Why Romeo Langford will be a key part of C’s future

https://hardwoodhoudini.com/2020/11/20/boston-celtics-romeo-langford-key/



Why Romeo Langford will be a key part of C’s future


by Joe Hagen

22 hours ago


The Boston Celtics are about as front-loaded as any team. Regardless of the talent at the top, the key to improving their squad may lay with their youngest member, Romeo Langford.

The Boston Celtics are a wildly talented young team with one hurdle they just can’t seem to leap: the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the span of four seasons, three radically different Cs teams tried and failed to vault themselves from the Eastern Conference playoff bracket and to the NBA Finals. Granted, two times were at the hands of basketball Thanos himself, LeBron James, however 2020’s loss to the Miami Heat was a bitter reminder that they must improve if they hope to advance to the championship round.

While they have been undoubtedly good the past half-decade or so, Boston’s failure to reach the Finals is a red flag that’s growing an increasingly alarming shade of red with budding superstar Jayson Tatum’s impending free agency.

Point guard Kemba Walker’s nagging knee injury and wing Jaylen Brown’s offensive flaws have the workload growing increasingly for Tatum, so the team’s goal should be to surround him with fantastic complementary players.

Enter Romeo Langford.

ESPN’s fifth-ranked prospect in 2018, Langford’s collegiate and professional career has prove to be reletively underwhelming. Once an exciting prospect dominating his peers, Langford has fallen to a premature label of “bust”, which tends to follow around lottery picks who fail to establish themselves as rotation pieces.

As with everything and everyone dismissed in a fashion like this, it’s all about context with Langford.

A hand injury derailed his career at Indiana University, and a bum wrist, adductor, and ankle all respectively set him back during his rookie year with the Boston Celtics. All this, on top of playing for a contending team with a coach notorious for not playing rookies.

It’s not hard to see how the young wing had a hard time carving out anything meaningful his first season.

However, as expected with someone not long ago considered a blue-chip prospect, there were flashes of potential with Langford.

His calling card coming into the league was his offensive smoothness, an ability to get to the rim and finish with ease even against some of the best defenders.

While his opportunities on offense were scarce, Langford began to cut his teeth on defense and eventually became a high-quality sub for Brad Stevens to call on to check an opposing perimeter player.

Celtics on NBC Sports Boston
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Romeo Langford gets the block that leads to Jaylen Brown scoring on the other end

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1225223557803839488

With a sturdy 6-4 frame and 6-10 wingspan, Romeo is an ideal modern wing.

Defensively fluid, he can guard opposing wings and guards with an impressive blend of speed, strength, and lateral quickness. With a smooth handle and impressive touch inside, Langford projects to at least fit in well with the array of perimeter players the Boston Celtics possess, who could thrive off the lanes Langford creates for himself.

His offensive skill set should go well with the team’s newest member of the “chosen 14th in the draft” club, Aaron Nesmith, and his flamethrower jumper.

The fears with Langford are almost solely with his outside shot and his durability.

On the front of durability, it certainly has not been a promising start to his career. However, given proper time to heal from his ailments, Langford does have an opportunity to embark on a long and fruitful NBA career, not unlike the multitude of players in league history to overcome starting their career on the injury report (Stephen Curry, anyone?).

It’s obviously no guarantee, but it’s not without precedent that this is nothing more than a chapter in his career, not the theme.

On the issue of his jumper, that is a slightly more nuanced conversation.

The Boston Celtics rookie has never been known as a sniper, and probably never will be. However, the eye test indicates he has solid form and good mechanics.

His putrid college and rookie year percentage of 27.2 and 18.5 from deep, respectively, is alarming.

However, a torn ligament in his shooting hand in college and inconsistent, sporadic playtime for Langford in the pros are legitimate excuses for failing to cobble up any consistency from beyond the arc.

For a meaningful look at Langford’s shooting ability, look at his free throw percentage. He cashed in 80 percent of his looks at the charity stripe during his time with G-Leauge affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, and 72 percent in the NBA.

With his ability to sink his free throws, Langford has displayed that he is capable of having a soft touch outside of the paint. That, coupled with his solid form and mechanics, there is simply no reason to not expect sharp improvement from the outside, to rise to the level of a respectable shooter.

