The dunk contest used to be a must-see event, parties and gatherings would be held to watch the all-star Saturday night festivities. It would overshadow the all-star game itself, nothing was on the line when the east played the west, but EVERYTHING was on the line when it came to the dunk contest.
The best players in the game all vied for the chance to compete in the dunk contest. Jordan, Dominique, Kobe, Dwight Howard, Shawn Kemp, Vince Carter and others put there reputation on the line to show that not only were they great players but great Dunkers as well.
After last nights dunk contest I have officially withdrawn any and all interest in the dunk contest unless significant changes are made.
Critics and others have been stating for awhile that the event has diminished in quality for years except for a few flashes of Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson. I was still on the bandwagon of the dunk contest, highly anticipating the announcement of the participants year after year and getting into debates over who's going to win.
This years crop was the worst by far and I applaud Shaq by speaking his mind before TNT went off the air by stating that the stars need to get back into the dunk contest. He's absolutely right, the four dunkers last night were the worst crop ever assembled for a dunk contest.
I don't need Lebron in the dunk contest or even Blake Griffin (sidebar: his jump over the league sponsored vehicle dunk should not have won anyway) to get me hyped about the dunk contest. Where's DeAndre Jordan, Russell Westbrook, John Wall or Shannon Brown? True NBA fans know who the high flyers are. Chase Budinger?!? He all of 6 dunks in the regular season is not going to make me want to spend a Saturday night in the house. Paul George was ok but his dunks was more about the theatrical than the physical. Derrick Williams tried to one-up Blake's dunk from last year by jumping over a motorcycle. Eventual champ Jeremy Evans had the best dunk of the night with his two ball dunk over a teammate but even with that it didn't captivate anyone's imagination like Vince did or Jordan and Nique did once upon a time.
The big names don't participate anymore, last year was Blake Griffins coming out party, he had to do it and he was ordained to win (Sidebar: Javale McGee should have won) to get the hype machine rolling again about the dunk contest.
To follow up that contest with a dud like this is horrible, you can't excite the fans one year only to stink up the Amway Center the next.
As an avid NBA fan to get more excitement out of the three point shoot out over the dunk contest is a travesty.
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