10 Perfect Sports Fits Between Athletes and Franchises
Talent alone won't carry an individual or team to greatness. A successful squad needs the right personnel, including players who improve in that environment.
Teams also must implement schemes tailored to their roster. Just look at Josh Norman. A shutdown cornerback for the Carolina Panthers hasn't made the same impact for Washington, who hasn't regularly lined him up against the opponent's top wide receiver.
Having great players doesn't matter if the organization can't optimize their abilities.
In the following instances, fortunate athletes and organizations found a soul mate in the other. The individual wouldn't have reached such lofty heights on another club, who would be much worse off without that star.
Nolan Arenado, 3B, Colorado Rockies
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The Colorado Rockies have found a star not entirely reliant on Coors Field.
Nolan Arenado of course benefits from the team's hitter haven. This year, he's hitting .312/.385/.648 with 24 of his 39 home runs at home. On a different team, he's not a star slugger leading MLB in RBI (128). He'd still, however, make a mighty fine third baseman.
He has made far better contact at Coors, but his power plays everywhere. Over the past two seasons, he has belted 37 home runs on the road compared to 43 at home. He's also doing his part to prevent runs.
Colorado has tried everything to find pitchers who can overcome the unfavorable conditions, but their efforts have fallen short. It can give those hurlers a fighting chance by backing them with elite defenders like Arenado. According to FanGraphs, he leads all third basemen with 20 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS).
Unlike other former (Troy Tulowitzki) and current (Carlos Gonzalez) Rockies stars, Arenado has largely avoided the injury bug. Still in his arbitration years, the 25-year-old is also affordable and under team control for three more seasons. That's a huge plus for an organization unwilling and/or unable to attract big-name free agents.
Colorado developed this franchise cornerstone in house, and Arenado enjoys the offensive uptick of Coors Field. He may become the next star to establish permanent residency on the trade rumor mill in two years, but let's enjoy the harmony for now.
Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
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In four seasons as the San Diego Chargers' starting quarterback, Drew Brees never sniffed 4,000 passing yards. In 10 seasons with the New Orleans Saints, his lowest tally is 4,388.
Before Brees signed in 2006, the Saints went 13 years with one playoff appearance. During the 2000 outlier, they won their first postseason game in franchise history.
Upon landing Brees and head coach Sean Payton, the duo immediately guided New Orleans to the NFC Championship Game. They have made the postseason four more times, including 2009's Super Bowl triumph.
Both parties hit the jackpot when finding each other. Brees spearheaded NFL's passing revolution by firing over 600 throws in eight of 10 years. Had the Miami Dolphins not famously acquired Daunte Culpepper instead, he wouldn't have compiled four 5,000-yard seasons. Maybe not one.
That doesn't mean any Joe Schmo would have succeeded in Payton's regime. Brees and the Saints represented each other's best-case scenario. Although the franchise is currently floundering due to an abysmal defense, at least it has one constant under center.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors
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NBA teams will try to replicate the Golden State Warriors' blueprint to dynastic success. Nobody will come close.
Nobody else has the Splash Brothers. (Or Kevin Durant. He's also pretty good.) In each of the past two seasons, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson has respectively ranked No. 1 and 2 in three-pointers made. Curry raised the bar to an insane level when he drained 402 deep bombs in 2015-16, breaking his own NBA record of 286.
That 40 percent increase is on par with an MLB player hitting 102 home runs or an NFL quarterback setting a new standard with 77 touchdowns. Yet he achieved the milestone with resounding efficiency, boasting a 45.4 three-point percentage bested only by J.J. Redick among shooters with at least 150 attempts.
It took a coaching change to unlock Curry and Thompson's greatness. Steve Kerr transformed Curry into a two-time MVP and unstoppable shooting force while shutting down all Thompson trade rumors for good.
Kerr's relentless pace, movement and everlasting green light to shoot turned both guards into superstars. Yet no other shooting duo on the planet would have fueled last year's Warriors to 73 wins.
Well, maybe Kevin Durant. Their offense is gong to be scary this season.
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Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys
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Drafting Ezekiel Elliott with the No. 4 overall pick was not a wise investment for the Dallas Cowboys. It's not a knock on the rookie running back, but why spend such prominent capital on a rusher when the offensive line just led Darren McFadden to a 1,000-yard season?
