The First-Rounders
Most of the league’s talent has come from the first 30 selections in the NBA Draft (with notable exceptions), so the Celtics are hopeful at least one of the two prospects they took in this range can become part of the team’s longer-term future (or part of a trade package boosting it).
Injuries and bad luck has made assessing one of the duo a bit harder than we might otherwise like, while the player deemed most battle-ready of all the rooks coming into the season has been living up to that assessment.
Grant Williams
The cerebral Tennessee product entered the team’s regular rotation with a case of the yips so bad it made Carsen Edwards look like Steph Curry, but has since gone on to hit 44 % from deep in January.
Unlike Edwards, Williams has been a savvy defender able to impact games even when he was going .000 from three while logging 3.4 points, 2.3 boards, 1.1 assists and 0.5 blocks per 15.3 minutes of playing time.
His stable play earned him the most minutes of any rookie with the parent club and a comparatively secure position with his ability to guard bigger forwards and quick wings, and his passing has been a pleasant surprise.
Expect Williams to take on an even bigger role by season’s end if he can keep up with the 82-game grind.
Romeo Langford
The Indiana product has been hampered by injury, but the one-time top-five prospect fell into the Celtics’ draft range because he was injured, after all.
That said,it wouldn’t be fair to call the first-year wing ‘injury-prone’ just yet, as most of what has caused him to miss time this season — wet floors, sprains and illness — were truly beyond his control.
Concern over his shot (impacted by torn ligaments in his hand during his collegiate stint) has waned a bit with some run for the No. 14 overall pick in both the G League and NBA, though he is still struggling to connect from deep at any level, with his best 3-point percentage being just .222 with Boston.
His healthy 55.6 % from two and 87.5 % from the stripe implies he, like Edwards, should improve with time, and Langford has played well in meaningful minutes in December and January.
While he has a long way to go as a defender, he’s also not so bad he plays himself off the floor, and has shown flashes of being a special scorer with some of his near-basket buckets.
The Celtics rookies have won my heart pic.twitter.com/VspqqotrmU
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) July 10, 2019