Chris Lofton

6th: - Iowa Energy - Chris Lofton, Tennessee

Chris Lofton is probably the best shooter in this draft, or any draft. He's only 6'2, which is roughly Eddie House size, and he shoots the ball comparably to House. Not as quickly, but almost as well. Lofton, a testicular cancer survivor, played in Spain last year, splitting time between Caja Laboral and Estudiantes Madrid and averaging 12.7ppg in ACB play. And in Turkey in 2008/09, Lofton played for Mersin and averaged 20 points per game, highlighted by a 61 point outing that included 17 made three pointers. If you weren't convinced by the explicit House comparison of above, then maybe that will validate it. However, he doesn't do much other than shoot jumpshots; he's not a threat around the basket, he doesn't rebound or create, he's not particularly good defensively, and he's also not exceptionally quick. And while his jump shot is always good, his shot selection sometimes isn't. Lofton, therefore, is still a bit of a one trick pony.

It's a hell of a trick, though.

- Chris Lofton

Lofton is not having as good of a year this year as he did last year. Then again, having as good of a year as he did last year is basically impossible. Last year in Turkey, Lofton averaged 20.2 points per game, an average boosted in particular by two games. On February 8th 2009, Lofton posted 47 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, shooting 3-5 from two point range, 2-2 from the foul line, and 13-20 from three point range, doing a damn fine Damon-Stoudamire-when-the-Blazers-were-tanking-that-time impression. He bested it a few weeks later on April 25th, when he totalled 61 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals in a win over Koleji, shooting 4-6 from two point range, 2-2 from the foul line, and 17-22 from three point range. If you didn't know what kind of player Chris Lofton was before this, you can probably tell now.

These performances attracted the attention of the NBA, and Lofton had a stint with the Boston Celtics in summer league this year. He again shot the ball incredibly well, going 15-25 from three point range in 5 games, yet he also put up only 3 assists in that time (as a 6'2 guard), and the Celtics passed on signing the next Eddie House. (Perhaps in part because they already had Eddie House.) Lofton then moved to Spain to sign a short term contract with Caja Laboral, and moved to Estudiantes Madrid after it expired. On the season he is averaging 12.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists, shooting 36% from three point range. His highest scoring output of the year has been a mere 25.