I know I talked about dunking last week, but in game dunking is completely different than the creativity needed to dunk in a dunk contest. I have followed the dunk contest for probably 10 years and the dunk contest has been on the decline. In my opinion the dunk contest is on the decline because of the lack of star power in the dunk contest. Many casual basketball fans would not have known any of the dunkers last night. Despite the lack of star power in the dunk contest 3 million votes were cast. However, the voting could have been a little off because there are ways that people could have voted multiple times. This year the champion was also crowned strictly by fan voting. During the dunk contest tweets were already appearing on ways the dunk contest could be improved the dunk contest used to be what the best players wanted to be in. Now it is more of a "I am a star I don't do that" type of thing. It is great for the young guys who can help make a name for themselves because of their dunking.
So now a break down of come of the dunks. In the dunk contest the best single dunk did when with Jeremy Evans catching two balls from teammate Gordon Hayward and jumping over him to dunk them.
Some people do not like the props and putting on a show for the dunk contest. However, many people loved it last year when Blake Griffin dunked over the hood of a car. My second favorite dunk was Paul George with the glow in the dark clothes doing a 360 windmill. I liked this dunk for two reasons, first it was extremely creative, two it was still a hard dunk and he made it on the first attempt.
Finally my third favorite dunk was Derrick Williams catching a oop off the side of the backboard before he spun and dunked it. This dunk followed some of the other better dunks of the night and I thought their was hope for the dunk contest, however the third round was a disappointment for me.
No offense to any of these dunkers by any means, but if the NBA wants to get more people to watch the dunk contest they need to get more stars involved.I pose this question to the readers what four players would you like to see in the dunk contest. My four dunkers would be, Lebron James, Russel Westbrook, Derek Rose, and JR Smith. All of these dunkers are great in game dunkers and they could put on a great show. Even if their dunks were not as great or creative their star power alone would increase the success of the event. Who do you want to see and what was your favorite dunk of the night?
I agree the dunk contest has been on the decline. The best dunkers really need to Sack Up and get back in the contest. Lebron definitely needs to get in it, and I know Kobe has lost his hops since a while ago, but there is always more room for Kobe/Lebron debate. Also I would like to see Blake if we are including the 4 Best dunkers, he's obviously involved. Might as well make it a Clippers deal and keep Andre Jordan
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I would love to have the NBA invite dunk specialists from around the world. Let's be honest--some of the AND 1 ballers have some of the best dunks of all time. I think it would be a great motivator for basketball players like Lebron James and Blake Griffin to involve themselves in the dunk contest if their "turf" was being overrun by ballers of a different breed.
ReplyDeleteMy personal favorite for dunk of the night was probably the first dunk pulled off by Chase Budinger. There were multiple reasons for that being my favorite dunk, but namely because it was one of the only dunks to be completed on the first attempt. I always get sick of watching missed dunk after missed dunk because it removes the element of surprise.
I'd personally like to see the dunk contest return to 8 contestants with 2 or 3 rounds. If I had to choose four NBA players to be in the dunk contest, I'd definitely select Blake Griffin and Lebron James. Other possibilities would include Andre Iguodala, Kobe Bryant, Deandre Jordan, maybe Derrick Rose, Alonzo Gee (not a lot of star power, but he is a monster dunker), Rudy Gay, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Vince Carter, Josh Smith, Gerald Wallace, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, John Wall (based on what he showed in the Rising Stars game), maybe J.R. Smith, maybe Amare Stoudemire, and Jason Richardson. Take your pick out of that group and it'll be nasty!
I agree that the dunk contest is lacking star power, but it's just become plain boring because dunkers haven't shown any evolution in the NBA. I want to see old dunks altered to be better or completely new dunks. If moto-cross can come out with new tricks every year, why not the dunk contest?
The dunk contest definitely does lack star power, you used to see guys like Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan in the dunk contest...and Saturday you saw Jeremy Evans and Chase Buddinger lets be real here they deserve their dues for making it to the NBA but who really wants to watch these guys in the dunk contest. Most of the dunks that were seen have been done already in previous dunk contests, without as much showmanship obviously. There arent really too many new dunks that can be thrown out in a dunk contest, thus why you need stars in the contest so people will actually watch it.
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