Romeo Langford was the lone Boston Celtics 2019 draft pick that didn't see any action during the Las Vegas Summer League. Langford, the 14th overall pick in the draft, was still recovering from thumb surgery that had plagued him during his time at Indiana, so he wasn't able to get on the floor.
However, it appears that Langford is making good progress in his recovery from injury. According to Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com, Langford said that his injured thumb is "basically" back to normal though he isn't participating in any contact drills.
“I haven’t done any contact still, but I’m going against coaches and stuff like that,” Langford said per Westerholm. “But I haven’t gone live against defenders."
Of course, going against live defenders will be an important step for Langford. But, the Celtics shouldn't feel the need to rush him into that type of action. And given the depth that they have on the roster, they won't need to.
The only concern that might pop up regarding Langford's return will surround what role he might play with the team. After all, the Celtics are deep and a lot of their young players proved to be worthy of spots in the rotation during summer league play. Despite this, Langford isn't worrying about what his role will be and is just focusing on getting better ahead of his rookie season.
"I’ve talked to (Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens), but not really focusing on who’s role is which," Langford said per Westerholm. "It’s really just about getting better right now, learning the concepts and schemes and the offense (Stevens) likes to run, and just getting back to 100 percent is the main thing. ... I’m learning concepts and stuff like that, but I’m just really working out, working where the coaches see me, what position I’ll play, and working on different things out of that spot."
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Langford will likely get some answers to where the coaches see him playing in the near future. It will be interesting to see how the first-round pick will factor into the Celtics' wing rotation once the NBA preseason begins.
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