The Boston Celtics made four quality draft picks at the 2019 NBA Draft, but one has noticeably less experience than the rest.
Romeo Langford played just one season at Indiana, but his fellow rookies had much longer collegiate careers. Grant Williams (Tennessee) and Carsen Edwards (Purdue) each played three seasons at their respective schools, while Tremont Waters logged two seasons at LSU.
Langford, the youngest of Boston’s rookie class by two years, doesn’t lack talent. After all, he was the top selection at No. 14 overall. But for head coach Brad Stevens, it’s rather apparent on the court that he’s younger than the rest.
“Good player and the game comes really easy to him,” Stevens said, per MassLive’s Tom Westerholm. “You can tell, though, he’s a little bit younger, as far as all the experiences in Grant and Carsen and all those guys. But, (that’s) to be expected, he was only in college one year.”
Langford recently tweaked his groin and has yet to join live action at Celtics training camp. This comes after the first-round pick missed summer league as he recovered from surgery to repair a torn ligament in his shooting thumb.
The New Albany, Ind. native dealt with the injury for the entirety of his lone season with the Hoosiers, which likely contributed to his ugly 27.2 percent shooting clip from 3-point range. But the Celtics have worked with their top pick throughout the offseason to restructure his shot profile, and he’s hoping to boast those improvements once he hits the court, whenever that may be.
Boston opens up its preseason schedule Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets at TD Garden. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET.
