why has the dunk contest become so poor?

[noah1212]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Fred Jones, Brent Barry, Cedric Ceballos, Kenny Walker, Josh Smith, Isiah Rider, Desmond Mason , Gerald Green, JR Richardson, Blake Griffin, Spud Webb, Jeremy Evans.......

I know for a fact blake and josh have been all stars, im 18 though so I dont know a ton of those guys.

but yeah my point was that those were the most memorable ones......those are the dunks that went down in history, not the back up players.

[kingkilla56]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

They need to retire the dunk contest for a couple years and let people recharge. None of the dunks have been creative or jaw dropping for years. Plus filling the thing with no name (relatively speaking) guys doesnt help.

[noah1212]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

They need to retire the dunk contest for a couple years and let people recharge. None of the dunks have been creative or jaw dropping for years. Plus filling the thing with no name (relatively speaking) guys doesnt help.

last time i really got excited was when nate robinson was in it the first time. Just because i had no idea a guy that short who had that kinda athletic ability existed in the modern day nba.

[Majingir]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

The last good dunk contest was when it was Dwight vs Nate in the finals.

Hasn't been the same since. I liked most of the contests from 2005-2009?(or 2010?Depending on which one was the dwight-nate one) with exception of the Gerald Green winning year.

2005 didn't even use much props, and it was great. First year that Nate won(controversially) but had some great dunks in it. That was the first good dunk contest since the 2000 one.

I think main problem is that NBA just chooses 1st-2nd year players instead of just anyone who wants to compete in it. And no big name players are wanting to step up to compete in it either. And nobody really thinks of dunks until they get to the all star game city. NBA should have the 2 dunks in 1st round,2 dunks in final round format with judges voting, and a tiebreaker dunk if needed. Then all the people entering the dunk contest better come with 5-6 GOOD dunks.

[MoutonDocile]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

They ran this dunk contest marathon on NBA TV during the holidays. I was sick and watched most of them starting in the 80's all the way to the latest ones and I agree that the props killed it.

As far as creativity goes, every big year, the commentators were like : "We've seen it all!" "What can they possibly do?" And BAM! Here comes MJ, Vince Carter, Richardson, Mason and so on..... to prove them so, so wrong.

Get rid of the props I say.

[InthePaint]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

I know for a fact blake and josh have been all stars, im 18 though so I dont know a ton of those guys.

but yeah my point was that those were the most memorable ones......those are the dunks that went down in history, not the back up players.

Clyde Drexler didnt get to the final round.

[Majingir]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

They ran this dunk contest marathon on NBA TV during the holidays. I was sick and watched most of them starting in the 80's all the way to the latest ones and I agree that the props killed it.

As far as creativity goes, every big year, the commentators were like : "We've seen it all!" "What can they possibly do?" And BAM! Here comes MJ, Vince Carter, Richardson, Mason and so on..... to prove them so, so wrong.

Get rid of the props I say.

By props, you mean like superman, the car, cupcake candle, glow in the dark dunk and stuff like that? Or does it also include the teammate passes and all that?

Cause some of those more "recent" teammate assistant dunks(Smith over K-Mart,Nash with his header pass, AI to AI off the back of the backboard) were cool.

[WTF]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

At least the dunk spin wheel is gone. That was atrocious.

[d11king]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Their #1 problem is fan voting. They need to bring back the judges so we don't get guys like Andre Igoudala getting robbed by Nate Robinson.

[Majingir]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Their #1 problem is fan voting. They need to bring back the judges so we don't get guys like Andre Igoudala getting robbed by Nate Robinson.

lol, irony of that. AI lost to Nate BECAUSE of the judges.

But when Nate won a few years ago(his most recent win), that wasn't fair. They pitted a multi time dunk contest winner,and someone everyone who watches dunk contest knows, against a Toronto Raptor...a guy only people in Canada know(and Canadians couldn't vote in dunk contest)

[VDusen04]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

even the "bad dunkers" like larry hughes were better than the guys ive seen in the last few years.

I understand your point, but Larry Hughes was terrible. He missed a routine reverse on his first dunk. Then bounced the ball over the backboard for five minutes before eventually settling for another reverse dunk miss on his second attempt. Then, to be completely honest, I've never even seen his third dunk because the live camera was zoomed in on his alley-oop thrower (Allen Iverson) instead of Hughes himself. And they showed no replays because they immediately threw it over to a courtside report on Chris Webber's camcorder of Vince Carter's dunks.

And I dont know if somewhere in the 90's or early 2000s when they let dudes try 10 times for one dunk.

