It would be an understatement to say the least if I where to state that the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All Star weekend has been boring, anti-climactic, and downright horrific to watch over the past few years. Just like this year’s contest, we can usually predict the winner before the actual event.
I mean, watching Nate Robinson job Andre Iguodala out of the ’06 crown, Dwight Howard don a cape, and now we have to watch Blake Griffin destroy Serge Ibaka (what?), Javale McGee, and Demar Derozan. Well Ok, Demar is kind of nice but it’s not quite on par with the old Jordan vs. Dominique battles, huh?
Even the whole selection process of how the competitors are chosen just stinks and wreaks of politics and favoritism. The entire event has now become more interesting anticipating who doesn’t participate rather than which players will be competing. Remember last year when Lebron hinted at competing then promptly withdrew at the last minute?
Note to the NBA: Either enlarge the field to include players with some star power and can actually dunk like Denver’s JR Smith, Atlanta’s Josh Smith, or the aforementioned Iguodala, or consider allowing some amateurs like the Team Flight Brothers crew that regularly put on shows during halftime of NBA contests.
Speaking of TFB, they recently came out with a video featuring star performers like T-Dub and James “Flight” White, showing everyone 19 new dunks that have never been done in an NBA Dunk contest. Watch and enjoy:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
