10.) Kevin Durant leaves for the Warriors
The moment that for some ruined the NBA. If The Decision was the rocky start of something special - more on that later - Durant's decision, released in a column on the Player's Tribune hilariously titled 'The Hardest Road' was the natural end result. His Thunder memorably blew a 3-1 lead to a 73-win Warriors team. Then he joined them and they easily won back to back titles without breaking much of a sweat. It changed the course of an NBA in a more negative way than The Decision did, essentially making two seasons fait accomplis, which resulted in some laggning ratings by the second year - something that has continued onwards after his injury and departure. Kevin Durant's decision was incredibly short-sighted in some ways, as he genuinely felt peeople would understand what he did. They did not, especially when Durant's goals were accomplished - winning two titles and two Finals MVPs - and realized it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.
9.) Zaza Pachulia slides under Kawhi Leonard's Foot
While I do think Durant joining the Warriors made the NBA season meaningless in a competitive sense, in the 2017 playoffs, when the Spurs were winning by 25 in the second half of Game 1, with Kawhi going absurd, it didn't seem so clear. And then when Kawhi went up for a three, Zaza Pachulia slid his foot under and Kawhi got injured. He missed the rest of the series that the Warriors would end up sweeping. Worse, this injury begat many others and started a tear-down in trust between Kawhi and the Spurs. He would only play a dozen or so more games in that uniform, divorcing one of the supposedly great perfect marriages between team and player. He left for Toronto where he would get his revenge on teh Warriors. But if not for that injury, maybe the Spurs win? Even if they don't, they push the Warriors and maybe Kawhi stays in San Antonio long term. Toronto probably doesn't ahve their title. So much could have been different.
8.) The Blackhawks hire Joel Quenneville
7.) Peyton Manning picks Denver
I almost went with 'The Colts Cut Peyton Manning' but I don't really want to relitigate one of the most painful sports moments of my life. All I'll say is I hated the decision then and hated it more now. Anyway, if you put aside the questions around his ability to throw, the idea of having Peyton Freaking Manning, four-time MVP, on the free market was surreal. There was no decision, no free agent road trip. It ended pretty quick. Manning picked Denver. It seemed odd at the time, but instead, it unlocked a talented team, gave the Brocnos a talisman to build around and attract umpteen free agents with (e.g. Demarcus Ware) and ultimately have a brilliant four year stretch with 50 wins, two trips to teh Super Bowl and a title. Manning won a record 5th MVP, with the most voluminous season in NFL history, a stunning outcome for a guy who could barely throw a ball when he was injured in 2011. It birthed a great Patriots-Broncos rivalry for a handfull of years. It gave the NFL a slew of great, memorable games, and another amazing farewell tour. It gave us the last competitive yaers of the AFC until maybe this very 2019 season. Peyton Manning was the NFL's talisman too, with ratings starting to fall for the first time in decades in the 2016 season, the first year without him. His decision to go to Denver changed so many things, but ultimately just proved that in the last 20 years, after the Patriots, the best team was 'Team X QBed by Peyton Manning'.
6.) The Astros hire Jeff Luhnow
In 2011, teh Astros lost over 100 games. They finally admitted they needed a serious reset. They needed it years earlier, but Drayton McLane, the former owner, put it off. In the end, it was inevitable, and McLane sold the team to Jim Crane. He agreed to move them to the AL, and then cleaned house to a ridiculous degree, and hired Jeff Luhnow to do it. Years later, we would understand the depths to which Luhnow's makeover of the franchise, as it extended to a personality that would be brash and seemingly dubious as well. But before those accusations, they painstakingly tanked and then painstakingly built a supernova, one that won 100+ games three years in a row, brought in dozens of exciting young players. They went for it, with a series of high-profile trades for dominant pitching. They were rewarded with a World Series, and came a few outs away from another. The Astros started the decade as the laughingstock of the MLB. They ended it as the most hated franchise, both for the winning, and sadly, their cheating.
