"In 16 years he’s only canceled one workout": Derrick White's secrets to success, revealed by trainer Marcus Mason (Exclusive)

Countless Boston Celtics fans cheered over the highlight reel. Derrick White’s trainer cheered for a deeper reason.

Not only did White’s chase-down block on Mavericks guard P.J. Washington become critical with the Celtics securing Game 2 of the NBA Finals for a 2-0 series lead over Dallas. It also validated White’s training with Marcus Mason partly to improve on his closeouts.

“He has a knack for blocking shots. But I was more impressed with the three-quarter court sprint to put himself in that position,” Mason told Sportskeeda. “That’s how we practice closeouts. The first three steps are a full sprint instead of short, choppy steps.”

Marcus Mason on training Derrick White (Exclusive)

Mason talked to Sportskeeda about numerous topics, including his defense on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, why White should land on All-NBA Defensive First Team and his improved shooting.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one interview has been edited and condensed.

How do you compare Derrick’s season and playoff performances to his previous season?

Mason: “Derrick is right on track for what he’s done over the last 16 years. Derrick, every single year, gets better as a basketball player and as a person. As long as things in his personal life are in line, he traditionally on the court grows every year. I feel like from three years ago when he just got to Boston and went to the Finals, he’s playing at the level that he should be playing at. He’s been on this stage before. He prepares himself. He’s very diligent in his preparation year-round.”

In what ways has Derrick improved the most this season?

Mason: “Defensively, he really worked in the offseason on his upper body strength. I can really see now when guys try to get physical with him, he’s able to absorb a lot of the contact. I felt like a year ago, Jimmy [Butler] could kind of bounce him a little bit and get to his spots. I feel like Derrick is a lot better defensively this year at being able to wall guys off and keep them from going to their spots. I think that was one thing that was very good that he’s done. But I also think his confidence has grown to where he can make shots during any particular time of a game. In the past, if he started off the game making shots, you would know he would have a good night. But if he started off the game kind of cold and missed his first four 3s, he would stop shooting or go toward JT [Jayson Tatum] or JB [Jaylen Brown]. But this year, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first quarter or fourth quarter. He feels like he can make every shot. That’s due to the work he’s put in during the offseason.”

What was the off-season work?

Mason: “We added to what we’ve always done. Derrick is a guy that in 16 years he’s only canceled one workout since seventh grade. He goes on average five to six days a week, and sometimes he does two-a-days. But he doesn’t miss. That’s one of the biggest things about him. He doesn’t take big vacations. He went on his honeymoon for about two days and then found a gym where he was at. He’s so consistent within his work that what we witness are the repetitions. They’re paying off at a high level.”

How has Derrick missed only one workout since seventh grade?

Mason: “He’s only missed one workout in 16 years. He has an old-school true passion for the game of basketball. It’s a high priority. Derrick is a guy that does a lot of things. You’re never going to hear Derrick say, ‘Oh, I was skiing one weekend or I went deep sea fishing or I went shopping.’ That’s not Derrick White. He always reserves time to be in the gym. Those hours he’s put in have allowed him to catch and surpass some of his peers.”

What did he work on to be able to play more physical basketball?

Mason: “For this summer, it was definitely upper body strength. He hired a new strength coach this year – Mike Robinson. Mike was Chauncey Billups’ long-time strength coach and still is. If you know how Chauncey’s built, Mike had a lot to do with Chauncey’s strength. I think they went in old school and lifted. He lifted hard, and he lifted heavy five days a week. He never missed any lifts. By the end of the summer, they tested early right after the playoffs. I knew right away from what I saw with some of the guards being physical with him what we were going to work on and address it. Derrick did early testing. Then from there, they hit the gym. Within a month, Mike was like, ‘We’re going to get there. We’re going to get to where you want to be.’ That was it. He just put in work.”

From what I read, you adjusted Derrick’s shooting after the 2022 Finals. What has that entailed the past two offseasons?

