You may have noticed a trend concerning Boston Celtics rookie wing Romeo Langford in recent games — he’s been playing in them, and not just in garbage time.
In fact, he’s even closed games, and been assigned some very taxing matchups on defense.
These two things are not a coincidence.
Langford, who struggled with health in his inaugural season in the NBA after injuries were a key factor for him to fall into Boston’s range (14th overall) in the 2019 NBA Draft in the first place, has been finding his footing as the season goes on.
And the footing has been firm, his surprisingly good defense earning him more than token development minutes.
New: Romeo Langford has closed out 3 Celtics wins this month, as Brad Stevens becomes increasingly comfortable deploying him as a defensive stopper.
“It’s good that (Stevens) already, like, trusts me. So I’ve just got to go out there and deliver.”https://t.co/AyJPex90WW
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) February 22, 2020
Sometimes, he’s even been tasked with guarding some of the best players on the planet, and for the most part, he’s done well.
In fact, Boston.com’s Chris Grenham reports Langford’s defensive rating of 100 in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was second-best on a team with a top-five defense and a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in veteran guard Marcus Smart.
Let that sink in a bit.
Fellow rookie Grant Williams was the only other player with a better defensive rating at 89 (which , it should be noted, is absurdly good).
“It’s good that [head coach Brad Stevens] already trusts me,” Langford offered (via the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach). “So I’ve just got to go out there and deliver. That’s all it is.”
You may recall Langford trying his damndest to stop LeBron James in the contest, who is still arguably the greatest player in the game, and outweighs Langford by 35 pounds.
And he pulled it off in limited minutes.
While the Indiana product still has a ways to go in terms of shooting 3-pointers, his surprising ability on the defensive side of the court is getting the first-year wing some serious burn late in games and in key stretches.
In a matter of like 700 days. Romeo Langford went from guarding some good Indiana high school players, to LEBRON JAMES in the 4th quarter of prime NBA game. https://t.co/o2mEE0A6Rn
— Daniel Burko (@BurkoDaniel) February 23, 2020
The hard work the former Hoosier has put in behind the scenes is finally beginning to pay off just as the Celtics need some real production from their bench in order to help ease the road off of the players who will see heavy minutes in the postseason.
And Langford credits that work with getting him into the rotation as a useful player; “I work on basically just everything.”
“Everybody sort of runs the same stuff, but I work on it a lot so I feel like I’m more prepared for things when Brad does throw me in, because I’ve worked on it and kind of seen it. The only thing is it’s still a little different preparing because you can’t simulate the pace of the game and the team.”
“But other than that I prepare for mostly everything,” added Langford.
The results, it seems, are starting to show — and hopefully the offense isn’t far off either with a bench hungry for scoring.
Can Langford be the bench help Boston missed out on at the trade deadline? That question remains to be answered, and in truth may be more than can be reasonably expected given the ups-and-downs of the young wing’s season.
But he’s already developed into an important player for a top-five team, hinting that team president Danny Ainge may have struck gold in the draft yet again.
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