If you let Chris Lofton shoot, good things will happen. It's now become a question of opportunity.
#5 (in your programs at #37 this week) is in Orlando with the Boston Celtics summer league team, where they're playing games each night all week. After scorching the nets overseas, Lofton is making his second attempt at finding a spot on an NBA roster, and needs a good showing in Orlando.
On Monday, Lofton played 14 minutes off the bench on a Celtics team with lots of young talent. He went 3 of 5 (2 of 4 from 3) and scored 8 points in those 14 minutes, on a night where there were really no individual scoring standouts for the Celtics in an 87-56 blowout over Utah. Lofton was noted as being "very fluid"...
But last night against Orlando, Lofton only saw the floor for three minutes, going 1 for 2 from beyond the arc for his only bucket in an 85-82 loss to Orlando. I haven't watched these games (though you can each night at celtics.com), but the blowout nature of the first one seems to suggest to me that Lofton saw more minutes because the game was noncompetitive. That's unfortunate news for a guy who's done everything he can - landmark career at Tennessee, cancer survivor, record breaker in Turkey - to land a spot.
The league runs thru Friday night...hopefully Lofton gets more chances to show his touch between now and then, but his lack of quality minutes thus far has to be disappointing.
DAY 3 UPDATE
Well well...Lofton got more opportunity tonight, and he took advantage. Lofton went 4 of 5 from beyond the arc and dropped 15 points on OKC. The Celtics' second round draft pick, Lester Hudson of UT-Martin, who plays a similar style to Lofton, was injured with a broken finger and will miss the final two days of the league. Unfortunate for Hudson...but more opportunity for Lofton, who was mentioned specifically at the C's official site after tonight's game.