Mason: “It was pretty simple. He shot about 31% that year [in the 2022 playoffs]. The first thing I told him was, ‘If you want to play for the Boston Celtics, your 3-point percentages have to go way up.’ One thing we corrected was the arc on his shot. We did a lot of studying on Steph [Curry’s shot], and seeing how he was shooting a lot through the apex and how that arc would create much more space to make shots. That was one thing that we really talked about the summer – apex shooting. Every single shot, he was shooting it to the apex of the arc to allow yourself a little bit more leeway. We were probably getting up 600-800 3s a day, five days a week. We were very consistent in the work. But as far as his shooting technique, that’s one thing we really emphasized. Derrick had continued to get stronger, too. That helps when you’re a duel threat. When you’re a two-way player, you’re exerting a lot of energy on defense. Strength starts to become a major factor when you’re able to make shots late in games.”

I understand sharing the court with Tatum, Brown, [Kristaps] Porzingis and [Jrue] Holiday can lead to more open shots. But what else has Derrick done to be ready to take advantage of those opportunities?

Mason: “I would credit that to Coach [Joe] Mazzulla]. No doubt. He really loves Derrick. He really believes in him. He probably believes in Derrick more than any coach that has ever coached him. He’s been coached by a lot of great coaches. I feel like he has a little bit of a longer leash with Joe. I remember being at training camp and talking to Joe. Me and Derrick’s relationship is very player-coach, and I’m extremely hard on Derrick. People know that. That’s fine. So I was talking to Joe and he said, ‘Thanks for coming out to training camp, and I was like, ‘Coach, I want you to coach him, man. I want you to get after him.’ Joe was like, ‘Marcus, no this guy is great! He’s really good at basketball!’ I was like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to hear that. They say here that it’s banner 18 or nothing. So I want you to get after this guy.’ I didn’t even think about it until months later when I heard Derrick in an interview giving Joe a lot of praise. I remember him saying, “Nah, I don’t have to ride this guy’s tail. He’s really, really good. Marcus, he’s really good.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not trying to hear that right now. I need you to coach him.’ But looking back on it, Joe was right and took the right approach. Even I learned something from it. That’s something I have a great deal of respect for with Coach Mazzulla.”

With that, have you started dialing it back on Derrick?

Mason: “No, I’m not dialing anything back (laughs). Coach has him for 82 games and has him every day. I get it. The NBA thing is a lot different than what I do. I look at it like this. I’ve coached Derrick since seventh grade. I feel like what we do works. It doesn’t mean that two things can’t both be right. What Joe does works, too. But in the summertime, we’re going to work extremely hard. We’re always going to pick a weakness. Every single summer, we pick a weakness. We make sure we turn a weakness into a strength. That’s why we see him being able to make so many different type of basketball plays.”

What’s your favorite example of when you got on Derrick?

Mason: “Oh man (laughs). Geez. It’s happened so many times. There’s one that puts everything in perspective. In Derrick’s junior year in college [University of Colorado, Colorado Springs], we’re having a typical basketball conversation. Derrick tells me, ‘Hey Coach! I got this new thing that I do now.’ I’m like, ‘What’s that?’ Derrick never talks about something unless he thinks he’s 120% right. He would never bring up something if he’s 80% right. He will only talk about things that he knows he has the right answer, or at least thinks he has the right answer. So he goes, ‘On defense, I let my guy go by me on purpose and then I block his shot from behind like LeBron [James].’ I said, ‘Derrick, that’s the dumbest thing that I’ve ever heard in my life.’ (laughs). He gives me this look like, ‘Why are you so upset?’ I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? Do you know how bad it is to play defense that way?’ About two weeks later, I’m at his game against Metro State for the [Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference] championship . I’m sitting about three rows from the floor and am being interviewed. Metro State is on offense, and they pass the ball to Derrick’s guy. I can see Derrick’s body language. He’s standing completely upright and baiting this guy."

