Langford braces for distant return
The summer before his rookie season, while still recovering from surgery on his right thumb and in need of some work on his shooting form, Romeo Langford began work with a ping pong paddle taped to his left hand.
The idea came from Celtics assistant Joe Mazzulla, under reasoning that the paddle would prevent the rookie’s guide hand from getting too much in the way of the shot — a contributing factor to Langford’s flawed mechanics. Mazzulla’s creation seemed to work. Though injuries would continue to pockmark Langford’s rookie season — finally shelving it entirely when he tore wrist ligaments during the playoffs — his jumper did indeed seem to improve.
Though Langford is back in the laboratory with Mazzulla at the start of training camp, the reason is not a good one. Now recovering from wrist surgery and not expected back until sometime near midseason in February, the secondyear wing is once again working off to the side.
A hard cast was removed from the wrist Wednesday, but beyond conditioning and strength work, Langford is limited to improving his left hand.
“We haven’t done anything too crazy like ping pong paddle when I first got here. Just basically like the basic things, just different passing, different dribbling, and then a lot of footwork exercises and workouts when it comes to dribbling,” he said. “(Mazzulla) has me using hurdles and the speed ladder while I’m dribbling with my left hand. Stuff like that.”
But if Langford’s return seems more complicated than his recovery window would indicate, that’s because the COVID-shaded 202021 season is unlike any other. The Celtics are debating whether to opt in to the NBA’s G-League bubble plan. If there is not a Red Claws season this winter, an important option will be eliminated for players like Langford who would normally have their first post-recovery competition in the G-League.
The shortened schedule means that roughly half a season will have elapsed before Langford can play again. At that point roles will be filled and minutes reduced once Kemba Walker returns to action in January.
“Obviously he will not have played any five-on-five until — you know, he’s still a ways away from that, let alone one-on-one and two-on-two and different progression steps you usually take at the end of a long rehab plan,” said Brad Stevens. “I think we go into the season looking at it from the standpoint that Romeo will be an addition midseason to our team. We’re doing everything we can to keep him working, from the weights, to different film and video, to solely working on his left hand.
“That gets old, and I think one of the great challenges that he’ll do well with is maintaining the right mindset through all of the mundane work, and that’s one of the challenges, I think, with long rehabs is that guys get into a rut very easily,” said the Celtics coach. “And so he and Joe Mazzulla work together; they have a great relationship. Joe does a great job keeping things fresh and that’ll be a great challenge over the next couple months as he goes through that. And once he’s ready, we’ll see where he fits in with the team we have.”
Langford is second guessing his decision, however, to delay having surgery. He continued to play with the injury in the Orlando bubble, until a groin strain ended his run for good in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami.
“When I was going into surgery, I was hoping, and thought, the season would start no earlier than January so I wouldn’t miss as much of the season as I’m going to now because it’s starting in mid-December,” said Langford. “But I was getting surgery either way. I was really just hoping that it wasn’t going to start as soon as it did so I wouldn’t be missing as much of the season as I’m going to miss now that it’s starting now. I think that’s why I didn’t really get surgery as soon as I realized that I needed surgery, which was back in September, so like a couple of games or a game before the playoffs started. Knowing that maybe I probably would have gotten the surgery done a little bit earlier, so I wouldn’t miss as much as I am now.”
He has another hope now, or maybe it’s more like a prayer. He’s getting his injury allotment out of the way early.
“Hopefully I’m getting these injuries out of the way right now, and not worry about it anymore when I get down the road in my career,” he said. “Really it helps me to give it more time, watch more film, see the game, work on different things that need to improve, so that when I get back out everything isn’t all new, and I’m well-prepared and well-studied on things.
“I just have to get the strength back in my wrist, and once I’m done with that, that’s when I start shooting, dribbling,” he said. “I’ve been doing other things without my right hand. I feel like I’ve been getting in shape, running, still doing a lot of left-hand workouts, and still in the weight room. Getting in shape isn’t one of the hard things with this rehab process with my right wrist.”
But Stevens has faith in the player he expects to eventually emerge from this long tunnel.
“I think Romeo is going to be an NBA player for a long time,” said the Celtics coach. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. He’s got a great feel. He’s got a great athleticism. He knows the game, he works at the game, he’s a very good worker.
“So I think about it more in terms of he’s just missing half of his second season, or whatever it is, and I think that that’s hard when you already went through injuries as a rookie. You know, he (was injured) a minute into the stint versus Miami, so like, that’s frustrating. But as far as big-picture, long-term, I would venture to guess that he’s going to have a long career based on who he is, his work ethic, and his ability. Now, that said, the best ability is availability. But at the same time, he’s still a young guy and a lot of these have been freak injuries. So hopefully he’ll use all his bad luck now and have a great, healthy career after this.”