ESPN - Langford 1 of 6 underrated prospects that could thrive with a change

[Celtics2021]

Ya never know , he is young , talented, confident , plays like he belongs , doesn’t have major acl. Type injuries ,  just a bunch of stuff like smart had for years and bad luck.  Smart could not stay healthy to save his life at first , always something.
He is not James Young .
He could flop or turn into a decent rotation player for years .  Just have wait it out 

Didn't Steph Curry (no I'm not comparing RL to SC) also have some early career injuries, ankles I believe.

He did, but it was more in year 3 than immediately out of college.

Beal is another player who missed a lot of time early in his career.

[jambr380]

I think it's incredibly generous of anyone to call Langford underrated OR a mystery.

If anyone feels that way... They should be the person Danny Ainge calls up to offer the trade to.

The Jury is in on Langford: he's soft, injury prone, and doesn't have a jumpshot.  Trade him for whatever value you can get before anyone else realizes this is who he really is.

Unless that value equates to late lotto pick, then it's better to see what he actually can offer first. It would be foolish to give him up for scraps just as he is getting healthy and about to make his return. Like, we waited this long.

[Vermont Green]

I am very excited to see him back on the court.  He looked really good at times last season (admittedly in very short stints).  He has the potential to help us.

[footey]

We will have to wait a bit longer; still out for tonight's game. Ugh.

[G-Bones]

Agreed.  I think Danny likes Romeo  a bunch.  Good size, good defense, slashes to the basket.  I am unwilling to believe that his shooting woes were not related to his injuries.  Give him a chance!  Why would you ever sell low???

[Celtics2021]

I think it's incredibly generous of anyone to call Langford underrated OR a mystery.

If anyone feels that way... They should be the person Danny Ainge calls up to offer the trade to.

The Jury is in on Langford: he's soft, injury prone, and doesn't have a jumpshot.  Trade him for whatever value you can get before anyone else realizes this is who he really is.

Soft he is not.  Kid tore ligaments in his wrist early in his college season.  Despite many top prospects looking for a way to respectfully take the college season off, he continued gutting it out every game, leading his team in minutes, delaying surgery until after the draft, likely costing himself draft position and money, and certainly costing himself part of his rookie season.   Then, in the bubble, he again suffered an injury that he knew would require surgery, but he continued playing until he suffered a second, unrelated injury.  He will play through pain, and play through contact.  He's not soft -- in fact, if he were soft, he might be less injury-prone.

Can't argue with injury prone -- hopefully it's bad luck, but only time will tell.  If you want to say someone doesn't have a jumpshot based on 30-40 attempts in his rookie season, I can't stop you, but that seems like a hasty conclusion, at best.  I'm sure you've watched them all 10 times over and can identify every unfixable flaw.

[tonydelk]

I think it's incredibly generous of anyone to call Langford underrated OR a mystery.

If anyone feels that way... They should be the person Danny Ainge calls up to offer the trade to.

The Jury is in on Langford: he's soft, injury prone, and doesn't have a jumpshot.  Trade him for whatever value you can get before anyone else realizes this is who he really is.

Soft he is not.  Kid tore ligaments in his wrist early in his college season.  Despite many top prospects looking for a way to respectfully take the college season off, he continued gutting it out every game, leading his team in minutes, delaying surgery until after the draft, likely costing himself draft position and money, and certainly costing himself part of his rookie season.   Then, in the bubble, he again suffered an injury that he knew would require surgery, but he continued playing until he suffered a second, unrelated injury.  He will play through pain, and play through contact.  He's not soft -- in fact, if he were soft, he might be less injury-prone.

Can't argue with injury prone -- hopefully it's bad luck, but only time will tell.  If you want to say someone doesn't have a jumpshot based on 30-40 attempts in his rookie season, I can't stop you, but that seems like a hasty conclusion, at best.  I'm sure you've watched them all 10 times over and can identify every unfixable flaw.

A lot of people gave Hayward the same flack or more with his freak injuries.  I am excited to see what the C's have in Romeo.  It's frustrating as a fan that he just can't get on the court.  Even when he is healthy he won't get much run.  The C's are making a playoff push and when Fournier and TT are back and if a buyout player is added then there will be nothing but garbage minutes available for him.  Two wasted years just like Rob's.  I hope he can take the same career leap that rob did because he's a cheap contract and the C's need one of Neismith or Romeo to be a starting caliber type player.  no back to backs on this 7 game homestand so Kemba will play every game.  PP will get his minutes.  Nesmith should get minutes over Romeo.  I just don't think we will see much of Romeo this year and I hope I'm wrong.

[Celtics2021]

I think it's incredibly generous of anyone to call Langford underrated OR a mystery.

