“I was sure I would become a football player. Growing up, I only played football and that was the only thing that I really cared about. But at 11 years of age, I was in junior high school, my best friends, my group of friends, when football season was over, I saw them all going to the gym together. I asked where they were going. There were tryouts for the basketball team, they told me. I had no idea there was a try-out. I just followed my friends. This is how it all began, my journey in basketball.” Thus began the story of Keith Langford. He was 11 years old when he started playing and he went on until he was 39. Now he is 40 years old, and he is ready to officially declare himself retired.
He was one of the greatest Americans of the last 15 years of European basketball, he won national titles in Italy, Russia, Israel, Greece, he won European cups, best scorer championships twice in the EuroLeague, individual awards, making sure he was always respected for the talent, the total commitment. Keith Langford is a member of the Olimpia Hall of Fame for his impact in one of the best seasons in the club’s recent history, the year in which the drought of national titles was ended after 18 years. It was a special year for other reasons, too, the EuroLeague playoffs, the seven consecutive wins in the Top 16, the feeling that Olimpia was an almost unstoppable team, 21 wins in a row in the Italian league among other things. Here is Keith Langford’s confession, his satisfactions, some regrets, not many, his pride for what he has done while also fighting against stereotypes, against a weird career in which, after becoming a star at collegiate level, he had to restart from scratch and win everyone back in Europe.
Keith, you grew up in Texas, where football reigns, then you decided to play basketball but not at one of the big local universities. Why Kansas?
“From the time I started playing until I started getting recruited nobody expected to see me play at a school like Kansas. It was surreal. At that moment I just knew that I didn’t want to go too far from home, but I also didn’t want to stay in Texas. Kansas was the perfect distance, the perfect situation, but the funny thing is, I didn’t want to go there initially. I went to officially visit the University of Cincinnati before going to see Kansas. Bob Huggins was the coach. They had Kenyon Martin, Kenny Satterfield, Steve Logan, so many good players. At the end of the visit, I told Bob Huggins I was going to Cincinnati. I came back home. My next visit would be Kansas. I told my mom to cancel the trip because I told Coach Huggins, I was going to play for him, at Cincinnati. She looked me straight in the eyes and said: “No, you don’t. Next week you will visit Kansas, you will keep your word”. I didn’t want to go; I was sure I was going to Cincinnati. But when I saw Kansas, I had no doubts anymore.”
The head coach was Roy Williams.
“For me he is a celebrity. I consider him on the same level as Coach K, as Dean Smith, in the same stratosphere, a Hall of Famer, a classy man. Overall, it was a great experience.”
In your first year, as a freshman, Kansas returned to the Final Four after nine years.
“When I look back, I say it was a totally unexpected outcome. Even now when I talk to my son or to some kids about basketball, I always tell them that there is no way of knowing where you will be in a year, or in two years. Two years before I scored 20 points in an NCAA semifinal or played in the Final Four, two years before this, I wasn’t even a starter on my high school team. And I was playing in the post, at the 4 position. Getting to that point in about 24 months was so unexpected that I’m proud of it and looking back it was incredibly fun. Nobody expected it, it was a moment of genuine, organic, satisfaction.”
In 2003 you outscored Dwyane Wade in the NCAA semifinal, then you lost the final to Syracuse led by Carmelo Anthony in a heart-pounding game.
“I haven’t watched that game yet and I probably never will. It was another surreal moment because I didn’t think I could ever play a game like that. It’s funny how some things happen. Today that I’ve reached my fortieth birthday and to think that that game was twenty years ago, it’s incredible how time flies. Of course, it makes me think that if I had won that game, I might have been the MVP and I would have left school early, I would have gotten into the draft, and I probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking today. I probably would never have come to Europe; I would never have come to Milan. I don’t want to say what would have been better or if I wished anything different, but I am saying that I’m glad things turned out the way they did. Everything happens for a reason, and without that moment I wouldn’t be here and couldn’t accomplish what I accomplished. It was a very important moment in my career. That loss, I mean.”
In hindsight should you have left college after those two years?
“Absolutely, I was ready to leave school. I had spoken to some coaches, my coach spoke to a couple of agents, and also Coach Roy Williams was leaving Kansas to go to North Carolina. It was one more reason for me to wanting to leave. But in the end, I decided to stay with my teammates and try again to win the NCAA title given how close we had come the previous two years. The idea was to try one more time. Then I had a couple of injuries, a knee problem: all this created the conditions for what my career in Europe would have been.”
It is weird though that with your career, your wins, the coaches you have had, Bill Self after Roy Williams, you still weren’t picked in the NBA draft.
