The Dunk Contest

This upcoming weekend at the NBA All star game there will be a contest of declining importance which seems to get beaten over the head year after year. Some of it is well deserved but most of it isn't. What is that contest you ask? Well unless you decided to not read the title of the column you already know I'm talking about the Dunk Contest.

I feel like I'm the only person on the planet who still gets excited for this thing and if you looked at it objectively you would get excited too. There is no disputing that the dunks are better than ever. What Iguodala threw down last year would have handily won the thing in almost every year and what Nate Robinson did easily trumped Spud Webb who seems to be on the permanent "I'm short and I won the dunk contest 20 years ago tour." So why does every columnist feel the need to rip it apart. Well here's the following reasons.

1) Every once and awhile the dunk contests actually suck. After the humongous 2000 dunk contest that put Vince Carter on the map and also featured Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis. We had to witness the 2001 cast of Desmond Mason, Deshawn Stevenson, Baron Davis, Jonathan Bender, Stromile Swift, Corey Maggette. A couple of good players but no real star power and it also didn't hurt the their dunks were awful. Just a major step backwards from the previous year. Go on youtube and watch Mason's winning dunk (if you can find it) I've seen better dunks at local dunk contests. 2002 wasn't any better with no real memorable dunks and 2005 wasn't all that great either. That's quite a lot of dry years which just kills any momentum that it tries to gain.

2) ill conceived ideas. There's two disastrous ideas that come to mind the first being in 2002 when they decided to have the dunk wheel. This was when you spin the wheel and then try to emulate the dunk you landed on. The announcers were ripping this idea on air and rightfully so. You had one foot jumpers (guys who jump for distance) having to do two foot jumpers (guys who jump for height) dunks and vice versa. Well at least they realized that idea sucked so they scrapped it the following year. Then in 2004 Jason Richardson killed the opening round. Just some of the best dunks of all time. Then in the finals he missed his dunks opening the door for a consistent but unspectacular Fred Jones win. Well the fans were upset so they decided to scrap that rule and allow as many chances as it takes to make the dunk. The result has been us being able to watch the Birdman Fly in 2005 and watching Nate Robinson try to make a dunk for half an hour. I have no idea what the solution to this problem is but there's got to be a happy medium that rewards the best dunker of the night and doesn't penalize going for broke but still doesn't object us to 2000 dunk attempts.

3) I've mentioned this earlier but no big stars want to do this unlike the old days where there was some real star power. This doesn't really bother me because I just want to watch the best dunkers but every columnist will mention how MJ, Wilkins, Dr. J and to a lesser extent Drexler used to compete in them.

So after all of the negativity why do I still think the dunk contest is worthwhile? Well the biggest reason is it's entertaining. I remember back in 2000 when the Raptors (my team) had their two best players in it and Vince Carter absolutely stole the show. The dunks were great and the energy was off the charts. The energy has never been the same which is too bad because there have been better dunks since then. I know that was seven years ago but there has been some great dunk contests since then. 2003 was absolutely off the charts. Jason Richardson (the most underrated dunker of all time in my opinion) was at his apex and put down the best non "And 1" dunk I've ever seen to win the contest. I still remember it so clearly. Desmond Mason just nailed a between the legs dunk and Kenny Smith said that was one of the ten best dunks he's ever seen. Richardson has one dunk left and needs close to a perfect score to win. He lobs the ball in the air, jumps, catches it puts it between his legs and then reverse dunks it as the crowd goes nuts. In 2004 the conclusion wasn't great but Richardson again had some of the greatest dunks of all time in the opening round including the impossible of the glass between the legs dunk. 2006 had a great opening round with Robinson making some impressive dunks and Igoudala throwing down some creative and legendary dunks. This would have been remembered as a classic if the refs wouldn't have robbed Iguodala and made it a tie so it would go into over time. Then we got to watch Robinson try harder to score than a nerd on prom night.

So see there's still some life to the dunk contest. Get excited there's a good chance (OK. 50/50 chance) you won't be disappointed.

Here's my list if I could set up a dunk contest with 8 all time great dunkers.
1970's Dr J.
1980's Dominique Wilkins
1980's MJ
early 2000's Kobe Bryant
early 2000's Vince Carter
mid 2000's Jason Richardson
Current Andre Iguodala
Current LeBron James

I don't care how clutch MJ was I still say Richardson takes it.