worst dunk contest ever

[Bahku]

This has traditionally been the highlight of Saturday night of All-Star Weekend ... tonight was extremely anti-climactic, and lacking energy and excitement ... too bad, I've always looked forward to it, but after the stupid "Superman" fiasco, it's gone quickly downhill.

[RJ87]

it's so frustrating to see lebron and kobe not entering the contest. mj, dominique and dr. j did it in their prime.. why can't they then? i feel like they think they're too good for the contest. it's pathetic.

Ugh, I HATE to defend him but Kobe did win the dunk contest his rookie year... Will he ever do it again? Probably not but mostly because he seems to be on the verge of losing a limb due to injury by the time AS break rolls around.

LeBron... he just needs to do it and let it be over with. Still don't understand why he said he would and then punked out...

[guava_wrench]

It is a bit ridiculous when people complain about dunk contest vets not doing it anymore. Kobe did it. Can't blame him.

Lebron though is a wuss for backing out.

There are still gems every now and then, like Iggy's dunk off the back of the backboard. That was a great dunk. I also liked Howard's tap of the backboard dunk.

[Rondo_is_better]

Yeah, it was pretty bad. Nate Robinson...default winner of the NBA dunk contest.

[RonnieG]

AGREED! What a stupid dunk contest.

[rav123]

Demar's first and last dunk, Dunks 2 & 3 for Nate were okay. Dunk 2 for Demar and Dunks 1 & 4 by Nate were good.

The rest of the competition was atrocious. I was expecting so much from Shannon Brown, with the whole petitioning thing and hype and all, but the dunks he was doing here were worse than his in-game stuff. Gerald Wallace was horrible as well, but I wasn't expecting anything.

I watched that Dunk-In the other day, and Eric Gordon wasn't too bad. If he had nailed his dunks in fewer attempts he may have beaten Demar who did two easy (for him) dunks really quickly. Eric Gordon was much more creative than these guys - Shannon Brown had been talking about creativity but his stuff was lame.

I think they should have a dunk-in for streetballers and D-league guys, so that the contest is 4 NBA players, 1 D-leaguer and 1 AND-1 player. It would be so fun to see Taurian Fontenette a.k.a Air Up There (who presented the trophy) own these losers. Credit to Nate though because he's done this so many times it's hard to come up with something new and Demar for being a rookie; other two guys had no excuse.

This is the worst dunk contest I've seen (I've watched them since '03). No creativity whatsoever - I wish I was 6'7" with a 40-inch vertical...

RANT OVER

P.S. It's funny how Lebron chickened out (probably thinking he'd get owned by Brown), even though he could have won this one easily.

[Kiorrik]

Seen it, wasn't impressed either.

In fact, I wish Dwight was back. At least he brought innovation and charisma. Two things we lacked this year.

Paul Pierce winning was awesome, though it still feels "empty" since it's just a bunch of threes. I liked the speed he showed on his release and all that, but it just wasn't that big of a deal to me. Maybe if there had been some bigger names, some impressive opposition, or some more rounds.

ILP didn't show the darn horse game, which is what I was looking forward to most.

The Rookie vs Sophomore game was okay, with Blair being the absolute MVP even tho Evans won it.

So far, this all star break has been a drag.

[Nowee]

Seen it, wasn't impressed either.

In fact, I wish Dwight was back. At least he brought innovation and charisma. Two things we lacked this year.

Paul Pierce winning was awesome, though it still feels "empty" since it's just a bunch of threes. I liked the speed he showed on his release and all that, but it just wasn't that big of a deal to me. Maybe if there had been some bigger names, some impressive opposition, or some more rounds.

ILP didn't show the darn horse game, which is what I was looking forward to most.

The Rookie vs Sophomore game was okay, with Blair being the absolute MVP even tho Evans won it.

So far, this all star break has been a drag.

Why did Evans won?

I tought Blair would win and Westbrook would be second.
And a few seconds later Evans was holding the trophy?

[Kiorrik]

Seen it, wasn't impressed either.

In fact, I wish Dwight was back. At least he brought innovation and charisma. Two things we lacked this year.

Paul Pierce winning was awesome, though it still feels "empty" since it's just a bunch of threes. I liked the speed he showed on his release and all that, but it just wasn't that big of a deal to me. Maybe if there had been some bigger names, some impressive opposition, or some more rounds.

ILP didn't show the darn horse game, which is what I was looking forward to most.

The Rookie vs Sophomore game was okay, with Blair being the absolute MVP even tho Evans won it.