If anyone feels that way... They should be the person Danny Ainge calls up to offer the trade to.

The Jury is in on Langford: he's soft, injury prone, and doesn't have a jumpshot.  Trade him for whatever value you can get before anyone else realizes this is who he really is.

Soft he is not.  Kid tore ligaments in his wrist early in his college season.  Despite many top prospects looking for a way to respectfully take the college season off, he continued gutting it out every game, leading his team in minutes, delaying surgery until after the draft, likely costing himself draft position and money, and certainly costing himself part of his rookie season.   Then, in the bubble, he again suffered an injury that he knew would require surgery, but he continued playing until he suffered a second, unrelated injury.  He will play through pain, and play through contact.  He's not soft -- in fact, if he were soft, he might be less injury-prone.

Can't argue with injury prone -- hopefully it's bad luck, but only time will tell.  If you want to say someone doesn't have a jumpshot based on 30-40 attempts in his rookie season, I can't stop you, but that seems like a hasty conclusion, at best.  I'm sure you've watched them all 10 times over and can identify every unfixable flaw.

A lot of people gave Hayward the same flack or more with his freak injuries.  I am excited to see what the C's have in Romeo.  It's frustrating as a fan that he just can't get on the court.  Even when he is healthy he won't get much run.  The C's are making a playoff push and when Fournier and TT are back and if a buyout player is added then there will be nothing but garbage minutes available for him.  Two wasted years just like Rob's.  I hope he can take the same career leap that rob did because he's a cheap contract and the C's need one of Neismith or Romeo to be a starting caliber type player.  no back to backs on this 7 game homestand so Kemba will play every game.  PP will get his minutes.  Nesmith should get minutes over Romeo.  I just don't think we will see much of Romeo this year and I hope I'm wrong.

I disagree with you on this one point.  If Romeo is healthy enough to get on the court, I expect he will get a chance to play before Nesmith most nights.  Brad trusted him enough to get 22 minutes in our second playoff game last year, despite his injury, and the Celtics were +26 with him on the court for those 22 minutes.  I ultimately don't think we'll see too much of Langford or Nesmith this year on nights Kemba plays, but when we do, Romeo will get the lions share of those minutes.  Romeo has already earned Brad's trust.  Aaron hasn't yet.

[Silas]

I'm looking forward to seeing Langford and Fournier on the court together. 

[Vermont Green]

I think it's incredibly generous of anyone to call Langford underrated OR a mystery.

If anyone feels that way... They should be the person Danny Ainge calls up to offer the trade to.

The Jury is in on Langford: he's soft, injury prone, and doesn't have a jumpshot.  Trade him for whatever value you can get before anyone else realizes this is who he really is.

Soft he is not. 

I think people need to be very careful when equating durability with softness or toughness.  Durability is a real physical trait.  Some athletes are more durable than others.  And some athletes are soft or lack a real competitive edge.  Durability is a very important aspect of an athlete's potential success but lack of durability does not equal soft.

Durability has been and may well continue to be an issue for Langford.  I have not seen anything from him that would reasonably lead to a conclusion that he is soft or lacks competitiveness.  In fact just the opposite.  Last season he scratched and clawed himself into a regular role on the team working up through G-League and all that.  Nothing soft about that.

[hodgy03038]

Romeo could thrive with a change....of professions. One where he can actually work like maybe a software engineer.

[Irish Stew]

Sigh. Impatient Celtics' fans jump the gun on giving up on a player. Broken record.

Should Philly have given up on Embiid when he played ~30 games in 3 years?

People pine for this trade and that trade, when the guys we need may already be here. Certainly wouldn't be a shock if Romeo, or some other bench player, turned out to be better than perennial jag Aaron Gordon.

I would be absolutely thrilled if he turned out to be as good as "jag" Aaron Gordon.

A more realistic goal might be as good as Tony Allen or Leon Powe.

As for being underrated, that is certainly not the case on this site.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

I’m only frustrated because with each passing day the odds of Romeo being a good player for a different team are a lot higher than him being a good player and staying with the Celtics.

[footey]

He's been cleared to work out now.  Brad says it will take time to build up his stamina; short stints only. Sounds like he had some COVID respiratory issues, although I am just speculating about that.

https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1376645427999674374?s=20

[Muzzy66]

I’m only frustrated because with each passing day the odds of Romeo being a good player for a different team are a lot higher than him being a good player and staying with the Celtics.

I seriously doubt he will ever be a good player for any team.  He's looks like one of the top 5 least talented players to make a Celtic roster the past decade every time he's gotten on the floor.  He's been completely useless and has shown me absolutely zero flashes of upside.

Taco looks about 100x more promising right now then Langford does, and that's not saying much.