2013 NBA All-Star Weekend: Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

[Andrew]

The main event of All-Star Saturday Night and still my favourite contest, through all its ups and downs.

2013 Eastern Conference Sprite Slam Dunk Competitors

Gerald Green (Indiana)
Terrence Ross (Toronto)
James White (New York)

2013 Western Conference Sprite Slam Dunk Competitors

Eric Bledsoe (L.A. Clippers)
Jeremy Evans (Utah)
Kenneth Faried (Denver)

I'm still not a fan of the idea of judges in the first round, fan voting in the second (before any dunks have been attempted, no less) but we do have a pretty good field this year, headed up by James White and Gerald Green. It's a shame we won't be able to see them square off in the final round because of the East vs West format but I expect we're still going to see some entertaining dunks, with James White being my pick to win the contest. I just hope everyone tones down the props and gimmicks this year.

[NovU]

Faried for me because he's an animal.

Despite White being a great dunker, fans rarely know the guy and I think that will be a factor in voting.

[Andrew]

I don't know about him being a complete unknown, there's been buzz about getting him in the dunk contest since he was drafted and his exploits in dunk contests in high school, college and overseas are fairly well known. If he has an impressive showing, I'd suggest he'll win over the more casual fans as well.

[graybakflip]

I'll go w/ GG, my underdog would be bledsoe..

[NovU]

I don't know about him being a complete unknown, there's been buzz about getting him in the dunk contest since he was drafted and his exploits in dunk contests in high school, college and overseas are fairly well known. If he has an impressive showing, I'd suggest he'll win over the more casual fans as well.

Perhaps you are right. It's not like fans love to see Faried who's a Nugget(no media-love for ya!). And there aren't any other superstar here so more will be about strong showings. White's got the best chance I guess in that regard.

Just that I personally been enjoying Faried's power dunks this season...

[Andrew]

I like Faried too, he's got a lot of power and he's shown a bit of creativity at times too, but I'd definitely rate White and Green ahead of him.

[stereoxide]

My pick, the underdog Ross moves to the final round.

[stereoxide]

Dunk Contest not living up to the expectations of many. It's not very exciting.

[JaoSming]

First dunks weren't bad at all.......but, yeesh.

[Alpha_]

I'm a bit disappointed.

[Andrew]

Kenny Smith's prediction of it being one of the top ten dunk contests of all-time was definitely premature. A couple of nice dunks but it definitely didn't live up to the hype.

James White was very underwhelming. His first dunk was nice, but it was a little further inside the line than most and it has been done, so 45 was fair. His second dunk was a disaster. Gerald Green also flat out choked on his second dunk and I thought that was a generous 50 on his first dunk, though it was one of the better ones in the contest.

I thought Kenneth Faried's 39 on his first dunk was ridiculously low, for a 360 off the backboard. Poor judging there. His second dunk was the dunk of the night for me, it's been done before but it was still great and the best of the contest. Eric Bledsoe's second dunk wasn't bad, first one was alright but if he'd gotten the 360 between the legs to go down, that would've been awesome.

Terrence Ross's 50 didn't feel right either, though his dunks in the finals were strong. Not the best in the contest or all-time classics, but he deserved the win. Jeremy Evans was kind of repetitive in terms of jumping over props and people, but there was some creativity there. As much as I'm tired of the props and gimmicks, I have to hand it to him on the painting dunk, it was clever and the dunk itself wasn't too shabby.

With White and Green faltering, the format of the contest definitely hurt a little. I'd have liked to have seen Faried, Evans and Ross in the finals in a "top three advance" format. I'd also bring back judging in both rounds, even if I did disagree with a couple of the scores in the first round this year.

Definitely not top ten, but a few good dunks and the finals was alright, so I'd say the highlights are at least worth checking out. White's performance and Green's choke job were definitely a letdown though. It was nice to see props and gimmicks kept to a minimum for the most part though, so hopefully that trend continues.