So far, this all star break has been a drag.

Why did Evans won?

I tought Blair would win and Westbrook would be second.
And a few seconds later Evans was holding the trophy?

'cuz He got the game going early on. I don't agree either. Should've been 1) Blair, 2) Westbrook and him at third, tops.

[MMacOH]

Gee...I wonder why lebron wouldn't want to be in a dunk contest with the likes of Shannon Brown and Gerald Wallace?  Whats the point?

Before everyone bashes Lebron, he is the one (with Shaq speaking on his behalf)    that suggested they have a dunk conest with the proceeds going to Haiti.  Did they get any takers?

I would love to see all the stars come out and have a super dunk contest.  Will never happen though.

[Chief]

I never thought I'd say this, after last night's dunk contest, I would have preferred a longer skills competition.

[EJPLAYA]

Amen. That was absolute garbage. When Reggie Miller is taunting the dunks saying HE can do them, you know you are putting up crap. Gerald Wallace looked like he gave it no thought whatsoever. Shannon Brown thought he was in a track meet vs a dunking contest. If it hadn't been for Pierce pulling off that 3 pt contest it would have been a horribly wasted evening!

[cdif911]

get rid of the fan vote for the finals...if you're going to have former dunk champs scoring the earlier rounds, let them do the final round too - or at least give them some say (I guess the txting makes money for the league somehow?)

also dunkers should be as follows:

1) Defending champ
2) Rookie picked by the fans
3) Veteran picked by all other players in the league
4) Player with most completed dunks, under 6'10 in games up through the time they pick the east/west coaches (this eliminates tall/post dunkers like Pau Gasol who is actually second in the league in dunks)

We'd have had:

1) Nate
2) Demarr (he was ok, but a 4th place guy) - at least it gives the rookies exposure and they become more known to the fanbase
3) could end up with Howard, or JRich or Lebron or Josh Smith or Carmelo or Kobe or Ike or Brewer (you get the picture, the players know)
4) Based on my formula, we get Lebron

I think a Nate, Demarr, (Players choice) , Lebron contest would have been a little better...

ALso if a guy pulls out, he gives $100k in the pot for the winner...

[rav123]

get rid of the fan vote for the finals...if you're going to have former dunk champs scoring the earlier rounds, let them do the final round too - or at least give them some say (I guess the txting makes money for the league somehow?)

also dunkers should be as follows:

1) Defending champ
2) Rookie picked by the fans
3) Veteran picked by all other players in the league
4) Player with most completed dunks, under 6'10 in games up through the time they pick the east/west coaches (this eliminates tall/post dunkers like Pau Gasol who is actually second in the league in dunks)

We'd have had:

1) Nate
2) Demarr (he was ok, but a 4th place guy) - at least it gives the rookies exposure and they become more known to the fanbase
3) could end up with Howard, or JRich or Lebron or Josh Smith or Carmelo or Kobe or Ike or Brewer (you get the picture, the players know)
4) Based on my formula, we get Lebron

I think a Nate, Demarr, (Players choice) , Lebron contest would have been a little better...

ALso if a guy pulls out, he gives $100k in the pot for the winner...

+ D league contest winner
+ Sprite streetball dunk winner (I don't know what the contest was called, but Air Up There won it)

Btw, the league makes money from the text voting because they show the big companies that "we got X number of texts, therefore we have Y number of fans, therefore we'll charge you Z amount for advertising on All-Star Day" or something like that.

[Redz]

get rid of the fan vote for the finals...if you're going to have former dunk champs scoring the earlier rounds, let them do the final round too - or at least give them some say (I guess the txting makes money for the league somehow?)

also dunkers should be as follows:

1) Defending champ
2) Rookie picked by the fans
3) Veteran picked by all other players in the league
4) Player with most completed dunks, under 6'10 in games up through the time they pick the east/west coaches (this eliminates tall/post dunkers like Pau Gasol who is actually second in the league in dunks)

We'd have had:

1) Nate
2) Demarr (he was ok, but a 4th place guy) - at least it gives the rookies exposure and they become more known to the fanbase
3) could end up with Howard, or JRich or Lebron or Josh Smith or Carmelo or Kobe or Ike or Brewer (you get the picture, the players know)
4) Based on my formula, we get Lebron

I think a Nate, Demarr, (Players choice) , Lebron contest would have been a little better...

ALso if a guy pulls out, he gives $100k in the pot for the winner...

I'm ok with the first 3 parts of the formula, but the 4th might yield the occasional "Shaq in his prime" sort of player.