Lohensports

 I totally thought things would slow down for me after the finals ended and all that was on was baseball. I was wrong, free agency has been lots of fun to follow so far and my Steelers made a big move this past weekend as well! We'll get to the Steelers in more detail later, but initial thoughts are it's interesting. I don't know enough to judge a safety if I'm being honest, but Minkah Fitzpatrick was at one point one of the best safeties in the league. That being said, the Steelers got back Jalen Ramsey who's getting older but is really fun and Jonnu Smith who's a solid tight end. Steelers are all in on old guys I can't wait to see how it plays out. Anyway, today is a basketball post! I'll probably continue my thoughts tomorrow with some of the stuff I missed today.  Raptors Sign Sandro Mamukelashvili, Extend Poeltl Say that 10 times fast. Obviously the talk of the NBA was surrounding the Toronto Raptors adding a stretch big on day 2 of free agency, a m...

 I debated putting this post off until I've had more time to digest the news. I've also got some personal life things going on that make it harder to be sad about basketball stuff, lol. That being said, the Raptors are my favorite distraction in the world, and they did just do something wildly controversial on Friday that demands response from Lohensports. On Friday morning, the Raptors announced they'd be parting ways with team president Masai Ujiri after 13 seasons with the team. Many in Toronto regarded Masai as one of the best executives in all of sports. The Raptors had the most successful 13 year stretch by a long shot with Masai at the helm, and the departure came as a bit of a shock. In this post I am not going to cover why or how this happened, I'd just be speculating anyway and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter why. I wanted to take this time to go over some of my favorite moves that Masai made during his tenure as the Raptors president, which...

 NBA draft night! It's always funny to see the reactions the fans have to the guy that their team picks. The Raptors fans in particular fall in love with certain guys, then the hive mind gets behind them and when the guy isn't picked, the fans riot. I remember when Scottie Barnes was picked the fanbase was clamoring for Jalen Suggs. Obviously the fans were wrong, maybe the front office knows what they're doing? The same thing happened last night when the fans were all geared up to take 7 footer Khaman Maluach who was still on the board at 9. Adam Silver went to the podium and announced the Raptors would be taking Collin Murray-Boyles, a 6'7 forward. The fan reaction was mixed to say the least, and that encourages me more than anything. I've got thoughts on some other draft picks as well that I can't wait to get into! Before I do though, let me just say that I am far from a draft expert. I have barely watched any of these guys and everything I "know" ab...

 Here I was thinking that the NBA finals would end and I'd be left with nothing to write about. After I wrote my post yesterday about the Celtics/Blazers and Rockets/Suns trades, 2 more trades went down that are noteworthy enough for me to discuss. I'll do the exact same format as yesterday, why not! Tonight is the NBA draft so I guarantee Thursday will be an easy day for ideas. The week's shaped up pretty well if you ask me! Trades to discuss are below: Trade 1:  Wizards get: CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk, second round pick Pelicans get: Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, second round pick Trade 2:  Hawks get: Kristaps Porzingis Celtics get: Georges Niang, Hawks second round pick Nets get: Terrence Mann, #22 overall pick in 2025 Washington Wizards I don't know, I guess I wanted to start with the best player since I have 5 teams to go over. I kind of like this move for Washington. After trading Kyle Kuzma at the trade deadline, the Wizards now move off of Jordan Poole and they can b...

 As much as I try to fight it, this is what the NBA is really about. We had a fairly major trade go down on the day of game 7 of the NBA finals, it's what the league wants us to focus on evidently. Out of respect for the champs, I held off on discussing the KD trade until today, as a result I was hit with another trade to talk about! I think I am going to just quickly talk about all the teams involved and how I view them going forward. The two trades to look at today are:  Trade 1 Rockets get: Kevin Durant Suns get: Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, 10th overall pick this year, 5 second round picks Trade 2 Trail Blazers get: Jrue Holiday Celtics get: Anfernee Simons, 2 second round picks Rockets I love the KD deal for Houston! Starting with what they lost, as a Canadian I am a big Dillon Brooks fan. He does frequently get his team into trouble by egging on opposing superstars, but other than that he's a great defender and emotional energy guy on every team he's been on and I'...

 What a series, what a playoffs, and it's all over now with a new NBA champion crowned. In classic NBA fashion, a major trade was announced hours before the biggest game of the season, god forbid actual basketball dominate the conversation. Out of respect for the champs, I am not going to be talking about KD today, there's plenty of off season to go over that, we'll focus solely on game 7 and the new undisputed Canadian GOAT Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Plenty to get into so lets dive in! Defense Wins Championships This OKC team has been probably the most frustrating team to play against in the league this year. They don't really have a high powered offense, they rely a lot on Shai to be amazing which he consistently is. They hang their hats on their defense, and for good reason. Last night in the first half, Tyrese Haliburton went down with a devastating injury which we'll get to later. The Pacers managed to hang on though playing some incredible defense themselves. No...

 The Pacers just shocked the world blowing out OKC in game 6 to force a game 7 in the NBA finals. A series that every talking head I could find called OKC in 4 or 5 is now going to a game 7. With that in mind, it's about time I do a whole post on Pascal Siakam. Whether they win game 7 or not, Siakam should be incredibly proud of the season and post-season that he's put together. I am thrilled to see a Raptors legend doing it on the biggest stage, and today we give him all the flowers.  In the 2015-2016 NBA season, the Toronto Raptors had their best season as a franchise to date. They made the conference finals and took LeBron and Kyrie's Cavs to 6 games. Still there was a glaring hole on the roster at power forward. That season the PF rotation was a 36 year old Luis Scola and Patrick Patterson, neither were long term solutions. In the 2016 offseason the Raptors signed Jarred Sullinger to fill that hole. They also spent the 27th pick in the draft on Pascal Siakam, a guy who ...