[NovU]

Kenny Smith's prediction of it being one of the top ten dunk contests of all-time was definitely premature. A couple of nice dunks but it definitely didn't live up to the hype.

James White was very underwhelming. His first dunk was nice, but it was a little further inside the line than most and it has been done, so 45 was fair. His second dunk was a disaster. Gerald Green also flat out choked on his second dunk and I thought that was a generous 50 on his first dunk, though it was one of the better ones in the contest.

I thought Kenneth Faried's 39 on his first dunk was ridiculously low, for a 360 off the backboard. Poor judging there. His second dunk was the dunk of the night for me, it's been done before but it was still great and the best of the contest. Eric Bledsoe's second dunk wasn't bad, first one was alright but if he'd gotten the 360 between the legs to go down, that would've been awesome.

Terrence Ross's 50 didn't feel right either, though his dunks in the finals were strong. Not the best in the contest or all-time classics, but he deserved the win. Jeremy Evans was kind of repetitive in terms of jumping over props and people, but there was some creativity there. As much as I'm tired of the props and gimmicks, I have to hand it to him on the painting dunk, it was clever and the dunk itself wasn't too shabby.

With White and Green faltering, the format of the contest definitely hurt a little. I'd have liked to have seen Faried, Evans and Ross in the finals in a "top three advance" format. I'd also bring back judging in both rounds, even if I did disagree with a couple of the scores in the first round this year.

Definitely not top ten, but a few good dunks and the finals was alright, so I'd say the highlights are at least worth checking out. White's performance and Green's choke job were definitely a letdown though. It was nice to see props and gimmicks kept to a minimum for the most part though, so hopefully that trend continues.

[Patr1ck]

I thought the east vs west was just for the dunk contest, but seeing that it was for the entire saturday events, I liked it a little better. Not a bad idea to keep the competition going.

The dunk contest itself was not bad at all. Some solid dunks, with nothing too bad or incredible. Looks like James White tired himself out running the entire floor so many times and had problems griping the ball. I agree that Faried's 360 deserved a higher score, especially with the other dunks that got 50's. Solid contest, but Kenny Smith always find a way to ruin it by speaking.

[shadowgrin]

For a moment there it looked like the dunk contest Chris Andersen edition.

James White should have ditched the gimmick flight attendants on his first dunk. He had limited space to bounce that dribble which he uses to prep himself up for the FT line dunk.

Good first dunks from the East, second dunks from the West. Not a bad final round but not a memorable dunk contest and if it weren't for a Mark Eaton sighting I would deem the contest terrible.

[Manni Live]

Didnt really like this years Slam dunk contest.I think we should see more of the stars of the NBA compete in these contest,those are the players who we want to see.But nonetheless congrats to my boy Terrance Ross representing my home town Toronto he really did his thing out there,putting on Vince Carter's jersey and putting on a show.

[Patr1ck]

You don't want to see the future stars and all the perimeter talented players who shoot threes and make passes and layups? I agree, though. Lebron needs to be in the damn dunk contest. I don't care if he isn't a contest dunk kind of dunker, he jumped over a player in a damn game and dunked it.

They should have some kind of all-scoring contest where the best scorers have to shoot various shots in different ways. They could start at the free throw line them move to the elbow and shoot a post fadeaway, move to the top of the key, catch and shoot, receive another ball, dribble in and shoot a pullup jumper, go to the post, receive a pass and shoot a hook shot, move baseline, shoot a jumper, then finish with a reverse layup behind an obstacle. It would all have to be timed with baskets made reducing their time.

[Andrew]

Getting more stars in the contest helps but if the creativity isn't there and the format sucks, then it's still going to be a letdown. That said, I'm all for seeing some bigger names throw their hat into the ring.

[Jackal]

They wouldn't choke that fast either. Some of those guys just seemed to forget how to hold a ball once their turn was up.

More stars who are used to the big stage & people actually know who they are.

