Boston Celtics: the argument for and against trading Romeo Langford

Argument for trading Romeo Langford

When one thinks of the current state of the Boston Celtics roster, it’s hard not to think about their main positional strength: the wing. As alluded to in the previous slide, the C’s have a roster consisting of quite a few quality players at this position including All-Star Jayson Tatum, arguable All-Star snub Jaylen Brown, former All-Star Gordon Hayward and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Marcus Smart.

All four of these players — alongside Kemba Walker — make up the core of this 43-21 team and record the four most minutes per game averages as well (30+ minutes a night).

With the fact that they all have proven to be integral to Boston’s lineup and are given the most playing time, frankly, where does that leave a guy like Romeo Langford moving forward?

Don’t get me wrong, many of us here at the Houdini have faith that the 20 year old rookie has the potential to be a quality player in this league down the road; that is, however, if given the opportunity.

Sitting behind all of these aforementioned players restricts the on court experience a talent like Langford needs to develop his raw set of skills which, in turn, could seriously hinder his progression.

While the team is still incredibly young — overall average age is around 24 years old — they appear ready to compete for championships now. With the fact that there are still a few areas of weakness in the team’s rotation — backup point guard, center depth, etc. — they should look into any way of bolstering the roster.

Truth be told, Romeo Langford seems like the most likely, and most realistic trade asset — outside of picks from this upcoming draft — Danny Ainge could dangle in a deal to acquire some much needed help at some of the previously mentioned weak areas.

Though his rookie year may have proven to be a little underwhelming — averaged 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game — the wings did manage to show flashes of what could be from time to time, especially against the Atlanta Hawks on February 7th where he dropped 16 points and nabbed five boards and three blocks on 45 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from deep.

With the fact that he is still on his rookie deal, has actually shown to be serviceable when given increased minutes (registered 29 in the game against Atlanta) teams could very easily prove to be intrigued at the idea of bringing this 2019 lottery selection on board.

If it meant the Celtics could bring back a player at a position that could have an even greater impact on their chances of winning now — Mo Bamba, Lauri Markkanen, Spencer Dinwiddie, etc. — it could prove to be totally worth it for Boston to shop Langford.