Slam Dunk Contest

[[Q]]

with the new features on the forum, I went ahead and added a poll.

[Andrew]

As much as I'm looking forward to the dunk contest, as I saw LeBron throw down a couple of nice dunks against the Blazers today including one where he was almost looking down on the rim, I couldn't help but wish the field was a little bigger and a couple of other stars would get into the act as they once did.

[Mikki]

I'd go with Green. Nobody wants to see Gay slam one home.

[[Q]]

i'm just curious to see if the NLSC can correctly predict the winner of the dunk contest.

[Andrew]

I'll pick Rudy Gay over Dwight Howard in the Finals.

[_marsal]

Man are you guys underrating Jamario Moon...I'm picking him to win it all.

[Skills]

Jamario Moon's Dr.J like highlight is pretty sick
I think he'll win it. He WAS a former Harlem Globetrotter..

[Andrew]

So far he's the favourite in the poll. It'll be interesting to see if the campaigning that Howard and Guy have been doing will pay off when the fans cast their votes.

[Skills]

Last year, Dwight was gonna "kiss" the rim if he made it all the way.
Then he would've banged his head off of the backboard.
So he has a good chance of making it to the finals.
Rudy on the other hand has fans submitting ideas. And people do come up with crazy shit..

[[Q]]

one of the dunks i saw on Rudy's youtube was some guy doing a 360 under both legs dunk. someone should psot Fred Jones's failed attempt to get a buddy in the audience to alley oop to him.

[Andrew]

Last year, Dwight was gonna "kiss" the rim if he made it all the way.
Then he would've banged his head off of the backboard.
So he has a good chance of making it to the finals.
Rudy on the other hand has fans submitting ideas. And people do come up with crazy shit..

Even though I think it was a bit overrated, if Howard had gone with the kiss the rim dunk in the first round last year and saved the sticker dunk for the Finals it might have worked out. It might have been more successful had he drawn more attention to what he was going to do beforehand to build some suspense and then demonstrate that he could indeed slap a sticker on the board.

However, I still believe that the fact the dunk itself is essentially a strong one-hander with a backboard tap and he's 6'11" with a long reach and good jumping ability works against him with an idea like that. If he comes out with some of those other ideas he'll be in good shape in this year's contest.

With all the impressive dunks we've seen in years past the bar has been set pretty high. There's a limit on what's humanly possible but contestants can always build on what's been done in the past by putting a new twist on it. Free throw line dunks and between the legs dunks have been done many times before but if they're combined a la James White then that's impressive. If someone was to pull that off or a 360-between-the-legs or a 360 from a lob off the backboard or a 360 underneath the hoop to the other side before throwing it down, that would definitely be raising the bar.

[_marsal]

Guys have you seen this?? http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nba ... eforme.asx

Look how far beyond the free throw line he takes off. Man I can't wait for the dunk contest

[grusom]

Guys have you seen this?? http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nba ... eforme.asx

Look how far beyond the free throw line he takes off. Man I can't wait for the dunk contest

Yeah, even though you can't see if he actually makes the dunk, I don't think he would put up a video like that if he wasn't able to do it.

It's a nicely made video btw, I love the tease at the end.

[Fitzy]

i doubt he woulda made it, the camera was tilted on purpose

[Andreas Dahl]

Guys have you seen this?? http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nba ... eforme.asx

Look how far beyond the free throw line he takes off. Man I can't wait for the dunk contest

Looks really cool, but to me, it looks fake. (Especially since it's a commercial..) But the second dunk was real nice.
However, I think the final will be between Gay and Howard (I hope the judges doesn't cut Dwight some slack because of what happened last year), and with Gay winning it all.

[grusom]

i doubt he woulda made it, the camera was tilted on purpose

Exactly - it was tilted because he didn't want to show us his best trick yet, just build some suspense - which again indicates that he can actually make the dunk - otherwise his actual performance will be quite the anticlimax.

[ThaLiveKing]

Jamario Moon is going to win it because he has the most hops. He's is going to Revolutionize the competition!! Just watch lol

[Andrew]

If Moon takes off from there, that's got to be an automatic 50. The free throw line dunk has been done many times before but if he makes it from that far back he's definitely raised the bar. The 360 off the lob was nice as well.

[Abctest123]

Dwight Howard's turn to show us what he's preparing: http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/02/11/dwight-howards-dunk-contest-sneak-preview/

Watch for yourself . Probably the most hyped up I've been for a long time.

[grusom]

Dwight Howard's turn to show us what he's preparing: http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/02/11/dwight-howards-dunk-contest-sneak-preview/

Watch for yourself . Probably the most hyped up I've been for a long time.

I feel the same way . i really think the contest is going to be special this year. Howard has got two sure 50's in there, and with his kiss-the-rim, he has got 3. I could actually see him win it.

[[Q]]

some of his stuff I really like. I liked the mid-air bounce off the backboard dunk as well as the windmill from the bounce off the back of the backboard. All the other ones were kind of boring because we've seen them all before. Even watching Nique's windmills (in slow-mo) are quite boring because it's been played out.

[buzzy]

Damn Graham moved the camera.

Those two from Howard Qballer mentioned were amazing.
Man I can't wait for the contest.

[BIG GREEN]

This will be the best contest since vince, francis and mcgrady...mark my words. I've never seen a group of guys actually care about the dunk contest for 7 years; closest would be nate vs. iggy.

Dwight has to win it with hang time and power. The mid-air bounce of the backboard was as unique as it can be but if he throws it down with power like moon then he will win. I think moon will win but i support all big men since i'm one by normal standards...so dwight for me.

[JaoSming]

what I hate is that with only 4 contestants the 2 first round losers only do 2 dunks. If they wanted to change things up with this voting they should have all 4 for 4 or 5 dunks then have the stupid cell phone voting.

I mean dwight won't do those amazing dunks in the first round. Moon wont take off from behind the foul line, and Gay prob wont do his "fan" dunk in the first round either.

So i dunno, I've always wanted more contestants and more dunks, I just wish that in this group 2 of them wouldnt be limited to just 2 dunks.

[Patr1ck]

They should have 3 rounds, 2 dunks each, with only one competitor ebing eliminated each round. That would give us a total of 18 dunks, 6 each for the finalists, 4 and 2 for the other two competitors.

They should also have a throwback dunk contest with guys like Dominique, Dr. J, and MJ. They could lower the rim to 9 feet.

I think Jamario Moon made that dunk. I was analyzing the reflection and I think he may have done it before even if he didn't complete it in the video. Besides, if he can do that why show it to us now? Save the surprise for the dunk contest.