To justify picking a rusher that high, he needs to morph into the next Adrian Peterson, much like Todd Gurley's 2015 rookie breakout. Elliott doesn't look the part through two games, during which he has averaged a mediocre 3.3 yards per carry.
He also, however, scored in each contest while receiving more handoffs than all but four backs. Even if it's inefficient, the newcomer will at least delight fantasy investors with a 1,000-yard, 10-touchdown season.
Elliott won the lottery when Dallas drafted him. Few teams devote as much attention to pounding the rock with one workhorse. No other team has its offensive line festooned with three Pro-Bowlers (Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin).
So what makes Elliott perfect for Dallas? Falsely advertised as America's Team, the Cowboys went with the trendy pick that would make the biggest national splash. The one owner Jerry Jones wanted to make with Johnny Manziel before smarter people convinced him to snag Martin instead.
Jones wanted the headlines. He got them by taking the high-profile skill player. As 36-year-old quarterback Tony Romo struggles to stay on the field, the Cowboys are going to ride Elliott as much as they can for years.
James Harden, Houston Rockets
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An early adopter to analytics, the Houston Rockets spent years accumulating assets in hopes of landing a superstar to fit their modern style of basketball. He's not a perfect star, but James Harden was the perfect star for general manager Daryl Morey's vision.
Research has led well-read NBA franchises to run faster offenses that eschew mid-range jumpers for threes and high-percentage shots around the basket. Before the Warriors surpassed them last season, the Rockets led the way in three-point makes and attempts during a 2014-2015 season culminating with a Western Conference Finals appearance.
Although Curry has perfected the modern offensive prototype, Harden joins him and Thompson as the only other player to make over 200 threes in the last two seasons. Even if he's not as efficient from downtown, he makes up for it by ruthlessly attacking the rim.
Harden made 720 free throws last season. DeMarcus Cousins placed second with 663...attempts. DeMar DeRozan's 555 makes ranked second behind Houston's bearded guard.
It's boring for fans who'd rather see actions than untimed shots, but he's providing incredible value by drawing those free scoring opportunities.
Early last year, Kirk Goldsberry called Harden the "perfect instrument for [Morey's] basketball laboratory" in a Grantland piece examining his offensive brilliance. He also noted that, at the time, nobody assisted more threes than Harden, making him everything the Rockets could want from their offensive cornerstone.
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
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For nineteen years, Tim Duncan personified the San Antonio Spurs. Now it's Kawhi Leonard's turn.
While flashier stars soaked up the scoring titles and spotlight, the Big Fundamental quietly staked his claim as the greatest power forward of all time. After guiding the Spurs to five championships and a playoff berth every year, he leaves them in good, gigantic hands.
Although Leonard won't ever capture a scoring title, the 25-year-old forward has bolstered his scoring average every year as his role increases. Last season, he manufactured 21.2 points per game on a 50.6 field-goal percentage.
Yet his defense takes him and San Antonio to the next level. As the Warriors made history, the Spurs enjoyed the most unheralded 67-win season ever. With the back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year leading the way, they limited opponents to a league-low 96.6 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.
Like any truly great coach, Gregg Popovich doesn't need a player to fit his exact mold. Manu Ginobili is anything but a rigid, risk-adverse shooting guard, but Pop harnessed his frenetic energy into greatness. Now that this is Leonard's team, they're back to pummeling smaller opponents on defense.
Curry and Durant could take enough attention from each other for Leonard to snatch MVP honors this season. The two-way dynamo is precisely who San Antonio needed to fill its last introverted star's shoes.
Von Miller, Denver Broncos
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Lacking a capable quarterback proves an insurmountable deficiency for most NFL franchises. Except the Denver Broncos, whose pulverizing defense continues to mask their offensive flaws.
They won Super Bowl 50 in spite of Peyton Manning, who threw 17 interceptions in 10 atrocious regular-season games and averaged 5.86 yards per postseason pass. With Von Miller and Co. shutting down some of the NFL's most prolific offenses, it didn't matter.
After leading the league in total defense, Denver contained the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers to a combined 44 points. Along the way, Miller recorded five sacks and an interception.
He has already procured four sacks this season after bringing down Andrew Luck three times in Week 2. Even with 2015 seventh-round pick Trevor Siemian under center, Denver remains a title contender because of its swarming defense.
