Top 10 Moves of 2009 - Trades and Signings
by Tim Furious
Top-10 Moves of 2009 - Trades and Signings
10. Trevor Ariza Signs With Rockets, Artest To Lakers
This could easily make the list of “worst moves of 2009” for either team, but the Rockets got a productive team player at an insane value. Ariza and the Rockets will be in the 2010 NBA Playoffs picture, and Ariza’s unselfish play has molded extremely well with Houston’s need for team ball as McGrady and Yao fall off the grid.
The Lakers let Ariza go in the wake of a championship to end the 2008-09 season and replaced him with a fat contract for a crowd punching, pantsless lunatic. Are they complaining? Not with the best record in the entire league they’re not.
9. Jennings To Milwaukee With Tenth Pick
Rarely does an NBA team gunning after a reportedly selfish, ball hogging, immature, me-first rookie with an attitude problem, it turns out as expected. Not in the case of Jennings, who fell to tenth in the 2009 draft as Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Demar DeRozan, Stephen Curry and James Harden were all guards drafted ahead of him. Jennings now leads all rookies as the candidate for Rookie of the Year and made headlines when he dropped 55-points on Golden State earlier this year. On top of that, he’s shown professionalism, poise and maturity which was somehow overlooked during the scouting process by six teams in need of a score-first guard.
8. Heatley To Sharks
Heatley whined his way out of Ottawa and somehow landed on one of the best regular season teams in the entire NHL. San Jose is one of those teams that also combusts in the playoffs every year so all you rightful Heatley Haters will enjoy watching him flounder in the playoffs. If they somehow rally past Detroit or Chicago, then Heatley will prove that if you don’t like how things are going during the off-season, you can just bitch and moan your way on to a better team. Great lesson for the kids.
7. Sedin’s Resign In Vancouver
6. Lions Draft Matthew Stafford
Two players from the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft made the Pro Bowl. Mark Sanchez and Knowshon Moreno could make the playoffs depending on Week 17 turns out. Percy Harvin is a standout utility weapon for Brett Favre and the Vikings. Yet it’s Stafford’s drafting to the Lions which proves as the best pick of the draft.
Why?
Watch the Cleveland-Detroit game from this season and watch Stafford limp back on the field and throw the game winning touchdown after he separates his left shoulder. I repeat: after he separates his left shoulder. If any team deserved a guy who’s willing to put himself on the line, it’s the Lions.
5. Jamal Crawford Signs With Atlanta
The signing of Crawford was supposed to serve as a safety net if Bibby walked during free agency. Well Bibby ended up staying and bringing on Crawford to bolster a young lineup of upstarts has turned out to be the best signing in the NBA for the 2009-10 season. Atlanta is 21-9 SU/ATS and Crawford is the second-leading scorer of the Hawks. Cleveland, Orlando and Boston are the stalwarts of the NBA playoff picture, but with Crawford aboard, the Hawks may have found the missing piece to their 2010 playoff puzzle.
4. Sabathia and Teixeira to Yankees
The Yankees spent $34 million on these two alone and they won the World Series. Sure they try to hit free agent gold every summer, but this time it actually worked. Cut Teixeira a break – he was dynamite in the regular season.
3. McDaniels To Broncos
Eric Mangini, Rex Ryan, Jim Caldwell and Raheem Morris were some of the names that landed with the king headset in 2009, yet it’s Josh McDaniels who has had the biggest impact on his new team. I could list anything that the Broncos have accomplished this season, but nothing has been more epic than McDaniels turning Kyle Orton in to a winner.
2. Nike Stand By Tiger Woods
The biggest distributor of sports wear and shoes in the entire, billion dollar industry stood by Tiger Woods as he was ousted as the year’s biggest cad. Nike list of degenerate sponsored athletes is headlined by gambling addict Michael Jordan. While so many corporations are terrified of the public image being thrust upon Tiger, Nike is standing by the greatest golfer to walk the Earth.
It’s a reminder that while we expect the world out of athletes, what should be more important is what they accomplish is not drugs, illegitimate children, gambling issues or adultery. It’s that they’re winners in their chosen craft.
I’m not saying that you don’t have the right to criticize Woods to the moon, but he’s just human. A human that also happens to really, really, really good at golf.
1. Brett Favre To Vikings
I’m just as sick and tired of the Brett Favre love-fest as you are, but Favre ranks in the top-5 for touchdowns, completion percentage, quarterback rating, and is tied for starters of 13+ games with the fewest interceptions. Now the Vikings are standing on the verge of a first-round playoff bye and boast the most balanced offense in the NFC. I’d give him more credit for accomplishing this at 40-years of age, but Kurt Warner’s doing just as amazingly in Arizona and guys like Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture are getting willingly punched in the face and they’re a few years past Favre. Still, easily the best signing of the year.
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