“It was weird because I came from a college like Kansas and when I left, I was the school’s sixth-best scorer ever. But I was 21 years old and had had three knee surgeries in seven months. Physically, I was considered damaged goods. At that point in my career, after so many injuries, I wanted to be drafted but at the same time I knew in the back of my mind that it probably wouldn’t happen. The fact that I was mentally prepared helped me stay solid, remind me that not being drafted doesn’t mean you can’t still have a good career.”
But thinking about how much you’ve improved over the years, for example as a defender or as a three-point shooter, have you wondered whether maybe you should have tried again later?
“Funny thing, maybe I’ve never told anyone publicly… Only to my wife. After the experience with Olimpia, when I was here in Milan, I had an opportunity to go to the NBA, a partially guaranteed contract offered by the Philadelphia 76ers. But I turned it down. I was 29, 30 years old, I had established myself here in Europe, I had built a name for myself, they paid me well here and I had no reason to leave. If they had offered me the role of a starter, or significant minutes or a significant contract, maybe I would have accepted, but under those conditions I felt able to say no to Philadelphia. At that time, my career was fulfilling, and I had no intention of going back. And for me, starting to look for a place in the NBA again would have been like taking a step back, because I knew that in the NBA, I could never be the player I was in Europe, in the EuroLeague.”
The aspect you should be the proudest of is that you had achieved a lot at Kansas, but in Europe you had to start from the second division, from Cremona, only to climb all the steps once again.
“One thing I tell young players, a story they should make their own: when I went to Cremona, Andrea Trinchieri, who is now famous but at the time he coached in Cremona, and my agent clearly told me that I was a talented player but I was not ready to play at the highest level in Europa. I had the chance to go to Alba Berlin back then, but they told me that I was talented, but I needed to understand the game in Europe, understand how-to live-in Europe, understand the European mentality, the mindset. So, I had to go to Cremona not only because I would play but also because there I would learn how to live, how to be a professional in Europe. It was one of the best advice I ever received, I made it my own and applied that lesson to every step of my career.”
Bologna represented the turning point of your European career, right?
“Bologna is the place where I made a name for myself. I have to give credit to Matteo Boniciolli, my coach. If he sees this, I want to tell him that I love him. He had a big impact on my career. Boniciolli and Tonino Zorzi. I played with Earl Boykins, Jamie Arnold, Sharrod Ford, Petteri Koponen. We had a very good team. When he came, in our first meeting he immediately told me that I would come off the bench. I was like, oh, no… I’ll have to come off the bench. But he added: you will come off the bench but, on the court, I want you to be Keith Langford, I want you to show people how much talent you have, your skills, I will give you the opportunity to do it. From that moment, from the first moment, everything fit. The style of play, the mentality.”
In America are you able to explain your career, make people understand what you did in Europe? That not having made it in the NBA doesn’t mean you didn’t have a great career? Even Kyle Hines says it’s complicated.
“It’s an interesting fact, but no, people in America don’t really understand. When I talk to someone, they don’t understand until they see me again. Because, afterwards, they go to Google, watch YouTube videos, go on Wikipedia. And then they say “hey, but you didn’t tell me that you had done this, won that, etc”. And then they begin to understand. But in America, especially in basketball, or in sports in general, they tend to think that if you haven’t done something in the NBA, you can’t have done much elsewhere. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. I came to Europe, I left a legacy, I became a legend in my own way, and I wouldn’t change this for anything in the world. No, I would never do that.”
From Bologna, you moved on to Khimki, made your EuroLeague debut and lived in Russia, in Moscow.
“I was telling this story the other day. When I signed for Khimki, they told me it wouldn’t be a safe place, Russia. So, I went to the internet, in those days Google existed but it wasn’t like now, the information wasn’t immediately reliable as it is now. And I came across some stories about Khimik, which was another team, in Ukraine. There I had a few moments of panic, I wondered what I had done, if I would be safe, what problem I got myself into. But then I came to Moscow and from the first day, I can now say that it was a great experience. The team, the lifestyle, the restaurants, the very high level of basketball played, an exceptional environment. People look at me strangely when I say that Moscow was one of the best experiences I’ve had. Now, basketball in Russia, the VTB League are things that are missing due to everything that has unfortunately happened, but my experience there was a positive one.”
How was the experience at Maccabi: when Olimpia played the playoffs in Tel Aviv I received a hero’s welcome.
“Maccabi, especially after what had happened at the end of my stay at Khimki – I had a situation with the coach who came in and they had released me, so I stayed at home for a couple of months when I received the call from David Blatt –, Maccabi saved my career. I don’t know otherwise what would have happened, I wasn’t getting many calls from teams, and going to Maccabi, in that environment, the fans, my teammates, the coaches, was exactly what I needed at that time. If it hadn’t been for the call from Milan, I would have happily spent I don’t know how many years at Maccabi. It was an environment that I liked, that I loved, and from a basketball standpoint, I really think it saved my career.”
So, let’s talk about Milan and a first year in which what didn’t work?
