Indiana Basketball: Romeo Langford talks health, Kobe, and NBA Draft in recent interview

In a recent article by HoopsHype, former Indiana basketball guard Romeo Langford opens up about his season and preparation for the NBA Draft.

WIth the NBA Draft lottery taking place last night, there is a much clearer picture of the teams that may be drafting former Indiana basketball guard Romeo Langford.

Before he hears his name called though, there has been a lot of talk about his motor, enthusiasm and also what some have called a ‘disappointing’ season.

In a recent interview with HoopsHype, Langford opened up about all of that and more.

Coming into college as a top-five recruit and a consensus top-10 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, all throughout the season, Langford’s stock seemed to drop and has continued to since the end of the year, falling in the late lottery as of now in most mock drafts.

“I avoid them, but I mean with the internet and social media these days, I still sometimes see them,” Langford said when talking about all of the mock drafts on the internet.  “I always see them come across my mentions and people always tell me about them, so I just leave it to the other people around me to tell me [what the mock drafts are projecting] because I know they will once they see it.”

One team that I have been open about the great potential fit is the Miami Heat. With pick No. 13, they are right off of losing Hall of Fame guard Dwayne Wade to retirement and have an immediate hole to fill in the backcourt. With bigs like Hassan Whiteside and Bam Adebayo, and question marks in the backcourt surrounding Dion Waters, Langford does seem like a good fit.

While they still have Josh Richardson, still just 25 years old, and Justice Winslow, 23, adding Langford could give them a nice three pronged attack for multiple years.

All of that doesn’t matter if his health isn’t in order though.

After missing the final three games of the season due to a back injury, he ended up having surgery to repair a damaged ligament in his thumb, something he had been dealing with all season by wearing a wrap.

“My back feels fine. I took a couple weeks off after we lost [in the NIT] and it’s back to normal now. My thumb is fine. Now, I’m just in the process of going through rehab and getting the cast off…. I just have to wait for the doctors to clear me.” said Langford.

While his health seems to be on the upswing, we will soon be able to see what Langford can do in the NBA.

One player he loves to model his game after is Kobe Bryant, like so many young players.

“I just recently started studying a lot of Kobe Bryant because the way he plays isn’t too flashy,” said Langford. “He just takes what the defense gives him, gets to his spots and makes shots. There’s not too much fancy dribbling and stuff like that. With him, it’s just basic stuff that gets the job done.”

Though Kobe was a tremendous, and one of the best of all-time, isolation players, he also grew to be great in the pick-and-roll, something Langford has been working hard at ever since he stepped onto Indiana’s campus.

Saying “Really, I’ve just been working on my ball-handling a lot….. Also, I knew at the next level that pick-and-rolls are really big. They’re a big thing in the NBA..”

There is no question Langford has the talent to be a great NBA player, but only time will tell if he has the drive and also patience to reach that potential.

The NBA Draft Combine takes place from May 15-19 and the NBA Draft is on June 26.

For the full interview with HoopsHype, you can find it here.