Ladies and gentleman, meet Roy Hibbert, All-Star behemoth and resident party pooper.
Indiana Pacers teammate Paul George accepted an invite to participate in the NBA All-Star Weekend’s dunk competition, going against Hibbert’s wishes.
“I don’t think Paul should do it to tell you the truth,” Hibbert said, per the Indianapolis Star‘s Candace Buckner. “He’s doing the stuff in the games to show why he could’ve won it two years ago. I think he’s been there-done that & I don’t think he needs to go back unless he was defending it. So I don’t personally think he should do it.”
Well that’s not cool. I’m personally an advocate of George doing the dunk contest again. He participated in 2012, but he wasn’t really a superstar then. With the growing perception that stars have more to lose than gain during these competitions, his inclusion now, when he’s an All-Star starter, is huge.
The last player to win a dunk contest and actually be an All-Star was Dwight Howard in 2008. Stars just don’t do it anymore. Most seem to have followed LeBron James’ lead in agreeing that it can only hurt their reputation or brand.
This year, however, George joins Damian Lillard and John Wall, making it feel far more star-studded than it has been in years, which is huge for the contest itself. With actual stars participating, maybe it can return to its previous prominence, when guys like Jeremy Evans weren’t the normal contestants.
Even if it doesn’t, we’ll always have this year, this one year when George, Wall and Lillard took part in a dying competition. Why would Hibbert want to deprive us of that?
He wouldn’t.
I could go into a long-winded explanation of why Hibbert thinking George shouldn’t enter the dunk contest is ridiculous, but that would be blowing what he said out of proportion. Plus, it seems Hibbert is on board after he tweeted a preview of what George probably doesn’t have in store for us:
Heard @Paul_George24 is gonna take off from the free throw line. Jump over me then do a 360 windmill at the @nba dunk contest this year.
— Roy Hibbert (@Hoya2aPacer) February 7, 2014
Pacers players seem to have this inherent us-against-the-world mentality, where they don’t do things to appease mainstream media or even necessarily fans. They play to win and prove others wrong. Hibbert’s comments read like a player who believes his teammate is almost being underrated or chastised for his inability to win in 2012. Kind of like a “Paul George has nothing to prove” type situation.
And he’s right in that regard. George doesn’t have anything to prove anymore. He’s a stud. A star. A superstar. But the dunk contest shouldn’t be about proving anything. It’s why I’ll halfheartedly admit that LeBron not ever doing it isn’t the end of the world.
Players should want to take part in it, because it should be fun. It should be a treat for both themselves and the fans. Pressure to win shouldn’t even factor in. It should just be fun.
But over time, the dunk contest has almost become this competition taken way too seriously. Not because it’s necessarily beloved—it sure hasn’t been the last two years—but because we’re always expecting it to be and represent something more than it already is.
George most certainly has nothing to prove. Not a single, solitary thing. And he shouldn’t be judged harshly if he loses. Instead, us, along with Hibbert, should congratulate him for making the dunk contest what it’s supposed to be again—interesting.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
