Lohensports

 Before I begin, I highly doubt many people were watching the tanking Raptors take on the Washington Wizards, but I am a sicko and I was. I wanted to give a quick shout out to Jamal Shead who had a nasty put-back poster dunk last night, something I wasn't aware he was even capable of. Any time your 6 foot tall point guard rises up for a dunk it should be celebrated, so Lohensports will acknowledge. Also a quick shout out to Brampton legend AJ Lawson who had a career high 32 points last night. That's right, we're in the stage of the Raptors season where AJ Lawson is dropping 30, I can't wait for next year. ANYWAY, I wouldn't have even known that NFL free agency opened yesterday if it wasn't for the flurry of notifications I received. A lot of it was fun and exciting, and a lot of it related directly to my Steelers. I won't be able to break down every move but I wanted to hop on here today to go over a few of the big ones, or the ones that struck me the most. ...

 The Steelers actually did something! Happy Monday everyone, we were once again approaching a Monday with my tanking Raptors and not much else for me to discuss when bam, Sunday night the notification comes in that the Steelers traded a 2025 second round pick for DK Metcalf. WR was at the top of my wish list for the Steelers this offseason and DK is one of the best in the world, I am thrilled to say the least. Lets break it down a bit! DK is WR1 in Pittsburgh And we've been begging for it. I went back and fourth on Pickens last season, for as talented as he clearly is, he didn't show up for some big games and his attitude issues are ever present. DK Metcalf brings an established, legit #1 option to Pittsburgh for the first time since Antonio Brown. There's definitely questions to ponder here, how will George Pickens take being pushed down to WR2? He hasn't exactly shown to be a calm and mature individual throughout his time in Pittsburgh, but then again introducing anot...

 Ok this is a post purely because everyone in my life is sick and tired of me talking about RJ Barrett so I needed to let it out. I don't usually post on a Friday, but I tried to post this stat to Reddit this morning and I got denied there as well LOL. Since this is MY blog where I make the rules, the RJ Barrett post will live on here:  Players Averaging 20+ Points, 5+ Assists and 5+ Rebounds and their Salaries Next Season Sorry for the ugly formatting. The point here is that yes 10 years ago RJ Barrett making almost $28m would've been a massive overpay. Today, he is the only player not on a rookie contract that is putting up these numbers. We are yet to see it lead to a winning season, but for fans to want to throw this away before we give it a chance is crazy to me! RJ is on a steal of a contract, is 24 years old and is fully bought into the team and the system. I hope I get to cheer him on in Toronto again next season.

 If you haven't noticed by now, I am sick of the tanking nonsense that has been sweeping the league this year. Evidently front offices, who are smarter than me, all believe this Cooper Flagg is generational enough to forego building a culture this year. Teams around the league are benching healthy starters, pulling guys late in close games and generally trying to suck for the chance to land a guy that could run their team for a decade. The dream is great, but with all these teams tanking, only 1 of them is going to end up with that dude. With that in mind, I wanted to try and calm the fanbase down by going over the best players the Raptors have ever had and discussing where they were drafted. I am going to use the top players by win shares for the Raptors to try and stay unbiased, but obviously guys with shorter stints like Kawhi are going to be left off this list. #1 Kyle Lowry - 24th Overall  The (undisputed?) GROAT Kyle Lowry was picked 24th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies...

 I love when an exciting game happens the night before when I was running out of ideas on what to write about, just gave me a nice built in excuse to talk about the Raptors. I am calling it right now, that was the game of the year for the Raptors. The other contender was the OT win against the Kings on Vince Carter jersey retirement night, but that didn't have the comedic appeal that this one had. With back to back wins over the Magic, I do have lots to talk about so lets get right into it.  Raptors Needed That One I know, I know, "we're tanking, we don't need any wins!" But hear me out here. For the entire game, the Magic were playing like thugs. In the first quarter Jonathan Mogbo exited the game with a face contusion after taking a Magic elbow to the face, the first transgression. By the third quarter, the Magic were just throwing bodies around trying to beat the Raptors up. Franz Wagner gave a flagrant foul by bashing RJ Barrett across the head for literally n...

  Outfield: B George Springer, Anthony Santander, Daulton Varsho, Myles Straw This outfield is definitely not perfect, but I do think it can be a strength for the Jays this year. George Springer is coming off a down season, and although he's aging there's hope he can have a bit of a bounce back. While he was a below average hitter (by OPS+) last season, he was still a positive defender sliding over to right field and overall graded out as a 1.1 WAR player. I don't expect George to be the Springer of old, but if he can get back to being decent at the plate this season it will go a long way.  Anthony Santander is a newcomer and someone I am nervous about. The Jays needed to address the offense this offseason and Santander is a guy coming off a 44 HR season in Baltimore. He's been an above average switch hitter with tons of pop for each of the last 3 seasons. The problem is he's 30 this season, only hits for power and is a negative defender even in left field. The Jays...

 We back! Just quickly before I dive back into baseball, Kyrie Irving suffered a pretty gnarly looking knee injury last night for the Mavericks, obviously not something you ever want to see. I don't want to make light of injuries, they do suck, but you have to think trading Luka Doncic at 25 years old had to have angered the basketball Gods in some way. I can't see any way that franchise isn't now cursed. Anyway, on to the final installment of my Blue Jays position grades, the pitching! This one is going to be the most fun because lets be honest, pitching is usually the biggest crapshoot in baseball. We'll know for sure what we have by like June, until then anything can happen. Regardless, lets take a stab at it! Starting Pitching: A+ Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassit, Max Scherzer, Bowden Francis, Alek Manoah? Screw it, I am being extra generous with this starting pitching staff, I actually think they'll be a major strength of the Jays. One of the big and s...