looking forward to the opportunity and I know it's going to be a big summer ahead of me and I got to do what I need to do to get ready."