The NBA initially loosened up the attempts rule in 2005, after the '04 contest finished with both finalists missing their last dunks, leading to Fred Jones becoming dunk champion... on a miss. The loosening of those rules then of course led to the Nate Robinson and Chris Andersen situations, so the NBA tightened things back up a little. They've been trying to find a balance ever since.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iYyXVnOKTMw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I thought the 2011 contest was pretty great, even if it was rigged, it was the most entertaining it had been in a while, and the dunks, at least the first round ones, were pretty great.

Last year was nonsense though.

Agreed. Griffin (minus the Kia), McGee, Ibaka, and DeRozan all brought something special to the table. It was a great contest, which only further befuddles me as to why they'd alter anything about their process. Why one round? Why exclusive fan voting? Why so many themes, coaches, acting, and filth?

Superstars dont need to make the contest better.

Better Dunks do.

Larry Nance, Dee Brown, and Harold Minor, werent Superstars.

I also agree here. Superstars have had great contests, but so have the lesser knowns. There's a reason why the Miners, Riders, Masons, and Richardsons resonate in the minds of many. None were true superstars, but their dunking prowess dazzled millions nonetheless. If players can dunk, people will be entertained, whether the back of the jersey says Wilkins or Green.

To me, there is only so much that can be done by a dunker. I think we've almost reached that point, in my mind. People have seen everything there is to see, pretty much. It's nearly impossible to catch a crowd and judges with something new

As MoutonDocile mentioned earlier, people have been saying this for as long as the contest has been alive. I actually thought dunking innovation was finished in 1998. Even when I heard Vince Carter was going to be in the 2000 contest, I just figured he'd do neat versions of all the dunks I'd already seen a million times. Then he blew my mind by performing dunks I'd never dreamed with a grace I'd never imagined.

There's still a lot to be attempted and completed yet. It's just takes the right player at the right time.

I think the problem is that dunkers forget that they can bring their own flair to dunks that have already been seen multiple times. Most of the memorable NBA dunk contests were triumphs of style + execution more/rather than originality.

MJ vs. Nique was awesome because of the distinct contrast between grace and power. Vince knew how to frame his movements better than anybody. Blake Griffin is perhaps the best bigman dunker ever in that regard, and I believe the best chance for a pantheon-level contest performance in the next few years.

Dunkers need to concentrate on these things IMO:

Make every dunk!

Ask themselves; how can I make my dunks look new? If I can't spin an extra revolution, can I rotate faster/slower/with my limbs in a novel position? Can I get more lean in the air? Can I dunk so hard that people at least worry about a broken rim/backboard/collapsed support?

Enjoy the moment, not in a contrived way, but like the kids watching who truly haven't done/seen this all before.

Quoted for truth. Innovation is great, but so is style, power and grace, and they're all sometimes forgotten or underrated. It's the difference between this:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/E7ijzLPcx1I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

and this:

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They ran this dunk contest marathon on NBA TV during the holidays. I was sick and watched most of them starting in the 80's all the way to the latest ones and I agree that the props killed it.

As far as creativity goes, every big year, the commentators were like : "We've seen it all!" "What can they possibly do?" And BAM! Here comes MJ, Vince Carter, Richardson, Mason and so on..... to prove them so, so wrong.

Get rid of the props I say.

Yes, yes, and yes.

By props, you mean like superman, the car, cupcake candle, glow in the dark dunk and stuff like that? Or does it also include the teammate passes and all that?

Cause some of those more "recent" teammate assistant dunks(Smith over K-Mart,Nash with his header pass, AI to AI off the back of the backboard) were cool.

I do not consider teammate assistance as a prop. I actually do not mind props when they do not become the focus over the slam itself. An example of props gone terribly, terribly, terribly wrong:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7FauioiJdSQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

At least the dunk spin wheel is gone. That was atrocious.

You mean you did not enjoy Steve Francis being forced to copy and imitate Terence Stansbury and subsequently getting booed out of Philly?

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Their #1 problem is fan voting. They need to bring back the judges so we don't get guys like Andre Igoudala getting robbed by Nate Robinson.

One round being decided by fan voting is the worst idea in the history of the dunk contest, and that's saying something.

[Eman5805]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Hit its all time low when they rolled out that damn Kia and a choir.

And then Blake dunked before homeboy tenor could even finish belting out the solor.

[VDusen04]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Hit its all time low when they rolled out that damn Kia and a choir.

And then Blake dunked before homeboy tenor could even finish belting out the solor.

Maybe we're splitting hairs, but by no means do I find the Kia dunk to be the contest's all-time low point. If anything, over the last three years, I found the '11 contest to be the high point, with '10 being terrible and '12 being an abomination to anything even vaguely basketball related.

[InthePaint]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

So folks want more Kia Dunks?

[chronoxiong]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Lack of originality. All the great memorizing dunks have already been done. There's nothing exciting to see anymore. It's the same as Hollywood movies nowadays too. That's why there's countless remakes or sequels now.