Romeo Langford Thread

[Homerclease]

The reason why coaches don't always make good drafters/GMs is that, unless they are Bill Belichick or Bill Walsh or Bill Parcels--what is with all these Bills?-- they do not have long-term job security so they will br inclined to sacrifice the future for the present.

Or sometimes coaches just lack the talent assessment skills to be a good GM: Worst example of crappy GM work by a coach: Rick Pitino with the Cs. Trading away lottery picks and wildly overpaying for mediocrities that got you nowhere near contention was his stock in trade. (Bye Bye Chauncey Billups and Shawn Marion; Hello Kenny Anderson and Vitaly Potapenko, anyone?

Brad has tremendous job security, too, so let's hope he can take the longer view. Nobody available at 14 was going to play much of a role on the 19-20 team, so it was a pick for the future.

Seems like a silly take when the two guys selected after Romeo are likely rotation players for the Celtics this season

Welcome back, Homer. You still have all your charm. Back to ignore for you.

I just think it’s a strange take that you think nobody who was available at 14 would play much a role on the Celtics this year when it seems Grant Williams and Carson Edwards who were both taken far later than 14 are projected to play rotation minutes this season. How do you explain that?

[cloverleaf]

Good post! Peeps need to see this guy actually play before calling him a bad pick. I think he was a great pick. He got SKILLS and is athletic! Peeps need to go get a drink and calm down til training camp.

Calling Langford a complete two-way player is a stretch. A complete offensive player with a broken shot and the tools to become a good defensive player if he commits to it is IMO a more apt description.

True on the D, but his shot isn't broken either. Shot well in high school. Has a good mid-range. Has a pull-up and stepback. Shot a decent percentage at the line. Sketchy is what I'd call it, same as Barrett and Culver.

Broken I'd reserve for guys like Simmons and MKG - guys who can't and don't shoot - or guys like TA and Rondo - guys who shoot only when wide open and even then poorly.

Langford himself has said he has a hitch he needs to get rid of. Sketchy doesn't really seem to describe that, as it seems more to suggest unreliability.

[Bleeding Green]

So is Langford part ninja?? How has there not been any workout footage of him in the last few weeks? No stories.. nothing.

There are videos of him shooting in a gym with coaches on twitter. He's probably not doing a lot because of his hand/thumb injury. I'm not seeing a lot of any kind of workout videos from anyone except Jaylen Brown who puts out his own hype videos.

[Curmudgeon]

I disagree if you think Langford is a better prospect. Should always pick better player over need with lottery picks. Just because Sekou is 6-9 and reminds of Siakam and we would love and need to have the next Siakam.....doesn’t mean he is going to be good. When I watch highlights of Dombouya I see a fast, athletic really tall and long guy who doesn’t know how to play basketball. When I see Langford I see a guy with perfect size and length for his position who is already a complete 2 way player who just needs to fix his shot. Obviously, we have seen neither play against NBA competition .... so who knows what to think until after we do. Nobody talked about Siakam before the draft or even immediately after it and look what he has become.

Doumbouya did reasonably well in French Pro A at AGE 17. He's still only 18 and won't be 19 until December. He was the youngest player in the draft. If Doumbouya were 22 (as Siakam was when he came out in 2016) you would worry about the rough edges in his game. But given where he is in his development as a player, you look at what the finished product could be when Doubouya is 22 years old-- three and a half years from now.

The risk of course is that you have to make a decision whether or not to extend Doumbouya's rookie deal before he is fully formed as a player.

For me, the question is: if Langford fixes his shot and if Doumbouya develops as he should, which one would you rather have?

[chakdaddy]

Seems like a silly take when the two guys selected after Romeo are likely rotation players for the Celtics this season

Welcome back, Homer. You still have all your charm. Back to ignore for you.

I just think it’s a strange take that you think nobody who was available at 14 would play much a role on the Celtics this year when it seems Grant Williams and Carson Edwards who were both taken far later than 14 are projected to play rotation minutes this season. How do you explain that?

