Romeo Langford - Pick #14

HomeRunBaker

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What a cast of characters that team had. Imagine the locker room with this crew? Delonte, the late Justin Reed, Tony Allen and Ricky Buckets together? Payton’s mouth, Blount taking it all in with a glass of port. We needed backstage passes for the full effect of that squad.

483402AC-F0E3-498C-B56E-6E6A83C2F9C1.jpeg
 

slamminsammya

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What a cast of characters that team had. Imagine the locker room with this crew? Delonte, the late Justin Reed, Tony Allen and Ricky Buckets together? Payton’s mouth, Blount taking it all in with a glass of port. We needed backstage passes for the full effect of that squad.

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I absolutely loved watching this team. Everything is a happy surprise when you have zero expectations.
 

Humphrey

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Good catch getting a roster w/Walker having #88. He reverted back to #8 pretty quickly IIRC (they must have dumped Gugliotta and Al Jefferson took #7).
 

HomeRunBaker

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I absolutely loved watching this team. Everything is a happy surprise when you have zero expectations.
This may have been the year (and the game we attended) when TA tried desperately to get off a 50-footer before the 1Q or 3Q buzzer. Ricky Buckets literally ran up to him animated to explain to him why he should take the extra dribble to NOT get the shot off before the buzzer. Rookies can be so silly sometimes.
 

BigSoxFan

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Has there ever been a player to wear out his welcome without playing more than Romeo?
Not with me at least. I’ll always resent him for:

1) Not being Tyler Herro
2) Not being healthy enough to help last year’s depleted team
3) Not being healthy enough to help this year’s team
4) Not being good enough to be traded for someone useful
 

Jimbodandy

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Hey Embiid missed his first two years, and look how good he is now. I'm not saying that's gonna work out the same for us, but I'm not saying that it won't either.
 

Imbricus

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Celtics Fans Questioning Very Existence Of Former Lottery Pick

A slew of other tweets joked that Langford’s removal from the injury report on Thursday was little more than an April Fool’s prank ... To that end, the best response to Langford missing the Rockets game may have come from the Celtics Subreddit, where one user wrote, “Ainge spent more time engineering this years April fools day prank than he did putting together a championship contender.”
 

peritas

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Time lord missed a lot of time during his first 2 years. He now looks to be Celtics third or fourth best player.
 

lovegtm

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Time lord missed a lot of time during his first 2 years. He now looks to be Celtics third or fourth best player.
There are tons of examples of players not doing much until their third year. Romeo showed some interesting flashes his rookie year, and I think there’s a decent chance he’ll be one of those players.

The problem is that his absence to this point has cost them on the court and has precluded trades.
 

NomarsFool

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It’s just overall a bit disappointing that he wasn’t doing more to get ready (potentially). It’s a shame that with the wrist injury was probably difficult to do much in the way of strength training, but if he was really motivated there probably was something he could do. COVID aside, he could have been getting himself into phenomenal cardio shape at least. We’ve only seen glimpses of him, certainly, but you don’t get the impression that he has been a gym rat these last 9 months or whatever. Sort of to Scal’s point on defense, it’s a little bit surprising that some of these young players don’t understand the importance of these first few years in the league. That second contract is super important for their long term earnings, and every young player should be working their butt off to make sure they are getting a good one.
 

lovegtm

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It’s just overall a bit disappointing that he wasn’t doing more to get ready (potentially). It’s a shame that with the wrist injury was probably difficult to do much in the way of strength training, but if he was really motivated there probably was something he could do. COVID aside, he could have been getting himself into phenomenal cardio shape at least. We’ve only seen glimpses of him, certainly, but you don’t get the impression that he has been a gym rat these last 9 months or whatever. Sort of to Scal’s point on defense, it’s a little bit surprising that some of these young players don’t understand the importance of these first few years in the league. That second contract is super important for their long term earnings, and every young player should be working their butt off to make sure they are getting a good one.
You lose cardio fast and re-gain it decently fast. 3 weeks with no cardio is a big deal, and there isn’t any way around it except time.
 

lexrageorge

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We really should not underestimate the impact a bout of COVID can have on cardio. Nor should a player be criticized for coming back slowly after recovering. #NotTheFlu
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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It’s just overall a bit disappointing that he wasn’t doing more to get ready (potentially). It’s a shame that with the wrist injury was probably difficult to do much in the way of strength training, but if he was really motivated there probably was something he could do. COVID aside, he could have been getting himself into phenomenal cardio shape at least. We’ve only seen glimpses of him, certainly, but you don’t get the impression that he has been a gym rat these last 9 months or whatever. Sort of to Scal’s point on defense, it’s a little bit surprising that some of these young players don’t understand the importance of these first few years in the league. That second contract is super important for their long term earnings, and every young player should be working their butt off to make sure they are getting a good one.
Not just you, but I love how we on SOSH jump to conclusions about whether or not guys are putting the work in. I mean we had a big debate over whether GW was out of shape; people have intimated Marcus is out of shape; and then the bolded.

