Is it me or is the NBA slam dunk contest not really that exciting anymore? I actually thought last nights was pretty boring.

I was pretty fired up last night to watch the 2007 NBA slam dunk contest, but that excitement soon went away when I saw the four participants and none of them are really that exciting to watch.

Here were the 4 participants and why I think they weren’t the best choices…

Nate Robinson - Defending champion. He’s short obviously which makes for some interesting dunks simply cause it’s so amazing how high a small guy can jump, but he really wasn’t trying anything that hadn’t already been done a million times before. I think it’s probably tough on a guy this size simply because he’s limited in what he can really do and he probably used his best dunks last year.

Tyrus Thomas - He really didn’t do anything in this competition and I really don’t even have much to say on him except I hope this was his last year in the competiton.

Dwight Howard - Simply a physical specimen! This guys is strong, athletic, quick and can definitely jump as we saw by how high he stuck the sticker of himself on the backboard, but the problem with having a big guy this size is that although the dunks are fierce and incredible… they just don’t look that great cause of his enormous size.

Gerald Green - His first dunk was sick and I actually thought we were in for something great, but that was really it for him too. His “Dee Brown” dunk was kind of cool since he jumped over Nate Robinson, but again it has been done before and just wasn’t that innovative.

Here are the video highlights of the 2007 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, plus some video of Shaq and Lebron dancing…

So what did you think? I just didn’t think it was all that entertaining. Actually Shaq and Lebron’s dancing was more exciting.

Here is what I think the problem with the NBA slam dunk contest is…

1. The best dunkers of all time were around the 6′5″ - 6′8″ height which makes for typcially the most althletic players with the most flexibility, jumping ability and all around creativity in the air. Examples would be Kobe, MJ, Vince Carter etc… I think the problem you run into with small guys is the amount of different dunks they can do. They’re somewhat limited in what they can actually pull off in the air and so usually one year of this is enough. Big guys have just the opposite problem. They can get up real high, but they tend to look awkward and are also somewhat limited in what they can do mid air. That’s why I think the best size is around MJ and Kobe’s size.

2. I would have rather seen the judges in the contest. This year’s judges included Michael Jordan, Dr. J, Vince Carter, Dominique Wilkins and Kobe Bryant. Why is it that no one wants to be in this contest anymore? Why aren’t Kobe and Vince in it? I know they’ve both already won it before, but so what. The contest is losing it’s excitement and unless they start getting the actualy NBA stars back in it, the TV viewership is going to go way down.

3. Well this one really has nothing to do with the slam dunk contest, but more with the whole NBA All-Star weekend. Why not a 1 on 1 competition with some of the greatest players. Could you imagine Kevin Garnett vs. Kobe or Allen Iverson vs. Dwyane Wade? How about having 8 of the top players in a small single elimination tournament with each game going to 11 by ones and twos. Could you imagine the potential matchups? How about round two or so we get Shaq vs. Kobe. OMG that would be huge! Also the different size matchups would be fun to watch. AI vs. KG? I think it would sure make it more fun to watch and would be a whole lot better than the crap they are doing now. The skills challenge and shooting stars challenge? It couldn’t have been more boring.

Here are some previous slam dunk contests. They were sure a lot more exciting than this one. I’ll have to say my favorites were a number of Jordan’s and Vince Carter’s.

1988 Slam Dunk Contest - Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins

2000 Slam Dunk Contest - Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 18th, 2007 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.