Romeo Langford vows to improve, not sulk, following his demotion.
The Boston Celtics guard told The Athletic’s Jay Weiss on Tuesday he intends to regain his sharpness and improve his overall game during his stint with the Maine Red Claws. At No. 14 overall, Langford was the highest of the Celtics’ four picks in the 2019 NBA Draft, but the team assigned him to their NBA G League affiliate Monday morning.
“I’m here to get better and get reps and grow as a basketball player,” Langford said Tuesday, following his first practice with the Red Claws. “I just feel like I need to get some reps in because I haven’t played a basketball game more than five or 10 minutes in like eight months. So just getting back into the swing of things.”
The transaction wasn’t a huge surprise, as recovery from thumb surgery ruled him out of the NBA Summer League, and groin and knee injuries have limited him to just 20 minutes and 14 seconds of action during the preseason and regular seasons combined.
Red Claws head coach Darren Erman said Langford, who at age 20 is the youngest and least experienced of Boston’s rookies, must develop at both ends of the court in order to compete for playing time with the Celtics’ other wing players.
“He’s going to have the ball in his hands, (and) not have the ball in his hands,” Erman said. “He’s going to guard point guards, he’s going to guard wings. He’s gotta be able to do it all, not just at this level, but at the next level.”
Langford joins fellow Celtics’ rookies Tremont Waters and Tacko Fall on the Red Claws’ roster, adding another intriguing storyline to Maine’s upcoming campaign. Although the Celtics didn’t announce how long Langford would spend in Maine, he’s motivated to ensure his stint there doesn’t last long enough to fuel fears of a lost rookie season.