“Nothing worked, but I think it was a matter of timing because, if you look at the names on that roster, historically it may have been one of the best rosters you can find on a EuroLeague team. Ioannis Bourousis, Antonis Fotsis, Omar Cook, Keith Langford, Malik Hairston, Gentile, Melli. You have it all: bonafide stars, NBA draft picks, EuroLeague legends, EuroLeague champions, there was a coach (Sergio Scariolo-nda) who have won everything. I think on paper it was a perfect roster. But we weren’t on the same page at the time, we had a group of talented players, making a lot of money, and they all had different goals in mind. And at that time I don’t think Milan had the winning culture that was needed. We tried to figure out how to make it work, but in difficult times each of us went our separate way. It’s been frustrating: we didn’t understand that we could have been a special team. Yes, we really didn’t understand it.”
In your second year in Milan you played at incredible levels. What had changed?
“Many things changed in that second season, but mostly I changed my way of training, I changed the way I prepared, and for the first time I brought my personal trainer with me. he stayed with me all year long after preparing me in the summer. I also have to give credit to Luca Banchi: he arrived and brought with him the winning culture they had in Siena, the energy, the mindset, the mentality, a player like David Moss, and gave the team an identity. And another thing that allowed the team to really click was the coming of Daniel Hackett from Siena in the middle of the season. The team had been built in such a way as to allow me to maximize for the first time in my career everything I had learned, what I had worked for, the experience I had gained. Everything happened at the same time, it was the perfect storm. I was focusedm hungry as a player and at that moment I felt my time had come. As I said, I built my name in Bologna but in Milan I learned how to be truly great.”
At one point Olimpia won seven games in a row in the Top 16. They looked like the best team in Europe.
“I remember the game we played in Baskonia. We were playing to qualify. I remember that game, but even before that game, because I thought we were going to win that game and get into the playoffs and in my head I said to myself “We can play with anyone”. We had it all: experience, scorers, size, talent, everything. And I thought no one could stop us. I thought this was what I had been waiting for my whole career.”
Instead, you faced Maccabi ironically, the eventual champions. You were coming off an injury and Ale Gentile couldn’t play because of another one.
“I don’t want to take anything away from what Maccabi did tha season. Coach Blatt is who he is for a reason. Tyrese Rice: that was his coming-out party, the moment he showed who he was, becoming what he became. But it was tough because when we got there we no longer had the team we had during the Top 16 run. Health is crucial. Earlier, I was talking about the Baskonia game: at the end of that game I pulled my hamstring. Then Ale (Gentile) got hurt. All this put us a little out of rhythm. And when I think about that moment, this is what hurts me the most: I wish I had had another chance with that team. That is the biggest regret, much more than a missed shot, a mistake, a turnover that cost us the games. I would have liked to try again with that team. This is the hardest pill to swallow.”
Then came the scudetto, the first after 18 years. It was won after a much complicated run, perhaps more than expected. What did you feel after the Game 5 loss in the championship series, when Siena went ahead 3-2 with Game 6 at home.
“Now I can be honest about this series. I thought, we all thought it, no I can’t speak for everyone but a few of us, myself included, thought we would beat Siena and go home, win the title and go home. We thought it would be 4-1, maybe 4-0. We had too much confidence in ourselves, we thought it wouldn’t be easy but that if we played as we knew how to play, we would win. When we lost Game 5, doubts started to bother us. I have to give credit to Ale. He was a kid at the time. But he didn’t want to lose, his competitive spirit could be seen in his eyes. You could see how much it meant to him, how important it was. After the defeat, seeing him, we recharged. And so we found a way to win Game 6. Curtis Jerrells got a lot of credit for that shot, I got a lot of credit for the season that I had, but in that series Ale Gentile was our leader. He deserved the MVP award. He was our driving force.”
Game 6, last possession, Curtis Jerrells had the ball in his hands. Tied score. He doesn’t pass it to anyone and makes the winning basket. You were the first to run at him.
“Yes, I was the first and I was the first because I was pissed off, I wanted the ball! If you watch the video, Ale wanted the ball, I wanted the ball and Curtis waved us off. Curtis, Curtis… Ale called him. But Curtis got to his spot. I looked at the picture earlier and you can see the ball on the tips of his fingertips. It was a relief. I was happy for Curtis, but most of all it was a relief, because everything we had worked for for ten months seemed almost gone. But in an instant we were back to living again. There I thought that there was absolutely no way not to win the championship.”
In Game 7, after the win, people stormed onto the court. We have never seen so much happiness in such a small space. If you look at the pictures: the stands are full, but so is the court!
