The Utah Jazz calling up Kenneth Lofton finally gives fans a fun reason to watch
By Chad Porto
There aren't a lot of reasons to watch the Utah Jazz these days. The action on the court is bad, the rookies, save for maybe Keyonte George, are playing poorly and the lone star the club has, Lauri Markkanen, is likely to miss most of the remaining season just so the club can lose a few more games. The idea of the club being nearly unwatchable at this point isn't unfair to suggest.
The team is the 29th worst defensive squad in the league and only falling further with each passing game and the effort isn't there. Yes, the team is trying to lose, which is great for Danny Ainge, but watching unwatchable basketball doesn't help the fanbase at all. So thank goodness the Jazz have finally opted to bring up Kenneth Lofton.
With Markkanen, Omer Yurtseven, and Jordan Clarkson likely out against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, the Jazz have made the call to bring up Lofton and Darius Bazley to fill out the roster. This means that Lofton may actually get some minutes. With Yurtseven potentially out, Micha Potter not making a ton of noise, Walker Kessler never getting consistent minutes and John Collins just being awful on defense, the odds of seeing Lofton are high.
Maybe not high enough to guarantee to see him play, but one would hope that Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy is smart enough to know why fans are watching right now, to see some of the young players go off.
And go off Lofton has. So far Lofton has gone off for the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz's G-League affiliate. There, Lofton has scored 26.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and has done all that on 57% shooting from the floor.
But that's not all. Against the G-League Ignite on Friday, Lofton dropped 52 points on them, the highest of his career. He also added 16 rebounds and five assists on the night as well. Lofton has made noise in the G-League and deserves a chance to prove he can do the same type of damage to NBA teams.