BOSTON – The Boston Celtics took Indiana’s Romeo Langford with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft on Thursday night.
Langford is a lottery talent who dealt with some hand issues during his one season with the Hoosiers, but the Celtics decided to take a chance on him with their first selection. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge had only good things to say about the guard following the conclusion of the draft.
“Romeo is a really good player,” Ainge said at The Auerbach Center. “19-year-old kid who was one of the best players in the Big-10 this year. He’s a versatile player all-around on both ends of the court. Didn’t shoot the ball as great this year, he was playing with a messed up thumb and had surgery on it, but just a good feel player. Can pass, dribble and really defend multiple positions. We’re excited about him.”
Langford shot 27.3 percent from deep last year, but much of that is thanks to the thumb injury in his shooting hand that Ainge referenced. He recently had surgery on the thumb and is back to shooting the ball, but Ainge didn’t sound concerned.
“I know he’s shooting the ball right now is all, but when he gets in here over the weekend or on Monday, we’ll have our doctors look at that. I’m not worried about it long term, though.”
Boston made multiple moves throughout the night, but ultimately ended up selecting Tennessee’s Grant Williams, Purdue’s Carsen Edwards and LSU’s Tremont Waters with its other three selections.