While the Boston Celtics are certainly a perimeter-oriented team, everyone has a use for a player with Langfords skill set.

Able to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim, the 21-year-old’s finishing ability and passing skills make him an even more dangerous threat when paired with Boston’s elite grouping of wings and guards.

On the back unit, he would serve as a secondary ball-handler to Marcus Smart, allowing Smart to switch up time on and off the ball, allowing him to show off his newfound shooting stroke more and more often. He makes for an interesting pick and roll partner with Robert Williams, and pairs well defensively with the switchy Grant Williams between wings and forwards.

What the Celtics need is a versatile, switch defender with offensive upside to come off the bench and give them some sort of scoring punch while their top tier players take a breather.

Luckily for them, he could already be under contract.

For Boston to make any meaningful improvements, they must get a dramatic leveling up from Romeo Langford.

If he can capitulate himself from lost in the rotation to the team’s seventh or eighth man off the bench, they may be able to break through that ceiling.

With his talent and potential, they should demand it.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Step 1, stay healthy.  I realize it's not his fault but that's part of sports, you have to stay healthy to be productive and contribute.  Period.  This will be the 2nd year in a row in which Romeo will not be participating fully in training camp and that is a BIG loss for a young'un.  I agree with much of what this author is saying, Romeo seems to have a real natural feel for the game, a nose for the ball and, of course, his jumper is suspect.  Where I differ with this piece is where he says that Romeo will "go well" with Nesmith.  I see them as redundancies, not as mirror images of each other.  If Romeo's shot improves, and it is an eminently teachable skill, then he'll compete with Nesmith for minutes.  He will probably never be as good a gunner from range as Nesmith but he is a natural defender while Nesmith is not.  On the other side of the accounting Nesmith needs to learn the defensive schemes like the back of his hand because he lacks Romeo's athleticism (and perhaps his instincts?) to make up for mistakes.  Would it be nice if we had two bench players that were about the same size and were, say, 60/40 and 40/60?  Romeo 60% defense and 40% offense and Aaron the reverse?  Well, bench players tend to be limited in skills and specialists, that's why they're bench players.  A lockdown defender, OR a lights-out shooter.  Bench players that are good at it all but not outstanding in anything don't get subbed in as much as a Marcus Smart would when he was coming off the bench.  He is an elite defender who also had other skills.  Obviously I'm wishing both these young men well, I want both of them to grow and succeed, I'm just not sure how Brad will divvy up the minutes between two similar peas-in-a-pod.


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I would like to compare his first couple of seasons with Avery Bradley. Didn't AB miss his first training camp? In his first season, AB couldn't hit a shot if his life depended on it. Doc said he was hitting them in practice, so give him time.

Then AB started having problems with his shoulders, got shut down late in the season and had surgery on both of them. I don't think he was ready for the next season, let alone summer camp.

AB eventually came back and Doc put him in the starting lineup ahead of RA.

Hopefully, Romeo Langford's future can somewhat follow AB's trajectory.

I think that Langford, IF healthy, is soon to make an impact in the Cs lineup.  Bob is correct in saying that if you cannot be healthy, it is impossible to make much contribution, so this young guy needs to get luckier in the health department.  Defense will still be a key to playing time for all young guys on the Cs, and Langford is a strong defender.

Having a sharp shooting rookie who plays the same position as Langford may determine how much time Langford gets at the back up wing spots as well as how healthy is Teague and Walker. If Teague and Walker stay healthy Smart will get some time at the wing which will limit how much time is available for Langford. If Nesmith just fills the net with his shooting, he will take some minutes from Langford, too.

on this years team Langford is luxury, if healthy and improved.

Thompson
Tatum
Brown
Smart
Kemba

should be our starting 5, all playing between 30-32 min per game this season.

Rotational players off our bench:

Theis- I figure 24-26 min per game
Teague- 20-24 min per game
Grant Williams will get 12-14min per game I think

that leaves at best about 26 min per game left, with Langford, Robert Williams, Semi and Nesmith all trying to get on the court. Only two of them are likely to play most games.

we're a much better balanced team, IMO.

kdp59 wrote:on this years team Langford is luxury, if healthy and improved.

Thompson
Tatum
Brown
Smart
Kemba

should be our starting 5, all playing between 30-32 min per game this season.

