Romeo Langford’s rookie year wasn’t world-changing, but it wasn’t bad
Langford’s rookie season was shaky, to say the least. Langford saw his first NBA action during an October matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played 14 total seconds. He wouldn’t even take the court again until December 18th. Langford dealt with several minor injuries which kept nagging him and ended up landing him in the G League for a brief spell.
He eventually got over the injuries, however, and was put in a position to succeed with his NBA squad. After his long break from an NBA court, Langford began to play some decent minutes filling in for injured teammates. His stats weren’t great, but he did enough in that time frame to earn himself a small role in the rotation. His minutes steadily increased down the stretch and Brad Stevens showed confidence in his rookie’s ability to defend.
Langford would go on to play 27 games in the season, including one start. His best performance came against the Atlanta Hawks when he tallied 16 points (including two threes), five rebounds, and a win.
Although Langford’s stats were less than stellar, his trajectory is undoubtedly trending upwards. He has uncoachable athleticism and natural giftedness in attacking the rim. Celtics coaches are working with him to change his shooting motion, and while he still has a ways to go, his shot looks more fluid now than it did at Indiana.