Nothing wrong with taking higher upside developmental guy early and older more ready rotation guys later. Probably best that way.

[Homerclease]

Welcome back, Homer. You still have all your charm. Back to ignore for you.

I just think it’s a strange take that you think nobody who was available at 14 would play much a role on the Celtics this year when it seems Grant Williams and Carson Edwards who were both taken far later than 14 are projected to play rotation minutes this season. How do you explain that?

Nothing wrong with taking higher upside developmental guy early and older more ready rotation guys later. Probably best that way.

Agreed, nothing wrong with swinging for the fences. Hell, they did it last year with Timelord. But that didn’t seem to be his point. Clearly they seemed to like Langford’s ceiling more than Doumboyas if that’s the case though.

[Curmudgeon]

The Langford pick just smells like the Olynyk pick to me. Play it safe.

[Gomes3PC]

Except Olynyk was an upperclassmen big with lots of skill and maxed out his athletic ability, whereas Romeo was a consensus top 5-10 recruit who played injured through only 30 college game and has a terrific set of measurable for an NBA guard.

Everyone is looking for the next Giannis. Sekou is closer to "three years away from being three years away" Bruno Caboclo than he is Giannis.

[Curmudgeon]

Well, it's "three years away" from Giannis (if you are lucky) vs. one year away from Wayne Selden. Take your pick.

[Slartibartfast]

Well, it's "three years away" from Giannis (if you are lucky) vs. one year away from Wayne Selden. Take your pick.

Doubling down on upperclassmen comps for Langford I see. Might as well throw in JR Giddens.

[Curmudgeon]

NBA and G-league benches are littered with 6-6 guys who were good in high school.

[Homerclease]

The Langford pick just smells like the Olynyk pick to me. Play it safe.

Play it safe would’ve been Brandon Clarke, Langford was the exact opposite of playing it safe, it’s just not the guy you wanted.

[Bleeding Green]

Well, it's "three years away" from Giannis (if you are lucky) vs. one year away from Wayne Selden. Take your pick.

It's three years away for Dragan Bender. One year away for Malcom Brogdon.

[grindtime22]

The Langford pick just smells like the Olynyk pick to me. Play it safe.

I can't even begin to see how those two equate in any way. Grant Williams.... okay, maybe

[Bluewhale]

Terrible pick? Well, I would certainly have taken Doumbouya, Bitadze and Samanic ahead of him. I may have taken Okeke ahead of him too, if I were satisfied that Okeke's ACL surgery went well.

But at this point, who knows about Langford?

IMHO, I am very tempted to put
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
into the list ahead of Romeo.
(Their measurements are very close...)

[FlatearthZorro]

Well, it's "three years away" from Giannis (if you are lucky) vs. one year away from Wayne Selden. Take your pick.

Doubling down on upperclassmen comps for Langford I see. Might as well throw in JR Giddens.

Giddens was 24 years old when we drafted him I believe.

[Gomes3PC]

NBA and G-league benches are littered with 6-6 guys who were good in high school.

Yup, and Europe's 2nd tier leagues are filled with teenagers who were drafted on potential and never made any impact in the NBA.

[Gomes3PC]

Well, it's "three years away" from Giannis (if you are lucky) vs. one year away from Wayne Selden. Take your pick.

It's three years away for Dragan Bender. One year away for Malcom Brogdon.

Or Bruno Caboclo, or Frank Ntilikina, or Anžejs Pasečņiks, or Thon Maker, or Papagiannis, or Yabu, or Zizic, or Luwawu, or Hezonja, or Exum...the list goes on.

The track record of 1st rd Euros over the last 5 years is pretty terrible. Yes there is Luka and Kristaps in there, but by and large there's been very few guys that have worked out well beyond them. Even a guy like Saric has just been kind of "a guy" when he was deemed as a demigod coming over after his Euro success.

[Bluewhale]

Both LUKA and Krisp put very good stats so they are top 5 pick

I thought only MVP are the YOUNG Euro (age<20) successes outside top 5 pick in past 7 year

[3D Chess]

TIL anywhere that isn't America is Europe.