Rotational players off our bench:

Theis- I figure 24-26 min per game
Teague- 20-24 min per game
Grant Williams will get 12-14min per game I think

that leaves at best about 26 min per game left, with Langford, Robert Williams, Semi and Nesmith all trying to get on the court. Only two of them are likely to play most games.

we're a much better balanced team, IMO.

kdp,

I predict Theis will start at center, Thompson will get significant minutes off the bench. We all know how matchup driven Brad is, so I'm sure Thompson will get some starts, but I'm predicting Theis will start most games.


Bob


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When consistent injuries are involved, "Potential" doesn't mean a whole lot of anything, in my opinion.


KJ

we see that a bit different then Bob. Either way we are stronger over all inside for sure.

we have depth all around now also over last season, if everyone stay healthy of course.

I find it hilarious that this article suggest that RL has good shooting mechanics.

If he makes his bones it may be on the defensive end. He's has been snakebit but each injury puts him behind the 8 ball. Sometimes predraft scouting reports should be read and believed.

According to reports he will not be ready for the start of the season. There is a reason why Danny did not screw around this time in drafting a wing scorer, Nesmith. Langford and the loss of GH is that reason

The Celtics starting center is undetermined.  Theis has a leg up because he fits in with Brad's perimeter oriented offense.  However TT can do everything that Theis can do but he is not know for his 3 point shooting.  TT is clearly a better rebounder and clearly a more physical defender.  

While some may look at Theis as a guy that can stretch the floor I really do not see him that way.  Teams give Theis open shots behind the arc because he is a career 33% shooter from there.  There is not a lot of volume there either.  Also let us not overlook the fact that Theis went 4-26 during the grueling Playoff run.  Shooting 15.4% did not help us beat the Heat.  Take the he can stretch the floor perspective and dump it in the trash and what are you left with?

I see TT as an upgrade at center because overall he is better and has way more NBA playoff experience than Daniel Theis.  

I just do not see Danny giving out a $19 million contract to have a guy be a rotation center when the starting center has already proven to be inadequate.

This is not a knock against Theis because he left nothing on the floor but this is about talent.

kdp59 wrote:on this years team Langford is luxury, if healthy and improved.

Thompson
Tatum
Brown
Smart
Kemba

should be our starting 5, all playing between 30-32 min per game this season.

Rotational players off our bench:

Theis- I figure 24-26 min per game
Teague- 20-24 min per game
Grant Williams will get 12-14min per game I think

that leaves at best about 26 min per game left, with Langford, Robert Williams, Semi and Nesmith all trying to get on the court. Only two of them are likely to play most games.

we're a much better balanced team, IMO.

Regardless of who is the starting center, Kemba won't average 30-32 minutes per game across the 72 game schedule.  He may average 25 MPG for the games he plays and maybe 20-22 MPG for the season.

Load management is what may happen to Kemba for the rest of his career.  That allows some of the other players off the bench, as matchups allow, throughout the season.

gyso wrote:

kdp59 wrote:on this years team Langford is luxury, if healthy and improved.

Thompson
Tatum
Brown
Smart
Kemba

should be our starting 5, all playing between 30-32 min per game this season.

Rotational players off our bench:

Theis- I figure 24-26 min per game
Teague- 20-24 min per game
Grant Williams will get 12-14min per game I think

that leaves at best about 26 min per game left, with Langford, Robert Williams, Semi and Nesmith all trying to get on the court. Only two of them are likely to play most games.

we're a much better balanced team, IMO.

Regardless of who is the starting center, Kemba won't average 30-32 minutes per game across the 72 game schedule.  He may average 25 MPG for the games he plays and maybe 20-22 MPG for the season.

Load management is what may happen to Kemba for the rest of his career.  That allows some of the other players off the bench, as matchups allow, throughout the season.

gyso

I think that is about right but he is going fight this tooth and nail. If he can accept playing less minutes it would really help his career.

He went over 36 MPG during the playoffs which was kinda on the high side.

His knee has no structural damage but Brad just needs to lean on what is setting up to be a more experience bench. We will need a fully healthy KW when the 2021 Playoffs begin.

Heat did the same thing with Dragic, even took him out of starting line up, but it worked as he was fresh for playoffs and he had many big games where he carried them.