Romeo Langford has not had a pretty start to his NBA career.
That’s probably an understatement.
Taken with the 14th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Langford has played a total of 50 games in his first two seasons thanks to a malady of injuries. He told reporters on Wednesday that he’d came into the league with a “messed-up” thumb and had wrist surgery in his freshman year, and then “knicknack” injuries followed – even contracting COVID-19.
That’s affected his play on the court, as Langford has yet to shoot better than 36% from the floor or average more than 4 points a game in an NBA season. Yet if his comments Wednesday were any indication, Celtics fans could finally see the version of Langford they expected when he was taken in the lottery.
“This is my first summer where I’m not hurt and able to be healthy and have no surgeries and stuff like that,” Langford said. “I feel like I really haven’t shown just about anything that I’m really, like, capable of doing.”
Chief among them: shooting. Langford has taken just 45 threes in the regular season and made 10 of them for an ugly 22% clip, and according to Basketball Reference, didn’t make a single shot last season from between 10 feet and the three-point line. He wasn’t a sniper in college, at 27% from downtown, but showed a promising midrange game and is a decent free-throw shooter.
Those injuries hurt his development as a shooter, Langford said.
“I really wasn’t able to shoot as much, or work on my shot as much … just being able to catch the ball repetitively,” he said. “I’m able to do way more with my hands, because it’s better now.”
Langford also feels he’s improved on the defensive side on the ball and shown he can be an impact defender.
Throughout the summer, he said, he’s been working with Celtics assistant coach Joe Mazzulla, who’s the head coach of the Summer League team.
“We’ve really just been going at it this whole summer, just working on the things that I’m going to see this summer league,” Langford said, “and knowing that I’m going to be playing a bigger role … than my last couple years.”
Chief among those things: being more comfortable with the ball in his hand so that Langford can be utilized as a secondary ballhandler. Langford has posted only slightly more assists than turnovers throughout his NBA and college career, and if he can develop enough that the Celtics trust him to help run offense off the bench, that would be a major boon to a team searching for guard depth.
Now entering his third NBA season, Langford has a chance to establish a brand-new slate in these summer league contests.
“It’s a chance to finally go out there and play freely,” he said.
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