I had the pleasure of checking out the dunk contest last night (Thank you Corey) and we saw a guy dunk two basketballs, then “three” basketballs, and then man jump car which left me walking away with a few thoughts, and maybe ideas on how to go forth.
The Thoughts:
1 - Serge Ibaka: The man from Africa who was just as much glam as he was dunk used his first dunk attempt to launch from the free throw line. He did it, and it was a legit free throw line dunk. For whatever reason I think he garnered a 45, a 45!? He jumped free throw line! The thing with the free throw line is once Jordan cocked his legs back like he’s floating he changed the visuals of it. MJ flew, and everyone else is just jumping.
If you want the 50 from free throw, you need to figure out how to soar – not jump.
2 - The glam and the glitz: Too much of it. Please show me raw dunks. I think it’s cool to have a bunch of props but it’s turning into a Hollywood movie during summertime, just show me the academy awards and be better than everyone else.
3 - The many attempts: After Nate Robinson took 45 minutes to do 1 dunk a few years ago they changed the rule to allowing the dunkers just 2 minutes. Well, 2 minutes is too long. If you nail the dunk of the first try then it’s unexpected, spontaneous, and plain awesome. Allowing someone to try over and over lets the steam from the room.
I propose the new rule! If you miss your first 2 dunk attempts you are automatically deducted 1 point, the highest you can get is a 9.
4 - The score cards need to go lower than 8. Not sure if you realized it but the cards they hand out are 8 through 10. If you suck I want to give you a 3.
5 - The 3 ball dunk: NOT A 3 BALL DUNK. It’s funny because after JaVale McGee, from the Washington Wizards, dunked 2 balls on separate hoops and took 1:30 seconds I said “I want to see him dunk 3 balls.” Then sure enough he said he was dunking 3.
He successfully dunked 2 then John Wall bounced the 3rd to him. He may call it a dunk - I call it goaltending assist from J Wall.
6 - Allowing fans to “vote”: No, stop it now. I don’t care how interactive you want it to be. This is stupid, maybe allow them to have input but leave this to the judges.
7- Cee-Lo: Wears very bright clothing.
8 - The newest Golden Child of LA: Blake Griffin. Dude is awesome, just awesome. When he made it to the final round he did a dunk that was pretty incredible. Toss of the back board, catch and stuff his forearm deep in the hoop a la’ Vince Carter 2001.
Then… he jumped the hood of a car with Baron Davis giving him the assist. Also, he brought in the Compton choir to sing an R Kelly song while he dunked. I hate to say this but I wanted to see him jump the entire car.
The car jump was spectacular don’t get me wrong but his first dunk he made was on the first attempt and no props, and that’s why it was almost more incredible. I will say this: In the final round Blake Griffin made me forget someone was even going head to head with him. He had it won 2 weeks ago.
All in all I want to see the supreme athletes do things with no assistance and no flash. Show me something I can’t think of or do on a 6 foot hoop. And although I want to see more superstars in the dunk contest (Bron) I think this was a great job to pump some life back into it.
I love All Star Weekend.