5.) Real Madrid hires Jose Mourinho
It's easy to talk about Carlo Ancelotti, who re-set Madrid's mentality, led them to La Decima, and brought in Zidane as a lead assistant who then would lead Madrid to the most ridiculous heights ever, winning three straight Champions Leagues. And yes, the true glory days of Real Madrid was that 2014-2018 run. However, none of that happens if Real Madrid didn't hire Jose Mourinho in 2010, getting him fresh off his treble-winning season with Inter Milan, and a year after Madrid went on an all time spending spree getting Ronaldo and Kaka. In 2009-10, Madrid was no where close to Pep's Barcelona - which was born the year before. Then Mourinho came in, and did as he does, slowly building a team to bother, disrupt, and eventually dethrone Barcelona domestically, in a rousing 2011-12 season that would set La Liga records for poitns and goals (later Barcelona teams tied or broke these). He unlocked a deadly counterattack with Ronaldo, Benzema, Di Maria, Ozil and others, generating the mentality that would remain in the Ancelotti and Zidane eras. It is good for the memeory that Madrid won a La Liga title with Mourinho, because ultimately his three straight semifinals defeats spelled his doom. The modern Madrid renaissance is most due to Ronaldo, then probably the combination of Ancelotti and Zidane, but the genesis of it all was when Mourihno went over and instilled his routine of hard work and annoyingness to an incredible wealth of talent.
4.) Pete Carroll escapes to the NFL to avoid sanctions
A few days into 2010, it was clear USC may be hit hard with sanctions. Pete Carroll was seen as someone who may or may not go back to the NFL, but there was no urgency given his amazing success in sunny California. The sanctions were the push, and he absconded to Seattle. On his third attempt at running an NFL team, it finally worked, and from 2010-2015, before Russell Wilson became a monster of his won, it was the Carroll imprint and defense that led the most dominant regular season team of that run. Carroll's defense started slow, but mid-way through 2011 the LOB was already underway, taking a Tarvaris Jackson led team to nearly wildcard. In 2012, he had the stones to pick a 3rd round rookie to start over the guy they gave $30mm to. His defense revolutionized the sport and neutralized one of the greatest offenses ever in their Super Bowl win. For four straight years, they led the NFL in scoring defense - the first time that had ever happened. All this started with a guy escaping his program that was about to be hit hard, and a decade later, USC hasn't really recovered. Carroll's reputation as a brilliant defensive mind and someone whose rah-rah style worlking in the NFL certainly did.
3.) The Warriors replace Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr
The Warriors were really good before Steve Kerr got there. Stephen Curry was already a brilliant sharp-shooter, but with a penchant for getting injured. Klay was a reasoanbly good 3-and-D guy. With David Lee and Harrison Barnes, they had goo dplayers up top. They made the playoffs twice, first pushing the 2013 Spurs to six games, and then losing a seven-game war with teh Clippers in 2014 that is more remembered for the Donald Sterling ouster happening mid-series. They were good, but clearly in the mid-tier of the West. Then, the Warriors fired Mark Jackson, for seemingly myriad reasons, replaced him with a TV announcer, and unleashed a brand of basketball we've never seen. It was centered around ball movement, around flexibility, around going small, and around realizing you had two all-time talents, including the unrivaled best shooter ever. The players obviously were special, and when Durant joined it became a gluttony of riches, but Kerr put the pieces together. He had the vision to unshackle this insane group of talent, and keep them cohesive. He did ti, and if not for some good foresight, they may have languised as a 53-29 team for a decade.
