Boston Celtics: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Adam Taylor
Drafting Romeo Langford
With the 14th pick, the Boston Celtics selected Romeo Langford from Indiana, a guard who played the majority of the season with torn ligaments in his right thumb, a player who sacrificed his draft stock (and the money which comes with it) to help his team.
By playing through this injury, his shooting percentages are obviously skewed, leaving question marks about how good his shot actually is.
Last year he averaged 16.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 44.8 percent from the field, but only managing an abysmal 27.2 percent from the 3-point line. This obviously didn’t deter the Celtics from drafting him, meaning they clearly see something in the 6’6″ guard.
He is athletic and tricky with the ball. YouTube is filled with highlights of defenders struggling to stay in front of him.
One would assume his competitiveness is another reason for playing through injury, which is something which will endear him to the Celtics fan base, just as it did for Marcus Smart.
With no Summer League play and no timeline for when he will first suit up, there is a lot of intrigue surrounding him.
Boston will most likely take its time with his recovery while working on rebuilding his shot behind the scenes. The Celtics have the personnel to deal with his absence until the time is right.
With huge upside should he figure out the shooting form and good length meaning he can develop into a competent defender, at worst the Celtics potentially have another steal in the draft.
We will never know if Langford would have been drafted higher had he assessed the injury earlier, but what we do know is the Celtics have a player who is willing to sacrifice for the team and put it all on the line.