A lethal lefty who entertained a generation of EuroLeague fans is back for a much-deserved honor.
Keith Langford: 'People hate when you shoot but they love when you score'
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Round 23 brings a special celebration to the Forum in Milan. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan has decided to honor Keith Langford as the new member of the club's Hall of Fame.
Even when Langford played in Milan for only two seasons, he led the team to win the 2013-14 Italian League title and to home-court advantage in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs the seam season. Milan lost against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and missed the chance to play the Final Four in its own arena but Langford was the competition's top scorer and was chosen to the 2013-14 All-EuroLeague First Team. Throughout his career, Langford set a high standard when it came to efficiency, scoring and stepping up every single night, becoming a mentor for some of the EuroLeague stars today, most notably AS Monaco guard Mike James.
Langford will attend Milan's Round 23 home game against FC Barcelona on Friday night, and the club is honoring him on social media all week long, posting pictures and videos using the hashtag #LangfordWeek. Of course, he will be joining illustrious company. The historic club's Hall of Fame includes Dino Meneghin, Mike D'Antoni, Bob McAdoo, Cesare Rubini, Sandro Gamba, Bill Bradley and, most recently, Gigi Datome, who was inducted soon after his retirement last summer. In a exclusive interview with EuroLeague.net, Langford discussed the honor and what it meant to be a EuroLeague scoring king.
Milan and that season kind of turned me from being like just a talented player to scratching the surface of being a great player."
"It's exciting, because one thing about being an American and playing in Europe a lot of times, when American guys leave, they're pretty much gone. And you just make room for the next, the next American, the next foreigner to come into that space," Langford said. "So to be honored and to go into a Hall of Fame, I don't take that lightly. Which is why, as soon as I got the letter and Milan reached out to me, I made it a point to make sure that I could come back and be in the arena for that."
Two important seasons in Milan
Langford looks back on his two seasons in Milan as having helped him become a better professional and a next-level player.
"I had already made my name as a player, but playing in Milan and that season kind of turned me from being like just a talented player to scratching the surface of being a great player," he recalled. "So I learned a lot, accomplished a lot and, unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay in Milan and see it through and have more opportunities to go to the Final Four. But man, I made some lifelong friends memories. And I really cherish that year because I learned so much and I had so much growth as a player and a person during that season. So it was special on and off the court."
Milan was Langford's second big shot to reach the Final Four. In 2012, Langford helped Maccabi reach the EuroLeague playoffs and its series went down to Game 5, a classic in which Panathinaikos prevailed 86-85. In 2014, Langford led Milan to a 10-4 Top 16 record and his team had the home-court advantage against his old team, Maccabi. In Game 1, Maccabi rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final 2 minutes of regulation to force overtime and steal the home-court advantage, winning the series 3-1. Looking back, Langford wishes he had more chances to make it to the Final Four.
"One thing I know about Europe is that great players, a lot of times, when guys go to the Final Four multiple times, multiple years, they get multiple opportunities with the same club," he said. "And so I don't necessarily regret not making the Final Four that season, but my biggest regret is probably that I didn't have four or five years playing with the same team to be able to give that team another chance. Because I think that before a team breaks through and wins a championship, they have a couple of big failures, and it's normal."
Mentor to a fraternity of Americans overseas
During that process, Langford was leading by example without noticing it himself. He was an unique type of player, a scoring machine with outstanding one-on-one moves highlighted by his deadly, left-handed step-back jumper. Langford was the first player in EuroLeague history to score 600 points in a season, which he did in the 2016-17 campaign with UNICS Kazan, needing just 28 games to reach that achievement and earn his second Top Scoring Trophy. At some point, Langford started to receive texts and messages from fellow Americans in the EuroLeague asking for tips and advice, with two future All-EuroLeague guard on top of the list.
"There was a point in time where I didn't even realize that guys looked at me in that way, and then all of a sudden there's a message comes to my phone and it's Mike James, a message comes to my phone, and it's Malcolm Delaney, really just asking questions about certain teams or different ways to operate business. And once that started happening, it made me open up more," Langford said.
The first time I saw Mike and he was playing in Baskonia, I was just like, Wow!"
"It made me open up more and be more willing to help guys, because for so long I just had blinders on and I was an assassin; I wanted to kill everything and everybody. And I had always told myself, I don't have time to be anybody's mentor or friend. But those guys of that caliber reaching out – and being humble enough to reach out to me – I had to. It was only right for me to return the favor. So I'm only using those two guys because they pop up in my mind first, but there were plenty of guys that I was able to help."
Parallels with Mike James
Langford sees James as an improved version of himself, a scoring guard able to do anything on the court.
"There was a time when being a scorer and being that aggressive and playing in that style in the EuroLeague was not that widely accepted. So I took a lot of risks early on in my career because it was a very negative connotation. Obviously, we know that the EuroLeague is very much team-oriented, and so when you see a guy who shoots a majority of the time, for people who don't understand basketball from the American side, it can be a difficult style to accept," Langford said. "So saying all that, the first time I saw Mike and he was playing in Baskonia, I was just like, 'Wow, here's the first player that I've seen that I think is just as or more talented than I am'."
With James being on the brink of becoming the EuroLeague's all-time top scorer, Langford praises the competition's change of format for allowing players to showcase their talent for an entire season.
"He's a fascinating scorer, unstoppable in my eyes. But the thing that's so interesting about Mike and to watch him is that he's able to now take advantage of having a full EuroLeague season regardless of the record. Because when I start first starting in EuroLeague, sometimes you would only get 10 games in that first round. And if you don't make it out of the first round, that's it for the year. So I really think with Mike's ability and the way the EuroLeague is formatted now, he has a chance to [take] this scoring record and be the scoring king like for many, many, many years to come."
'There really is a lot of love'
Langford has been through the same stuff James goes through on social media, too, hearing that fans don't agree with his playing style. Langford knows that if the ball goes in often enough, the critics will disappear.
"I know that guys that play in the style that we play is not always easy because there's a lot of criticism that comes along with it and there's a lot of discomfort from people at times. Me and Mike fall in the category of people hate when you shoot but they love when you score, you know what I mean? So it's kind of like you have to deal with that. You have to deal with that energy from the public at times. And so I think we both mastered that at different times in our career."
Langford is enjoying retirement now, having stepped away from the game on May 4, 2023, but thankful for the appreication and this is a great opportunity to be appreciated. Langford has stepped away from EuroLeague action a bit, realizing that people miss him and respect what he did on the court.
"Now that my career is over and sometimes, I get random messages or I get random tweets or something, and man, it makes you realize that, 'Wow, not everybody was negative the whole time'," he laughts. "I think the negative stuff gets the most attention. But there really is a lot of love. And there really is a lot more adoration out there for all of us, for all players, all journalists, all teams, all coaches."