"During the interview, I’m thinking, ‘He’s going to let his guy go by him so he can go block his shot.’ I stand up as if he’s an individual workout with me and I’m going to yell at him. So I start to run down the court and yell, ‘Derrick, get in a defensive stance!’ The guy goes by him, and Derrick pins the ball on the glass with two hands and pushes it on the other end of the court and dunks it on the other end.’ It looked like the Division II version of LeBron James.’ That was a moment where I was like, ‘I just learned something new again!’”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IksiPirfVH0

This is a much different context since Derrick didn’t bait him. But what was your view of Derrick’s chasedown on P.J. Washington at the end of Game 2?

Mason: “He has such a good feel for the game of basketball. He is made up of all of the right stuff to help teams win and to win at a high level. He was going to make a play. In every single possession of every game, he’s trying to make the right basketball play. It just happened in that possession. It worked out in his favor. But that’s something he’s also done many times before. He blocked Jimmy [Butler] from the back like that. He has a knack for blocking shots. But I was more impressed with the three-quarter court sprint to put himself in that position. That’s how we practice closeouts. The first three steps are a full sprint instead of short, choppy steps. That’s what he’s been taught for the last eight or nine years.”

How have you seen Derrick’s improved physicality play out in this series so far with all the different defensive assignments he has?

Mason: “I think you see it a little bit when Kyrie tries to turn a corner on them. He’s able to be quick enough to cut him off and be physical enough to stop his momentum in his tracks. Then he has to go in another direction. That doesn’t necessarily stop Kyrie. But it at least allows the defense another second to set and see what their assignments are. From that standpoint, I see it. Obviously, you can’t slow Luka down. But he’s able to take some of Luka’s physicality and absorb that with his upper body. Where Derrick is great at that is he has a great memory. So when it comes to scouting reports and details within a scouting report, he is truly a coach. He has the mindset of a coach already. He’s excellent with personnel and knowing time and temperature. He knows the score and how much time there is. If there’s two minutes left on the clock, he knows how many more possessions there’s likely left in the game. He can articulate that to a T and to the tenth of the second. He knows who’s playing well and where the ball needs to go.”

Derrick landed on the NBA All-Defensive Second team again. Where do you see his trajectory?

Mason: “That’s kind of tough. He continues to become a better defender. But to be honest with you, I don’t think until the NBA values the guards a little bit more and what they do, I think he should’ve been first-team All-Defense this year, no question about it. To get the amount of steals (74, 18th) and blocks (87, eighth) that he gets and all the different matchups he has to deal with, I think it’s a lot tougher than a seven-footer that blocks shots at the rim. That’s my personal opinion. But Derrick is not the type that is going to cry over spilled milk. He’s going to be better next year and will fight for that first team. But I really think the NBA needs to have more of a value system on the guards and what they have to deal with. I think about Derrick guarding Steph and Klay [Thompson] in the Finals two years ago and how many screens he has to avoid from Draymond [Green] and Kevon [Looney]. That’s a tall task in itself.”

Derrick is often touted as underrated overall. What else do you think goes unnoticed about him?

Mason: “One thing that goes a little unnoticed with Derrick is his ability to stay calm in tough situations. His agent [Mike Lindeman] and I always joke that after Derrick is done with his basketball career could play in the World Series of Poker. We always joke that Derrick could do that because you never really know what he’s thinking. You can never really tell the pulse of him. I think he would be great with that because he'd be playing against guys that can’t ever figure him out and what he’s holding. That’s one thing about him. I can give him as many trumped-up speeches. But he already knows inside how he’s going to play, how he’s going to handle every situation and he doesn’t need to be coddled. He’s got a mental toughness about him that is unmatched."

"I remember when he played for Team USA [in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup] and he was taking charges in San Antonio. He had his teeth knocked out. It was 3 in the morning in America and I’m panicking, ‘What are they going to do with your teeth?! What are they going to do with your teeth?!’What’s the plan?! Do you have a dentist on staff?!’ I’m sending him all of these text messages. He finally sends me a text message back, ‘Hey, why don’t you chill out? I’ve had my teeth knocked out of my mouth six or seven times. Simple procedure. Not a big deal.’ I knew it happened one or two times. But man, if that were my teeth getting knocked out of my mouth, I would’ve gone nuts. He's a tough guy.”