The Dunk Contest

Next year Griffin better jump over an Escalade. Nobody in the NBA has a Kia.

 

Watched some of the dunks on NBA.com and now on the replay on NBA TV.
How the hell did McGee not win?
Oh, and nice camera work by TNT to focus in on the choir and damn near miss Griffin's dunk.

 

I mostly just watch all the events to hear the TNT crew crack wise the entire time, but I liked the opening round this year a lot. The finals was disappointing, considering what they opened up with, but still, it was an enjoyable couple of hours.

 

Griffin should have finished last in the first round.

 

But then they wouldn't have been able to bring out the choir and pimp out a Kia.

Vince McMahon laughs at how rigged this was.

 

The NBA needed Griffin to win. The dunk contest started going downhill when guys like Kenny Walker started winning it and guys like Jordan and Wilkins started skipping it.

It's nice to have one of the league's best young players in the contest. There hasn't been enough of that lately.

 

How about this one from an early 90s celebrity dunk contest ... Olympic triple-jumper Mike Conley Sr. dunks from the foul line with two hands, albeit with a running start:

(Skip ahead to about the 30-second mark to see Conley, though Deion Sanders and Ken Griffey Jr. are on the early part of the clip).

 

Aren't young players typically the dunk contingent?

It's when they become established superstars that they start skipping the event.

I wouldn't count on seeing Griffin in the 2015 contest. Same route as Jordan and Wilkins. Participate early, bow out later.

 

Durant and Griffin have saved my interest in the NBA. If I find that the Clippers or Thunder are on TV, I'll usually watch. This is compared to last year where I might have watched 5-6 games total during the regular season.

 

There have been years where half the dunkers aren't even starters. I understand why established vets don't do it. They don't want to risk being embarrassed and they don't have much to gain. But I would do anything to have some dunking duels like we used to with Wilkins and Jordan. Those were just incredible and the fact that both were superstars only added to it.

I don't care how great the dunks are if the players aren't household names people for the most part, won't care. When guys like Kenny Walker and Dee Brown and Cedric Ceballos started winning the dunk contest, I lost interest. When it was Jordan vs. Wilkins, it would be like a Super Bowl party where we'd all gather around and watch every second of it.

 

Wilkins won his last dunk contest in 1990 when he was over 30 and his 8th year in the league. Wouldn't exactly call that bowing out early. And Jordan was still participating in his fourth year.

Certainly a distinct contrast to how today's young superstars tend to regard the contest. Lebron and D-Wade both would've been awesome in it, but neither would ever even give it a try.

 

In the late 80s early 90s the dunk contest could mean millions in shoe money. I'm curious if that was an issue for Griffin. Most No. 1 picks take care of that early (before the draft) but I wonder if him going to the Clippers and being injured last year prevented that from happening.

I'll be curious if Griffin even defends his title. I'd love for them to make the prize so big that no healthy player would pass on it, but these guys make too much money for that ever to happen.