Despite Marcus himself having said this (which I posted upthread):

“He’s been looking great,” Marcus Smart said Wednesday. “He’s been putting the work in day in and day out. I know it sucks, it’s been six months since he played and been able to practice with us and things like that. That’s tough, especially when he’s the only one in the gym, having to work by himself and seeing everybody else working together and doing things like that. He’s dedicated himself to the work and I think it’s going to show up out there.”
Even DA has said that Romeo has been putting in the work. He apparently caught CV and didn't do anything for three weeks and had to clear cardiac screening to play again. Let's not jump to conclusions because Romeo can't get on the court.
 

Cesar Crespo

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up until he got Covid, he was reportedly remaining in shape and doing all basketball activities with the one available hand.

It's hard to do cardio with a respiratory illness.
 

lovegtm

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I wish Romeo hadn’t had such shit luck, but by all accounts he’s been a hard worker in his short career, which manifested quickly already on the defensive end.

I’m a lot more concerned about his bad luck than his work ethic.
 

DGreenwood

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Remember last spring whe
up until he got Covid, he was reportedly remaining in shape and doing all basketball activities with the one available hand.

It's hard to do cardio with a respiratory illness.
And regaining cardio after covid can be a lot harder than normal because the effects on the lungs can linger a lot longer than the illness itself.
 

Cesar Crespo

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And regaining cardio after covid can be a lot harder than normal because the effects on the lungs can linger a lot longer than the illness itself.
I'm not a PT but I am a cardio warrior (14+ hours a week). I have had a few breaks over the years. Personally speaking, I'd say it takes 7-10 days to recover cardio from a 3 week layoff. That's assuming normal situations. Covid clearly muddies things up a bit but CBS did say he thought Langford was days away rather than weeks. Also, the first few days of doing activity after a 3 week layoff are always the worst.

When that video was posted where people started questioning Romeo's weight, I was more concerned with his body language. He looked like a guy who had been sick for 2-3 weeks.

Long story short, I think he plays pretty soon though I expect him to be winded for a few weeks.
 

Jimbodandy

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I'm not a PT but I am a cardio warrior (14+ hours a week). I have had a few breaks over the years. Personally speaking, I'd say it takes 7-10 days to recover cardio from a 3 week layoff. That's assuming normal situations. Covid clearly muddies things up a bit but CBS did say he thought Langford was days away rather than weeks. Also, the first few days of doing activity after a 3 week layoff are always the worst.

When that video was posted where people started questioning Romeo's weight, I was more concerned with his body language. He looked like a guy who had been sick for 2-3 weeks.

Long story short, I think he plays pretty soon though I expect him to be winded for a few weeks.
Yeah I can't speak specifically to covid recovery, but I did have pneumonia in one lung in my my early 30s. One half of the lung was full of fluid. It was months before I didn't feel it anymore playing hoop and tennis. The xray was clean after a few weeks, but doc said that the lungs can take a long time to get back to "normal".
 

Euclis20

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I'll just call it now, since I was considering doing so a few days ago: by the middle of next season, it will be considered obvious that Romeo Langford is the Celtics best wing/guard defender.
I know it's fashionable to note [correctly] that Smart has declined defensively, but there's a gaping chasm between where Smart was just a few months ago (coming off his second straight 1st team all defense season and starting for a team that was 2 wins away from the finals) and where Langford was when we last saw him (showing some flashes of competent defense matched up with opposing backups in 10 minutes per game). Even with Smart's decline we'd need Romeo to take some big steps forward defensively for it to even be a conversation.

Unless Smart is traded there is absolutely no chance that Langford is obviously considered the superior wing/guard defender in the next year or so. I'd settle for Romeo being an above average defender off the bench.
 

lovegtm

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I know it's fashionable to note [correctly] that Smart has declined defensively, but there's a gaping chasm between where Smart was just a few months ago (coming off his second straight 1st team all defense season and starting for a team that was 2 wins away from the finals) and where Langford was when we last saw him (showing some flashes of competent defense matched up with opposing backups in 10 minutes per game). Even with Smart's decline we'd need Romeo to take some big steps forward defensively for it to even be a conversation.

Unless Smart is traded there is absolutely no chance that Langford is obviously considered the superior wing/guard defender in the next year or so. I'd settle for Romeo being an above average defender off the bench.
This is why I'm calling it now lol: it will be pointless when it's obvious ;)
 

HomeRunBaker

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I'll just call it now, since I was considering doing so a few days ago: by the middle of next season, it will be considered obvious that Romeo Langford is the Celtics best wing/guard defender.
Don’t you mean by the time he’s completed his final hydroxychloroquine treatment?
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Unless Smart is traded there is absolutely no chance that Langford is obviously considered the superior wing/guard defender in the next year or so.
Depends what you mean by wing defender. If you're just comparing the defense of wings, I get what you are saying. Marcus is a great defender to have as a wing - particularly in Brad's system - because he switch onto bigger players and play really tough defense. He's also great at taking charges.