2.) The Patriots draft Rob Gronkowski
Coming into the 2010 draft, the Patriots were at their lowest point in almost a decade. They went 10-6 in 2009, going 2-6 on the road. They were blown out 33-14 by the Ravens at home in the wild card round, down 0-24 by the end of the first quarter. The Patriots were easily the team of the 2000s, but they seemed to end the decade at a low point. Ten years later, they ended up being the team of the 2010s, making the Super Bowl five times in the next nine years, winning it three times. The biggest driver of this era-defining extension of dominance? Drafting Rob Gronkowski. In 2010, he had a quiet eight TD rookie season, quiet only compared to the player he would become as soon as the following season when he had 1,300 yards and 17 TDs. Gronkowski transformed the Patriots offense. Brady's splits with and without Gronk are staggering, going from Aaron Rodgers like efficiency to Andy Dalton. From 2011-2013, the Patriots playoffs losses all featured either an injured Gronk (2011) or absetn (2012-2013). After that, their only time they edidn't make the Super Bowl with a healthy Gronk in the playoffs was 2015, when he nearly single-handidly led a win against one of the best defenses ever in the 2015 Broncos. In his first semi-average season in 2018, Brady started falling off (yes, they won the Super Bowl anyway - thanks Sean McVay), and in the first post-Gronk season he's really started to tail off. Obviously, the Patriots success in the 2010s was about a lot more than one guy, but Gronkowski was one of the greatest X-Factors of all time.
1.) LeBron takes his talents to South Beach
Could it be anything else? Everything about the NBA in the 2010s other than maybe the continued Spurs brilliance in 2010-2016 has its genesis in LeBron's decision back in June 2010 to go to Miami. He started the player empowerment era right there, the same thing that led KD to leaving for Golden State, or all the flurry of moves this past offseason. LeBron was the trendsetter, he was the mastermind. He, Wade and Bosh went to Miami and banded together the most hated team of all time, re-energized the league for years. The drama, the storylines, the fact the NBA is a 12-month sport now. All of that stems from the decision to go to Miami. His going back to Cleveland and that miracle only really happens because of the nature of how he left Cleveland. The NBA became the social media sport in the 2010s, and while there were larger societal reasons behind that, the nature of it being covered like the sports world's TMZ. LeBron dominated the 2010s with his play, with being a constant presence in eight straight NBA finals. It was his decade - easily the athlete of the decade as well. But the biggest moment, the one that begat all other moments, was him taking his talents to South Beach on live TV.
The moment that for some ruined the NBA. If The Decision was the rocky start of something special - more on that later - Durant's decision, released in a column on the Player's Tribune hilariously titled 'The Hardest Road' was the natural end result. His Thunder memorably blew a 3-1 lead to a 73-win Warriors team. Then he joined them and they easily won back to back titles without breaking much of a sweat. It changed the course of an NBA in a more negative way than The Decision did, essentially making two seasons fait accomplis, which resulted in some laggning ratings by the second year - something that has continued onwards after his injury and departure. Kevin Durant's decision was incredibly short-sighted in some ways, as he genuinely felt peeople would understand what he did. They did not, especially when Durant's goals were accomplished - winning two titles and two Finals MVPs - and realized it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.
9.) Zaza Pachulia slides under Kawhi Leonard's Foot
While I do think Durant joining the Warriors made the NBA season meaningless in a competitive sense, in the 2017 playoffs, when the Spurs were winning by 25 in the second half of Game 1, with Kawhi going absurd, it didn't seem so clear. And then when Kawhi went up for a three, Zaza Pachulia slid his foot under and Kawhi got injured. He missed the rest of the series that the Warriors would end up sweeping. Worse, this injury begat many others and started a tear-down in trust between Kawhi and the Spurs. He would only play a dozen or so more games in that uniform, divorcing one of the supposedly great perfect marriages between team and player. He left for Toronto where he would get his revenge on teh Warriors. But if not for that injury, maybe the Spurs win? Even if they don't, they push the Warriors and maybe Kawhi stays in San Antonio long term. Toronto probably doesn't ahve their title. So much could have been different.