[Bruce]

James White was very underwhelming. His first dunk was nice, but it was a little further inside the line than most and it has been done, so 45 was fair. His second dunk was a disaster. Gerald Green also flat out choked on his second dunk and I thought that was a generous 50 on his first dunk, though it was one of the better ones in the contest.

James White I think relies too much on raw skill, his dunks are not as creative as most dunks these days. That I think is why he is always a participant of such contests, but never takes home the prize.

I hated the scoring at the start of the game too, I was thinking WTH were they thinking getting a bunch of big men to judge the contest. Cylde Drexler was the only "dunker" on the judging panel. But when I looked at it as the judges giving more thought into scoring for style points rather than the difficulty of the dunk, it made a little more sense. Though I absolutely agree that they were flat out generous in the scoring.

[Andrew]

The argument in favour of the score Faried's first dunk received seems to be that he didn't put it down cleanly enough. That's a fair call, but it was still a low score for a 360 off the backboard. We haven't seen that one too often...I vaguely recall Tony Dumas attempting it in the 1995 dunk contest but I could be mistaken.

[Jeffx]

I hate sounding like an old man, but maybe it's time to scrap this. We've already seen the best (Dr. J, Jordan, 'Nique, Webb, Vince) - I'm bored watching this now. And I don't remember the cats from the past needing do-overs....jeesh.

[Patr1ck]

They need do-overs today because they are so much more talented than those "best" with much more difficult and extravagant dunk attempts. Jumping over people and other obstacles? Between the legs? Jumping over people while putting the ball between your legs? Go back and tell me that 'Nique continuously doing windmills deserved 50's or close to it every time. Tell me that Jordan should have got a 50 for each free throw line dunk he did. Everything the contest is or was has been over hyped either before or after it happened.

[NovU]

I hate sounding like an old man, but maybe it's time to scrap this.

My friend pretty much said the same thing about scraping it. And I can understand the sentiment. It's just not as entertaining as before and gimmicks make the competition a joke, often times making it painful to watch.

Duncon used to be a somewhat serious competition between superstars(or upcoming). It was popular because of superstars. The dunks were secondary. Fans wanted to see what they could do and how they would compete. That alone offered enough dramas for the fans. Today, the dunks are great. You probably could argue today's dunks are more skilled and impressive. But they're nobodies. You gotta admit that Jaosming's dunks are more entertaining because he is a NLSC superstar.

[Andrew]

They need do-overs today because they are so much more talented than those "best" with much more difficult and extravagant dunk attempts. Jumping over people and other obstacles? Between the legs? Jumping over people while putting the ball between your legs? Go back and tell me that 'Nique continuously doing windmills deserved 50's or close to it every time. Tell me that Jordan should have got a 50 for each free throw line dunk he did. Everything the contest is or was has been over hyped either before or after it happened.

I'd agree that today's players tend to need the do-overs because they're trying to raise the bar and top what's been done in the past with more complicated stuff, so they deserve to be cut a little slack. At the same time however, I do think that the best dunks from the old days still stand the test of time and did deserve those high scores because they were done so well with minimal do-overs and they were the standard of excellence at the time.

I still think the format has a lot to answer for when it comes to the quality of the contest. Aside from that, some years it's just better than others. Quite a few of the contests from 2000 through 2009 were entertaining, with 2000 standing out as a candidate for being one of the best ever. 2010 was woeful, 2011 was quite good, the last couple of years have been a bit ordinary albeit with a couple of nice dunks. While he was off with his prediction of this year's contest being one of the top ten all-time, I'd agree with Kenny Smith's suggestion that the event is cyclical in its quality. I wouldn't scrap it, I'd just fix the format, try to encourage more stars to compete and keep looking to put the best field out there every year.

[Bruce]

I'd rather the NBA keep the contest the way it is, crappy and all rather than the NBA trying to bring back the H.O.R.S.E. contest.