“Yes, it was dangerous. I had my son with me. He was one year old then, but he never cried, never made facial expressions, and he was there watching everything that was happening. I was in the middle, there were people everywhere, fans pulling me to one side, pulling my jersey, the uniform, everything. I’ve never seen anything like it. We talked about Maccabi, Bologna, Kansas, but that moment, the Italians, the Milan faithful… I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. It almost makes me cry thinking about it. I’ve never experienced anything like it. When you retire those are the moments you really miss. You will never experience a moment like that again. Incredible, it was incredible.”
Did the great career that Nicolò Melli had after that season surprise you?
“When he was in Milan, Melli was a specimen physically. He was a kid but physically he was incredible, you could throw him into a jungle and he would come out as Tarzan. But when I was in Russia, I saw from afar what he was doing in Bamberg, we even played against each other, I followed him carefully. And after that season in Bamberg nothing he did surprised me anymore, I saw it,I felt him playing against him. The Melli I knew in Milan would have made me shocked by how good he is, but after Bamberg his whole career makes a lot of sense.”
And did you expect more from Ale Gentile?
“Ale and I lost touch after a while. But I have never felt the connection with a teammate in Europe that I had with Ale. I’m no genius or guru, but I really think that when he was drafted by the Rockets, he should have gone. I told him immediately after the draft: go, go, you can always go back to Italy, you will always have a home here. But I can understand: he was young, he had just won the scudetto, in Italy he was a megastar at that time. I understand. The last thing I want to say, and I know they will think I’m crazy, but Gentile could have been Luka Doncic before Luka Doncic. The things that Luka did in Madrid, I think Ale could have done in Milan. He was that kind of talent.”
Ok, Keith, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Olimpia made a huge mistake in letting you go after the championship.
“From a business standpoint, I understand why I didn’t stay. I was 30 years old, I was making a lot of money and Milan had many young players, Gentile, Hackett. I understand the process: they thought they’d find another scorer and pay him less, because they had the future at home. So, again, I understand why I didn’t stay. But what’s frustrating is, if you look at all the great players, Spanoulis, Holden, Langdon, this type of players stayed with the same team, five, six, seven years, they could find their rhythm, develop a culture, a mentality. When I left I thought it would be difficult to return so close to a Final Four, to find another situation like the one we had in Milan. It was difficult, it was hard to be let go, but I understood what they were doing. But what people don’t know is this: two years later, they called me back and asked me to come back. It made me feel good. We were very close to my return but I had a contract in Russia and it was hard to get out. If I had been free, if we had been at the end of the season I would have accepted in a second. In the end, leaving was tough, but when they tried to bring me back it was like closing a circle. It made me feel good.”
You were able to play at a very high level until being 39. What has been the secret to your longevity?
“There comes a time when every day you have to do something, you have to find the right balance. You can’t rest too long and you can’t push yourself too hard. At a certain point I found the correct balance. It all started before the 2013/14 season when I started using my trainer all year round, always with me, to maintain the same rhythm, the same dynamics, every season, from recovery to everything else, because I had more support every day, two extra hands, extra eyes. I think this was important. But for me I enjoyed playing the game, mentally there was nothing I wanted to do more than play basketball.”
There is an unofficial statistic, but someone counted and found out that you are the American player who has scored the most points in Europe regardless of the leagues in which he played.
“It was Nikos Zisis who told me, who told me that I was the American player who scored the most points in Europe. It floored me. I obviously never played for that, I played to be the best version of myself that I could be. When I heard this I started thinking about all the great American players who have been here, from Trajan Langdon to Marcus Brown. With all the great players who have come to Europe, finding myself at the top is something that on the one hand floored me and on the other hand made me proud. And now can I say which NBA are we talking about? I am the best American scorer in the history of European basketball! I think Mike James is the first now, but having been the first at some point, is an incredible feeling.”
What did the Keith Langford Night in Milan mean for you?
“I once had a teammate, Jamie Arnold. He was over thirty, I was very young. I remember him saying that he wanted to put the finishing touches on what he called his legacy. I wasn’t even listening to him, I didn’t understand what he was talking about, the legacy of an American player here in Europe? I didn’t understand. But now, coming back here to Milan after ten years, ten years of not playing here in Milan, I understand well what it means to leave a legacy, to have had an impact. I didn’t play for this, but now I can say it’s the proudest moment of my entire career. I haven’t always been perfect, I haven’t done everything right, but for the people here to think that I deserved this return floors me. This is why we play.”
What are you doing now, Keith?
“I’m a basketball junkie, I coach my son’s team, I work with some high school kids, I do some developmental stuff. I do what I can to go to the gym, maybe I play one on one and it’s funny because, afterwards, they ask me if I’m sure I haven’t played somewhere. And I answer that yes many years ago I played a bit, I never tell the whole story. I’m lucky because I’ve earned enough during my career that now I don’t have to look for a job, I can organize my days as I want. One day I can work with a kid, another day I play, another I coach my son, but I’m always in the gym. If you come to Austin, Texas, and you need me you can find me hooping somewhere. This is what I am.”
