why has the dunk contest become so poor?

[DutchMastah7]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

If you go on YouTube, there are vids of a couple guys doing dunks never seen in an NBA dunk contest. If somebody in the league could pull off a 360 under his legs dunk, or jump over a teammate and go between the legs. Dunks like that are what I would want to see from an NBA player.

[Streaky McFloorburn]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

One thing that I'd love to see attempted is an aerial >180° spin to one side of the backboard, which the player pushes off of (with a hand or the ball) to reverse their rotation >180° mid air before the finish. I couldn't pull it off on a short rim, but it didn't feel impossible if I could jump a foot higher.

[noah1212]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

If you go on YouTube, there are vids of a couple guys doing dunks never seen in an NBA dunk contest. If somebody in the league could pull off a 360 under his legs dunk, or jump over a teammate and go between the legs. Dunks like that are what I would want to see from an NBA player.

the more i read these the more they sound amazing, but at what point do these dunks become too much of a risk? The players capable of doing this are the stars in this league, guys like lebron, kyrie, durant etc.... But a player getting hurt for this type of contest could potentially change nba history.

[VDusen04]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

the more i read these the more they sound amazing, but at what point do these dunks become too much of a risk? The players capable of doing this are the stars in this league, guys like lebron, kyrie, durant etc.... But a player getting hurt for this type of contest could potentially change nba history.

I do not find any non-prop dunks to be a risk. Yes, jumping over people always opens up the possibility of:

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But even then, true life-altering injury is very, very, very rare. If we get to the point of fearing injury from dunking, we may as well just have ball players do absolutely nothing but play basketball games from the remainder of their careers. No visits to the mall, no swimming, no dancing, etc.

Dwyane Wade, avoiding injury?

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That video doesn't really tie in. I just love posting it.

[MidRangeGame]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Because they change the rules every year ...

for starters and the stars seem hesitant to compete

[noah1212]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Because they change the rules every year ...

for starters and the stars seem hesitant to compete

i dont understand why.

[VDusen04]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

I was thinking about the dunk contest this morning. I think the 2013 contest was a step in the right direction. I loved how they brought back six competitors. I actually think the biggest problem of the '13 contest was getting players to finish their dunks on the first attempt. I think it's more exciting to fans and judges when a pretty great dunk is made on its first go-around versus a slightly better dunk made on its 7th attempt.

Either way, I'm looking forward to the '14 contest and am hopeful they maintain the six competitor setup. I'd also like if the finals were properly judged and not reliant upon fan voting.

[ClassyCheating]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Lack of creativity, gimmicks too prominent, etc.

[st0rmb11]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

One thing I'd love to see has already been mentioned; take the fan vote away from it. The year Griffin won, I would have had him ranked 4th in that particular contest. Derozan, McGee, and Ibaka were pulling off better dunks.

Fans can't be trusted with voting for things that involve guys they've likely never heard of.

[Ice_Cold345]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

The fans vote is pretty dumb, but it doesn't help when the judges give average dunks a 10/10 all the time.

I don't mind props, but only when it adds to the dunk or you get it on your first try. Blake's dunk was the most generic dunk you could do, doing it over a hood of a car doesn't do anything.

[WTF]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Over the front quarter of the headlight assembly to boot. Not like he went over the actual hood of the car

[return.specialist]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Lack of an objective scoring criteria.

[Vni]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

Lack of an objective scoring criteria.

Basically.

It's like they're judging kids at elementary school. This thing as it is is meant to be a joke.

[st0rmb11]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

what about if they did it like a game of dunk H-O-R-S-E?

dunker 1 completes a dunk, so dunker 2 has to do it. If he gets it, dunker 3 has to complete it, etc. You guys know how H-O-R-S-E works.

At least then it would be a somewhat fair competition, and you'd get to see different guys give their own takes on the same dunks.

[VDusen04]

Re: why has the dunk contest become so poor?

One thing I'd love to see has already been mentioned; take the fan vote away from it. The year Griffin won, I would have had him ranked 4th in that particular contest. Derozan, McGee, and Ibaka were pulling off better dunks.

Fans can't be trusted with voting for things that involve guys they've likely never heard of.

I agree fan voting is an awful idea. However, for the sake of clarity, Griffin's year featured a fan vote in the final round only. And as overrated as Griffin's car dunk may be, McGee's final round ended with a pretty serious dud. Griffin's final round featured the car jam and an off-the-backboard elbow dunk. McGee pulled off a Larry Nance cuff reverse then a pretty standard off-the-backboard one-hander.

I think all four competitors had an argument that could have been made for them, but I didn't find Griffin's advancement and victory particularly egregious.

The fans vote is pretty dumb, but it doesn't help when the judges give average dunks a 10/10 all the time.

I don't mind props, but only when it adds to the dunk or you get it on your first try. Blake's dunk was the most generic dunk you could do, doing it over a hood of a car doesn't do anything.

I agree about the scoring. I was watching the 1992 contest the other day and when Cedric Ceballos pulled a 50 for that lame blindfold dunk, it was just the 8th perfect 50 in the 8 year contest history. There were four 50's in last year's contest alone (some coming after missed first attempts).

I'm with you on the prop front too. I thought Gerald Green's 2007 winning dunk was a great example, where he set up a three foot tall bench then windmilled over it (receiving a perfect score and contest victory). The dunk would have been the same with or without the prop.

what about if they did it like a game of dunk H-O-R-S-E?

dunker 1 completes a dunk, so dunker 2 has to do it. If he gets it, dunker 3 has to complete it, etc. You guys know how H-O-R-S-E works.

At least then it would be a somewhat fair competition, and you'd get to see different guys give their own takes on the same dunks.

I would not be in favor of this idea because I highly value dunker creativity. Further, I do not believe a dunker's different take on another dunker's attempt would translate very well in many instances. I feel it'd be awfully similar to the Dunk Wheel of 2002, where Steve Francis was forced to provide his take on Terence Stansbury's helicopter 360 (which Francis' size and style did not allow for any sort of acceptable impression) or Jason Richardson having to jump from the free throw line (despite being an almost exclusive two-foot jumper).

I feel it'd be a lot of this:

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