Boston Celtics: The sudden emergence of Romeo Langford

Romeo Langford played a big part in the Boston Celtics’ win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. Will his 16 point, three block night earn himself a bigger role going forward?

After an injury-plagued start to his NBA career, Romeo Langford has begun carving himself out a role in the Boston Celtics rotation. Up until late, the concerns over Langford’s health and ability to contribute were real.

Langford’s disappointing freshman season at Indiana was capped off with surgery to repair a ligament tear on his right thumb. Recovering from this surgery, Langford missed all of Summer League and entered his rookie season behind summer standouts, Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters, on the depth chart. Since, the lottery pick has battled groin and ankle surgeries between stints with the Maine Red Claws.

In what felt like a slow buildup to a deadline move shipping Langford out of Boston, he has instead played a key role in both of Boston’s last two wins. On Wednesday, Langford played 28 minutes, which at the time was a new career high, tallying 6 points. Friday, he added to his momentum playing 29 minutes and adding 16 points, five rebounds and three blocks to blow away his previous best.

What stood out in both games were Langford’s activity on the defensive end. At 6’4″ and 215 lbs, Langford has good size for a guard and his athleticism allows him to switch within the flow of the Celtics defense. His offensive progress is important, but his defense is what will keep him on the floor going forward.

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Langford’s problem has never been talent. Coming out of high school he was ESPN’s #5 recruit and top-ranked point guard in his class. At Indiana, he and the Hoosiers struggled, especially on the offensive end. Averaging 16.5 points per game, Langford did it in an inefficient manner.

He shot 44 percent from the floor and 27 percent from 3-point range. However, his aforementioned right thumb injury may have affected his shooting splits. Langford’s struggles hurt his draft stock and he slipped into the latter half of the lottery where the Celtics pounced on his potential at No. 14.

With the Boston Celtics, Romeo Langford is able to play to his strengths as he develops further on the offensive end. Playing alongside high-percentage shooters like Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum, Langford is allowed him to pick his spots within the flow of the game. In his last two games Langford has made 8 of his 15 shot attempts including two made threes in Friday’s win vs the Atlanta Hawks.

The next few weeks will be a good test for both the Celtics and Langford. Six of the Celtics’ next eight games come against western conference playoff teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, and the Houston Rockets twice. The Celtics will use this stretch of games to measure up against some of the league’s best, but more importantly to see what bench players will play impactful roles once April rolls around.

As long as Langford continues to play impactful minutes on the defensive end, he should expect consistent minutes in the rotation. If he can become more comfortable shooting the ball, he may just become a crucial piece off the bench in the playoffs. Many Celtics fans hoped for a deadline move to shore up backcourt depth concerns.

But just maybe, standing pat was an indication of what Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge have seen behind the scenes with Langford.