Romeo Langford's Boston Celtics debut: a video breakdown

It has been a long road back for Romeo Langford.

He broke a bone in his wrist while playing in the Orlando bubble, and the NBA's quick pivot to a December start to this season meant Langford's absence would stretch past the All-Star break instead of costing him maybe a month of the season. Then, when he was ready to make his return in March, he caught COVID-19.

"It hit me pretty hard. I felt like I had a really bad flu and then I ended up losing my taste and smell," Langford said after actually making his debut Sunday night against the Charlotte Hornets. "I really still can’t smell that much. So I wasn’t really allowed to do anything for two and a half weeks. So my main thing coming back was just getting my wind and getting my feel for the game and feeling the ball and stuff like that."

Langford played just about 12 minutes over two separate stints against the Hornets. Statistically, his night didn't look like much (3 points, 1-4 fg, 1-2 3pt, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block), but overall, he showed some real signs of being a helpful player for the stretch run.

"He was good, solid. Obviously, it’s nice to have him back out on the floor," Brad Stevens said. "After he caught the ball out of bounds on the first catch, I thought he did a lot of good things."

Yes, he joins the long list of Celtics to step out of bounds on the sidelines this year. But also, Stevens is right. He did do good things on the floor. Let's take a look.

His primary assignment was to cover guard Devonte' Graham and bother him with his size (Graham is 6'1", Langford is 6'4" ). The most notable early possession on Graham was this late first quarter chance:



This is a mostly good defensive possession when you take the situation into account. Langford hasn't defended an opposing NBA player in about eight months, so his technique is rough, but his reactions and instincts are good. The angle to get in front of Graham on the first drive is good, but the technique of turning his hips chasing is bad. He needs to slide laterally on this, but that's going to come with time. He actually, sort of, gets it right on the next change of direction, but then he turns a little too much again and runs past Graham. He still managed to challenge the shot, which is a testament to his natural ability.

That's something that can be easily cleaned up. What I like about it is that the basis of it all is good. There's moldable clay in this possession. Film and reps will fix this, but his mind is working the right way, and that's the most important thing right now.

However, since Langford has been out for so long, there will be mistakes. Something went wrong on this play, which Payton Pritchard is trying to relay to him:



Orlando runs what's called a ghost screen, which is when the player looks like he's going to set a pick, but he really runs past the defender. The goal is to get Pritchard to open up his hips in anticipation of the switch, and it works. The question here is whether Pritchard or Langford was confused about what to do. It looks like Pritchard was expecting a switch no matter what. Give Langford some more floor time, and this play will go a lot more smoothly.

Later in the second quarter, Langford got his first bucket of the season, a 3-pointer.



It starts with Langford not holding the ball forever. When things aren't developing, he takes the two dribbles to meet Evan Fournier at the top and reset things. After a handoff between Fournier and Grant Williams doesn't work, Langford rotates over to the top, all pretty standard stuff. He reads Brad Wanamaker taking a step back towards Williams and he takes the open jumper with :05 on the shot clock.

There's nothing overly special about this play other than after eight months on the shelf and playing with new teammates, Langford is still in the right spots doing the right things. Most of his time on offense was standing in the corner as a floor-spacer. In this play, he rotated up and took a confidence shot and his form (which was a concern when he was drafted) looked pretty good.

Here's another sign of just good recognition on offense:



Just watch Langford start in the right corner and, when every Hornets defender had their back turned, cut to the middle of the paint. Jayson Tatum was clearing out along the baseline, so Langford could have just rotated up to the hashmark, but instead he recognized an opportunity to cut to a soft spot in the defense.

Pritchard missed him, and the Celtics scored on this possession anyway, but Langford's instincts here are good. If he makes this cut (maybe if he makes it a little harder and presents himself better, too) with Marcus Smart on the floor, he gets the ball and the paint touch is either a scoring opportunity or he can turn and whip it to Tatum for a corner 3-pointer.

We're looking for signs of how Langford can help, and his recognition of this cut is a good one. It's a high IQ kind of play.

Let's get back to the defense for a couple of good examples of Langford's help defense.

The best, obviously, is this block on Miles Bridges.



This starts with positioning. His man is in the corner. The ball is on the opposite block. There is zero chance that the ball is going from the block to the opposite corner, so Langford can position himself deeper in the lane.

This is a little thing, but some guys might play that a little too far off the play, and being in that position shows good defensive awareness of the ball, his man, and where he can be.

His quick reaction and ability to stay vertical is very good. He played this pretty perfectly.

(Shout out to Grant Williams' positioning behind the play as well. He was in position to close out on either shooter should a pass have gone out that way.)

Here's another example of Langford's help defense instincts.



He's aware of the original pick-and-roll out on the left wing and is in position to take a charge if the roller got the ball. He's aware of his time in the paint, so he quickly gets out to reset the count, but is back in case the pass makes it over the top. Fournier got a hand on the ball, but Langford is right there on both attacks.

One more play here to highlight, and it's about Langford's effort.



He runs smack into the Cody Zeller pick, so Robert Williams picks up Wanamaker and challenges the layup. Watch Langford not give up on the play, and stick with Zeller to basically box him out from the 3-point line down to the baseline.

Considering Boston's penchant for giving up offensive rebounds, there's a strong chance Zeller at least gets a hand on this ball if Langford isn't putting in the effort to keep him away from the rim. Zeller certainly has an angle, space, and momentum. This very easily could have been a put-back slam. Instead, it's a Tatum rebound, which he turned into a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Granted, it was a 25 point game at the time, so it wouldn't have changed the outcome. But also, Langford is putting forth the effort in a 25 point game, which is nice to see.

How Langford ultimately helps is yet to be seen, but looking at what he was able to do in his debut, he could provide the Celtics when the things they need from him off the bench.

He showed good defensive instincts both on the ball and in help. He put forth the effort to make hustle plays that don't show up in a traditional box score. And, as an added bonus, he made a shot and showed he can make smart reads.

A lot of it needs refining, and he'll need to work at it to make some of these same plays against better players. But the foundation is there. If this truly is a building block for him and things do, indeed, go up from here, then he can be an important piece for the Celtics when it matters.