Miller is the main attraction, but it's far from a one-man show. Opponents can't focus all of their energy on blocking him with DeMarcus Ware also attacking. Brandon Marshall (the linebacker) allows them to focus on pass rushing, and top cornerbacks Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib offer more time to infiltrate the pocket.
A loaded crew enables Miller to dominate on the highest level, and Denver needs his game-changing playmaking to offset a middling offense.
Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals
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Carson Palmer and the Arizona Cardinals both endured soul-crushing lows before uniting via a trade from the Oakland Raiders.
A former No. 1 pick on the verge of stardom, Palmer's career took a bleak turn 10 years ago. While throwing a playoff pass on the first offensive play of the Cincinnati Bengals' first playoff game in 15 years, he suffered a gruesome knee injury his surgeon described as "devastating and potentially career-ending."
He returned but went right back on the shelf in 2008. From 2007 to 2012, he relinquished 87 interceptions over 77 games. Those woes didn't subside immediately in Arizona; he coughed up a a career-worst 22 picks during his first season.
Although the Cardinals found brief solace with Kurt Warner, they had one season with double-digit victories since moving to Arizona in 1976. Palmer shut an ugly revolving door under center, which disastrously reopened in 2014, when he went down after guiding the Cardinals to a 6-0 start. Remember when Ryan Lindley started a playoff game?
After a long, painful road, the veteran quarterback is playing the best football of his career. He has tossed 51 passing touchdowns and only 14 interceptions over his last 24 games, 20 of which Arizona has won.
Last season, he averaged an NFL-high 8.70 yards per pass attempt in head coach Bruce Arians' offense, which emphasizes the long ball. Palmer still has great arm strength, but now he also has an incredible receiving corps led by the eternal Larry Fitzgerald.
While the Cardinals have surrounded Palmer with a stacked supporting cast, they know firsthand what happens to a non-Broncos NFL team without a decent quarterback. With an above-average one, they're again poised for a deep playoff run.
Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox
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Wins barely matter when evaluating a pitcher's success. The starter is ultimately one piece of the puzzle alongside offense, defense and the bullpen, so he doesn't deserve the full credit or blame for the team's final outcome.
Rick Porcello leads MLB with 21 victories. That does not make him MLB's best pitcher, but it does highlight his durability for a Boston Red Sox squad sorely lacking it elsewhere in their rotation.
Leading the league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and runs scored, the Red Sox don't require a staff of Clayton Kershaws. They simply need a guy to hold the fort down for their incredible offense.
Finding such hurlers has proved harder than it sounds. Porcello is one of three starters (David Price and Steven Wright) who have worked over 20 starts and 150 innings. None of the others have an ERA below 4.80.
Porcello is also one of nine pitchers to have accrued over 200 innings. In each of his last 11 outings, he has allowed three runs or fewer through at least seven frames. He now boasts a 3.08 ERA and 0.98 WHIP to give his American League Cy Young Award candidacy some legs behind the gaudy win tally.
Last year, the Red Sox were mocked for exchanging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes for Porcello. Now it once again looks like a shrewd move for a franchise needing the steady starter much more than the top slugger, whose contract expired last year.
If Porcello wins the Cy Young, he can thank his offense. When the Red Sox clinch their playoff berth, they can thank Porcello.
Mark Trumbo, Baltimore Orioles
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Mark Trumbo has one thing in mind when he steps to the plate. He doesn't make regular contact, draw walks or play defense. He's there to hit balls over fences, and Camden Yards is the perfect place to do it.
While his flaws all still exist, he has smashed an MLB-high 43 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles. If he maintains his narrow lead over Edwin Encarnacion and Brian Dozier among others, it will mark the fourth straight season an Orioles slugger (Chris Davis in 2015 and 2013, Nelson Cruz in 2014) finishes first in long balls.
Trumbo, acquired from the Seattle Mariners for backup catcher Steve Clevenger last winter, owns an .859 OPS and 23 long balls at his new home. He has also benefited from batting alongside Manny Machado and Davis by stockpiling a career-high 102 RBI.
Although also a disaster in right field who is hitting below the Mendoza Line since the All-Star break, he gave Baltimore its money's worth with a sizzling start at the plate. A pitcher's park wouldn't sap his power, but few other venues would sponsor a 43-homer campaign.
As perfect as this 2016 arrangement has been, Trumbo might have priced the Orioles out of reaching a long-term extension.
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