However, Marcus's strength was never staying in front of quicker wing players, so if we're talking about wing defense, well Romeo is going to get all of the tough wing players to defend I think. (He was going to get those minutes in the TOR series before he got hurt - that's why he was subbed in so early in G1.) And we'll see how he does but if you recall the Timberwolves game last year, 10 different Timberwolves went at Romeo, and they were 1-7 against him, with the lone basket being one in transition by Malik Beasley. https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/theres-lot-love-about-what-romeo-langford-doing-defensively-celtics?b
 

lovegtm

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Depends what you mean by wing defender. If you're just comparing the defense of wings, I get what you are saying. Marcus is a great defender to have as a wing - particularly in Brad's system - because he switch onto bigger players and play really tough defense. He's also great at taking charges.

However, Marcus's strength was never staying in front of quicker wing players, so if we're talking about wing defense, well Romeo is going to get all of the tough wing players to defend I think. (He was going to get those minutes in the TOR series before he got hurt - that's why he was subbed in so early in G1.) And we'll see how he does but if you recall the Timberwolves game last year, 10 different Timberwolves went at Romeo, and they were 1-7 against him, with the lone basket being one in transition by Malik Beasley. https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/theres-lot-love-about-what-romeo-langford-doing-defensively-celtics?b
Yeah, I was unclear. I meant "best defender on the team who isn't a center".
 

Euclis20

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It's a bold take to be sure. It'd be like saying Nesmith will be the best 3 point shooter on the team by the end of next year. They've got the same number of NBA minutes, and while Romeo has a few playoff minutes under his belt, Nesmith at least was an excellent 3 point shooter in college (Romeo was not known as a plus defender). I think we'll find that once Romeo plays real NBA minutes (say, more than 12 minutes per game or against opposing starters) it will become clear that he's not yet on the same level as guys who have been above average to great perimeter defenders for years (and still have room to grow), notwithstanding a mediocre year thus far for these guys as their offensive loads have increased.
 

lovegtm

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It's a bold take to be sure. It'd be like saying Nesmith will be the best 3 point shooter on the team by the end of next year. They've got the same number of NBA minutes, and while Romeo has a few playoff minutes under his belt, Nesmith at least was an excellent 3 point shooter in college (Romeo was not known as a plus defender). I think we'll find that once Romeo plays real NBA minutes (say, more than 12 minutes per game or against opposing starters) it will become clear that he's not yet on the same level as guys who have been above average to great perimeter defenders for years (and still have room to grow), notwithstanding a mediocre year thus far for these guys as their offensive loads have increased.
All I can say is that you're going to be very pleasantly surprised wrt Romeo, health permitting.

It's nothing at all like saying Nesmith will be the best 3 point shooter on the team, although, yes, it is a projection. There's a big divide on this board between people who watched Romeo's rookie minutes (and Brad's reaction to them) carefully, and those who didn't.

And to be clear, I'm not saying anything about Romeo's off-the-bounce game or shooting, which have been shaky at the NBA level (to put it mildly).
 
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Euclis20

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There's a lot of daylight between "pleasantly surprised" and "it will be considered obvious" that he's the Celtic's best perimeter defender. I'll be pleasantly surprised if he's a reliable wing off the bench next year.

And to be clear, I'm not saying anything about Romeo's off-the-bounce game or shooting, which have been shaky at the NBA level (to put it mildly).
Yes, but I think this is driving part of the projection. The rest of his game is so far away (things have not appeared to slow down for him offensively, yet) that when he looks like an actual NBA player (on defense), it looks amazing. Projection aside, I think it's more likely he's still scrapping for time next year (or injured again). If the Celtics re-sign Fournier, keep Smart and Kemba, there just aren't a ton of extra minutes to go around, not enough for there to be any sort of consensus that he's jumped over Smart/Brown/Tatum.
 

TripleOT

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I don’t see how Romeo’s offense doesn’t get to at least acceptable, to go with his apparent defensive shops. The guy was a gazillion point scorer in HS. The NBA certainly isn’t high school, but a wing putting up big offense is different than a HS player getting buckets because he’s a foot taller than his defenders.
 

Euclis20

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I don’t see how Romeo’s offense doesn’t get to at least acceptable, to go with his apparent defensive shops. The guy was a gazillion point scorer in HS. The NBA certainly isn’t high school, but a wing putting up big offense is different than a HS player getting buckets because he’s a foot taller than his defenders.
Way too early to say he won't, but wasn't his biggest strength in college his ability to finish at the rim? Given the size and athleticism difference in the paint between the NBA and lower levels, that's absolutely a skill that may never end up translating in the NBA, especially considering Romeo himself doesn't have overwhelming size or athleticism.