While their Eastern Conference rivals in Philadelphia were using the NBA trade deadline for the shock-and-awe acquisition of James Harden, the Celtics strategy was a bit more subtle.
But, as Brad Stevens explained in his Zoom call with the media Friday morning, the C's acquisition of Derrick White is expected to have significant impact on the surging team's fortunes.
"We thought for years Derrick was a really good fit with our best players," said Stevens of the 6-foot-4 guard. "He is an excellent defender. He makes the right play on offense, over and over and over. He's a guy who only cares about winning, who will do all the little things as you see some of his stats defensively in regards to be willing putting his body on the line. And on offense, just by making simple plays. He doesn't need to do anything to be on the highlights to really, really impact winning. So we kind of identified him for a long time.
"The first time I got a chance to watch him for consecutive days in a row and really pique our interest in him more was with the US Select Team a few years ago. And now we felt really fortunate to get a guy like that on a long contract."
The 27-year-old White was dealt from San Antonio in exchange for Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, the Celtics' 2022 first-round pick and the opportunity to swap picks in 2028.
He is averaging 30.3 minutes and 14.4 points per game this season.
Stevens, whose team sits at 31-25 (5 games out of the Eastern Conference's top spot), also discussed the reunion with Daniel Theis, who comes back to Boston from Houston for Dennis Schroder.
"The Theis move came about really late," the Celtics' chief decision-maker said. "Initially, we had talked to them a couple of times over the past few days. But that came about try late. We did not think there would be anything there and in the last 20 minutes or so that materialized. We didn't necessarily anticipate in the early part of the day, but we had our eyes on Theis and the reason why was because Rob and Al are our guys and they're playing great, but if you miss any time with those two guys you can plug Theis in and it will be a seamless transition. Theis knows how to make our best players better. That's the best thing he does, is he has a great feel for making others around him better. He's got a savvy for the game. And he can play a role. If Rob misses a stretch, Theis can plugin. And off the bench, with Grant, if we play minutes without Al or Rob on the floor Theis can play the exact role those guys are playing now and do so at a high level. It's insurance there at that spot with a guy who can do it at a high level."