8.) The Blackhawks hire Joel Quenneville
7.) Peyton Manning picks Denver
I almost went with 'The Colts Cut Peyton Manning' but I don't really want to relitigate one of the most painful sports moments of my life. All I'll say is I hated the decision then and hated it more now. Anyway, if you put aside the questions around his ability to throw, the idea of having Peyton Freaking Manning, four-time MVP, on the free market was surreal. There was no decision, no free agent road trip. It ended pretty quick. Manning picked Denver. It seemed odd at the time, but instead, it unlocked a talented team, gave the Brocnos a talisman to build around and attract umpteen free agents with (e.g. Demarcus Ware) and ultimately have a brilliant four year stretch with 50 wins, two trips to teh Super Bowl and a title. Manning won a record 5th MVP, with the most voluminous season in NFL history, a stunning outcome for a guy who could barely throw a ball when he was injured in 2011. It birthed a great Patriots-Broncos rivalry for a handfull of years. It gave the NFL a slew of great, memorable games, and another amazing farewell tour. It gave us the last competitive yaers of the AFC until maybe this very 2019 season. Peyton Manning was the NFL's talisman too, with ratings starting to fall for the first time in decades in the 2016 season, the first year without him. His decision to go to Denver changed so many things, but ultimately just proved that in the last 20 years, after the Patriots, the best team was 'Team X QBed by Peyton Manning'.
6.) The Astros hire Jeff Luhnow
In 2011, teh Astros lost over 100 games. They finally admitted they needed a serious reset. They needed it years earlier, but Drayton McLane, the former owner, put it off. In the end, it was inevitable, and McLane sold the team to Jim Crane. He agreed to move them to the AL, and then cleaned house to a ridiculous degree, and hired Jeff Luhnow to do it. Years later, we would understand the depths to which Luhnow's makeover of the franchise, as it extended to a personality that would be brash and seemingly dubious as well. But before those accusations, they painstakingly tanked and then painstakingly built a supernova, one that won 100+ games three years in a row, brought in dozens of exciting young players. They went for it, with a series of high-profile trades for dominant pitching. They were rewarded with a World Series, and came a few outs away from another. The Astros started the decade as the laughingstock of the MLB. They ended it as the most hated franchise, both for the winning, and sadly, their cheating.
5.) Real Madrid hires Jose Mourinho
It's easy to talk about Carlo Ancelotti, who re-set Madrid's mentality, led them to La Decima, and brought in Zidane as a lead assistant who then would lead Madrid to the most ridiculous heights ever, winning three straight Champions Leagues. And yes, the true glory days of Real Madrid was that 2014-2018 run. However, none of that happens if Real Madrid didn't hire Jose Mourinho in 2010, getting him fresh off his treble-winning season with Inter Milan, and a year after Madrid went on an all time spending spree getting Ronaldo and Kaka. In 2009-10, Madrid was no where close to Pep's Barcelona - which was born the year before. Then Mourinho came in, and did as he does, slowly building a team to bother, disrupt, and eventually dethrone Barcelona domestically, in a rousing 2011-12 season that would set La Liga records for poitns and goals (later Barcelona teams tied or broke these). He unlocked a deadly counterattack with Ronaldo, Benzema, Di Maria, Ozil and others, generating the mentality that would remain in the Ancelotti and Zidane eras. It is good for the memeory that Madrid won a La Liga title with Mourinho, because ultimately his three straight semifinals defeats spelled his doom. The modern Madrid renaissance is most due to Ronaldo, then probably the combination of Ancelotti and Zidane, but the genesis of it all was when Mourihno went over and instilled his routine of hard work and annoyingness to an incredible wealth of talent.
4.) Pete Carroll escapes to the NFL to avoid sanctions
A few days into 2010, it was clear USC may be hit hard with sanctions. Pete Carroll was seen as someone who may or may not go back to the NFL, but there was no urgency given his amazing success in sunny California. The sanctions were the push, and he absconded to Seattle. On his third attempt at running an NFL team, it finally worked, and from 2010-2015, before Russell Wilson became a monster of his won, it was the Carroll imprint and defense that led the most dominant regular season team of that run. Carroll's defense started slow, but mid-way through 2011 the LOB was already underway, taking a Tarvaris Jackson led team to nearly wildcard. In 2012, he had the stones to pick a 3rd round rookie to start over the guy they gave $30mm to. His defense revolutionized the sport and neutralized one of the greatest offenses ever in their Super Bowl win. For four straight years, they led the NFL in scoring defense - the first time that had ever happened. All this started with a guy escaping his program that was about to be hit hard, and a decade later, USC hasn't really recovered. Carroll's reputation as a brilliant defensive mind and someone whose rah-rah style worlking in the NFL certainly did.
