The Boston Celtics have kicked off their offseason with a bang, completing a massive blockbuster trade for Washington Wizards big man Kristaps Porzingis and a pair of first-round draft picks. Of course, also of note in this deal is that Marcus Smart ended up getting dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies, which immediately put a very big spotlight on Derrick White.

Smart's nine season tenure with the C's saw him become the team's starting point guard and chief offensive initiator after years of rotating between the bench and the starting lineup. Smart was also the team's heart and soul, making hustle plays time and again to help will his team back into his games. His loss is obviously a tough pill for the Celtics and their fans to swallow.

That may all be true, but many Boston fans who are acting like the world is coming to an end because of Smart's departure are out of their rightful minds. Not only did Smart hurt the Celtics as much as he helped them, but the team also has the perfect replacement for him in White waiting in the wings to take on a role that should have been his last season.

Derrick White is more than ready to replace Marcus Smart for the Celtics

After a bit of a rocky start to his tenure with the Celtics, White broke out in his first full season with the team, and showed why Brad Stevens gave up so much to acquire him from the San Antonio Spurs ahead of the 2022 NBA trade deadline. White was unwaveringly consistent for the C's on the season (12.4 PPG, 3.9 APG, 3.6 RPG, 46.2 FG%, 38.1 3P%) and ended up earning himself a spot on the All-NBA Defensive Second Team.

Comparatively, Smart turned in a decent season for Boston as well (11.5 PPG, 6.3 APG, 3.1 RPG, 41.5 FG%, 33.6 3P%), which was really his second as the team's primary point guard. Per usual, Smart's shooting was wayward, but when he focused on getting his teammates involved as the main facilitator on offense, the C's was at their best.

The problem was that Smart could never break his tendency to take wild shots at the worst possible times. Even as he took just 9.9 shots per game this season, Smart still barely shot over 40 percent from the floor. His three-point shooting has settled in right around 33 percent, which isn't good enough considering more than half his shot diet comes from behind the arc.

More concerningly, Smart's defense took a pretty big step back this year. After winning Defensive Player of the Year last season, Smart found himself getting torched by speedy guards for much of the season. It was telling that White and Jaylen Brown were called on to defend Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks and James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers in Boston's first two playoff matchups this year.

Moving on from Smart is tough, but Stevens couldn't have picked a better time to move on from him. Not only did the Celtics shore up their frontcourt by adding Porzingis, but they also got a pair of first round draft picks as well. Considering how Smart may be regressing, that's great value in its own right. Oh, and it allows White, who proved to be a vastly superior player than Smart this year, to get more minutes moving forward.

On the surface, Derrick White's numbers don't look fantastic, but he was probably the Celtics third most important player behind Jayson Tatum and Brown last season. White was huge for this team in the playoffs, and proved that, when he gets the starting point guard role, he can be the initiator that Boston's offense so desperately needs.

Consider this; from January 23rd to February 14th, when Smart was dealing with an ankle injury and was forced to miss action, White took over as the conductor of the offense. During that stretch, his per game averages blew away what Smart was doing in a similar role (20.1 PPG, 5.8 APG, 4.6 RPG, 49.1 FG%, 43.6 3P%). White shouldn't have taken a backseat to Smart after this sort of production.

Now that Smart is gone, he won't have to. White has proven to be a far more consistent scorer than Smart, can initiate the offense when he has to, and is a better defender than Smart was last season. There are a lot of good qualities Smart had, but when you consider White's new role, and the addition of Porzingis, it is abundantly clear that the Celtics are a better team on paper.

Does that mean this team is perfect? Absolutely not. They still could use a facilitating guard and a two-way wing player to round out their rotation, but Boston has the flexibility to mix and match their lineups in a way they didn't this past season. Smart's departure stings, but when you put emotions to the side, it's clear that White fully deserves to take over for him, and chances are he will help elevate this Celtics team to a level they couldn't get to with Smart leading the way.