Boston Celtics: 3 players that could be set for big breakout seasons

Boston Celtics breakout candidate No. 3: Romeo Langford

The problem with Romeo Langford for his first two seasons in Boston has always been his inability to stay healthy. Until he proves to be able to stay healthy, we won’t really be able to get a clear gauge on what Langford could become.

Luckily, he’s currently in the longest stretch of good health in his young Celtics career (fingers crossed it stays that way). Langford returned midway through last season from injury, and ended up finding himself with a pretty big role in the C’s lone playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets, primarily due to a lack of other options available for former head coach Brad Stevens. Langford also got a full offseason under his belt, including some big games during preseason action.

Despite also partaking in the Summer League tournament a few months back, Langford made the most noise during the preseason. He nailed a game-winning three in the opener against the Orlando Magic, and finished off the preseason slate with an impressive 18 point performance against the Miami Heat while shooting 7/9 from the field (and 4/6 on three pointers).

Langford’s inability to consistently knockdown the three ball has been something that has hampered his minutes on a nightly basis so far. But he managed to shoot quite effectively from behind the arc in preseason, going 8/15 (53 percent) over the four games. It’s admittedly a small sample size, but if Langford can translate this to the regular season games, he will become a key piece of the rotation in no time.

It was telling that once Brown was forced to miss time due to a positive COVID test, Langford got his spot in the starting lineup for the final three games. In many ways, Langford is similar to the guy he was called upon to fill in for. Coming out of college, Brown was regarded as a smooth finisher and tenacious defender who couldn’t yet shoot. Sounds pretty familiar to Langford’s profile if you ask me.

Once Brown found his three point shot, he became a bona-fide star. If Langford can do the same, who’s to say he can’t make that jump? Of course, staying health would help too, but this could finally be the season where Langford puts all the pieces together and develops into a solid contributor off the bench.