3.) The Warriors replace Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr
The Warriors were really good before Steve Kerr got there. Stephen Curry was already a brilliant sharp-shooter, but with a penchant for getting injured. Klay was a reasoanbly good 3-and-D guy. With David Lee and Harrison Barnes, they had goo dplayers up top. They made the playoffs twice, first pushing the 2013 Spurs to six games, and then losing a seven-game war with teh Clippers in 2014 that is more remembered for the Donald Sterling ouster happening mid-series. They were good, but clearly in the mid-tier of the West. Then, the Warriors fired Mark Jackson, for seemingly myriad reasons, replaced him with a TV announcer, and unleashed a brand of basketball we've never seen. It was centered around ball movement, around flexibility, around going small, and around realizing you had two all-time talents, including the unrivaled best shooter ever. The players obviously were special, and when Durant joined it became a gluttony of riches, but Kerr put the pieces together. He had the vision to unshackle this insane group of talent, and keep them cohesive. He did ti, and if not for some good foresight, they may have languised as a 53-29 team for a decade.
2.) The Patriots draft Rob Gronkowski
Coming into the 2010 draft, the Patriots were at their lowest point in almost a decade. They went 10-6 in 2009, going 2-6 on the road. They were blown out 33-14 by the Ravens at home in the wild card round, down 0-24 by the end of the first quarter. The Patriots were easily the team of the 2000s, but they seemed to end the decade at a low point. Ten years later, they ended up being the team of the 2010s, making the Super Bowl five times in the next nine years, winning it three times. The biggest driver of this era-defining extension of dominance? Drafting Rob Gronkowski. In 2010, he had a quiet eight TD rookie season, quiet only compared to the player he would become as soon as the following season when he had 1,300 yards and 17 TDs. Gronkowski transformed the Patriots offense. Brady's splits with and without Gronk are staggering, going from Aaron Rodgers like efficiency to Andy Dalton. From 2011-2013, the Patriots playoffs losses all featured either an injured Gronk (2011) or absetn (2012-2013). After that, their only time they edidn't make the Super Bowl with a healthy Gronk in the playoffs was 2015, when he nearly single-handidly led a win against one of the best defenses ever in the 2015 Broncos. In his first semi-average season in 2018, Brady started falling off (yes, they won the Super Bowl anyway - thanks Sean McVay), and in the first post-Gronk season he's really started to tail off. Obviously, the Patriots success in the 2010s was about a lot more than one guy, but Gronkowski was one of the greatest X-Factors of all time.
1.) LeBron takes his talents to South Beach
Could it be anything else? Everything about the NBA in the 2010s other than maybe the continued Spurs brilliance in 2010-2016 has its genesis in LeBron's decision back in June 2010 to go to Miami. He started the player empowerment era right there, the same thing that led KD to leaving for Golden State, or all the flurry of moves this past offseason. LeBron was the trendsetter, he was the mastermind. He, Wade and Bosh went to Miami and banded together the most hated team of all time, re-energized the league for years. The drama, the storylines, the fact the NBA is a 12-month sport now. All of that stems from the decision to go to Miami. His going back to Cleveland and that miracle only really happens because of the nature of how he left Cleveland. The NBA became the social media sport in the 2010s, and while there were larger societal reasons behind that, the nature of it being covered like the sports world's TMZ. LeBron dominated the 2010s with his play, with being a constant presence in eight straight NBA finals. It was his decade - easily the athlete of the decade as well. But the biggest moment, the one that begat all other moments, was him taking his talents to South Beach on live TV.
