We have yet to see Terrico White unleashed.
He is this insane athlete -- did you see his dunks during the informal little contest that broke out at the rookie photo shoot, where he was going 360 between the legs? -- who is raw. Who didn’t impress that much during Summer League. Who could be so good but has to figure it all out.
Which is what his trainer Adam Wilson told the official Pistons Web site he is working on with him -- some physical stuff, sure, but mostly mental. Teaching him to be aggressive.
“That’s the main thing with Terrico,” Wilson said. “When he’s aggressive, he’s dynamic. He’s something else when he’s aggressive. He has tremendous ability to score the basketball. His mid-range game is really nice. He can get to a spot quick, two dribbles, and his elevation is great with a 42-inch vertical. But the thing about Terrico is he’s really, really, really never been pushed before. Now he’s in the NBA and he’ll really get pushed. I think you’re going to see great things out of him.”
White was not aggressive during Summer League. Not bad, and there were flashes, but overall he seemed to be thinking more than just reacting.
“I worked with him through the draft process and saw something different every day. Did you see all he could do in Las Vegas? Not even close. He’s a quiet kid, no expression. He’s the type of kid that will drop 50 points on you and won’t say a word. A humble Southern kid but a great talent. It’s all about keeping him aggressive and that’s what I focus on - just keeping him aggressive, keep him on edge.”
The question with Terrico White in Detroit has never been about skills or athleticism, it has been about fit. With that, even Wilson is not sure right now.
“I don’t know how he’s going to fit in here being that they have a few point guards,” he said. “With his size and his shooting ability, he can play the two. But when you see him in college, when he had the ball in his hands he was really, really effective, and he’s really aggressive when he has the ball in his hands. When he’s off the ball, he’s kind of passive at times. His freshman year (at Mississippi), when the point guard went down they moved him to the point and he’s Freshman of the Year in the SEC. He’s a tremendous athlete, a tremendous player, and his ceiling is really high - 20 years old.
It may take a couple years to develop, but when he starts to get near that ceiling it could be very good for the Pistons.
