2009 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

[the_Bird]

the whole all star weekend activities sucked...the nba ought to be embarrassed.

it's time to bring in the BEST dunkers and 3 pt shooters...but if this is the plan for future events then it's a lame one.

Adding to this they have to call more players for each event
4 men there is simply not enough

For the dunk contest, double the number of participants and make the first round be one dunk only; make everyone BRING it from the get-go.  Make sure that at least one or two of the spots are taken by guys playing in the All Star game, and hell - maybe give the last spot to the winner of the D-League dunk contest (there is such a thing, right?).  Maybe the previous year's winner gets a bye to the second round. 

[LarBrd33]

The competitors in the 3 point contest were a joke.   The dunk contest irritated most fans, because they saw how bias everyone was towards Dwight... the other events are always boring.

I think the entire night lacked energy... and I honestly think part of it was that Barkley and Ernie Johnson were not calling the events with Kenny Smith.  The telecast seemed to be missing their energy, enthusiasm and humor.   Nothing against Reggie and the other fella... they do a good job calling actual NBA games... but they weren't right for allstar weekend.

[Celtic]

They need to just get rid of all the competitions except the 3 point and dunk contests. They should have only 4 people in the three point contest, 8 people in the dunk contest and four rounds. Let's face it all anyone cares about is the dunk contest, so they put it at the end, but then they make it so short. And not have Kenny, EJ, and Barkley really hurt the programming this year, they should have at least had Webber on.

[Andy Jick]

The competitors in the 3 point contest were a joke.   The dunk contest irritated most fans, because they saw how bias everyone was towards Dwight... the other events are always boring.

I think the entire night lacked energy... and I honestly think part of it was that Barkley and Ernie Johnson were not calling the events with Kenny Smith.  The telecast seemed to be missing their energy, enthusiasm and humor.   Nothing against Reggie and the other fella... they do a good job calling actual NBA games... but they weren't right for allstar weekend.

can't really blame the announcers...it's hard to make chicken salad out of chicken sh**.

[Edgar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqPRdzrjWpU


I can be called an old timer
but this is
THE THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank god all of u who witness this
other than this years boring stuff

[LB3533]

I thought the Dunk Theatre Special was better than the Dunk Contest itself.

[housecall]

Thats the first dunk contest i ever saw where the competition helps his opponent win.It use to be a bragging rights type of an event for the winner. MJ would never have aided Dominique or vice versa in winning it.I thought it was a lousy contest.

[LarBrd33]

How come nobody does 360's anymore?  Sup with that?

Those JOrdan/Nique highlights were awesome nostalgia, but today's fans are so jaded that those dunks would have been considered kinda weak. 

[miraclejohan]

I didn't see the contest, but I was in Madrid for this weekend and some Spaniards I heard talking about this were mad at the jury.

what are they angry about? Rudy and Pau were horrible! They put everyone to sleep, they deserved an even lower score than what they got. On a side note, JR Smith looked like he didn't want to be there and was relieved when he got eliminated.

Maybe the poster meant the commentators as well?  I was pretty disgusted by them.  I mean, Fernandez was wearing a Martin jersey to honor the first Sapnish player in the NBA and the commentators kept making jokes about it like "Martin who?" and "Ricky MArtin?"  I mean, can you imagine someone saying stuff like that if someone were to wear a Jackie Robinson jersey? Not trying to make this a racial/political thread, BTW, just pretty disappointed and disgusted at the lack of maturity and professionalism shown by the commentators.

[hpantazo]

I didn't see the contest, but I was in Madrid for this weekend and some Spaniards I heard talking about this were mad at the jury.

what are they angry about? Rudy and Pau were horrible! They put everyone to sleep, they deserved an even lower score than what they got. On a side note, JR Smith looked like he didn't want to be there and was relieved when he got eliminated.

Maybe the poster meant the commentators as well?  I was pretty disgusted by them.  I mean, Fernandez was wearing a Martin jersey to honor the first Sapnish player in the NBA and the commentators kept making jokes about it like "Martin who?" and "Ricky MArtin?"  I mean, can you imagine someone saying stuff like that if someone were to wear a Jackie Robinson jersey? Not trying to make this a racial/political thread, BTW, just pretty disappointed and disgusted at the lack of maturity and professionalism shown by the commentators.

yes, that I can understand, the commentators were totally disrespectful, but the judges were more than fair, rudy was awful

[Amonkey]

I didn't see the contest, but I was in Madrid for this weekend and some Spaniards I heard talking about this were mad at the jury.

what are they angry about? Rudy and Pau were horrible! They put everyone to sleep, they deserved an even lower score than what they got. On a side note, JR Smith looked like he didn't want to be there and was relieved when he got eliminated.

Maybe the poster meant the commentators as well?  I was pretty disgusted by them.  I mean, Fernandez was wearing a Martin jersey to honor the first Sapnish player in the NBA and the commentators kept making jokes about it like "Martin who?" and "Ricky MArtin?"  I mean, can you imagine someone saying stuff like that if someone were to wear a Jackie Robinson jersey? Not trying to make this a racial/political thread, BTW, just pretty disappointed and disgusted at the lack of maturity and professionalism shown by the commentators.

yes, that I can understand, the commentators were totally disrespectful, but the judges were more than fair, rudy was awful

I don't think Rudy was awful (and I think many people here agree).  We didn't even see his first dunk too well because they had switched screens to the Martin fella, but I think that was the second, 1st dunk of the night and his second dunk, if done in the 2nd or 3rd try, would've been a very nice dunk.

[cordobes]

I didn't see the contest, but I was in Madrid for this weekend and some Spaniards I heard talking about this were mad at the jury.

what are they angry about? Rudy and Pau were horrible! They put everyone to sleep, they deserved an even lower score than what they got. On a side note, JR Smith looked like he didn't want to be there and was relieved when he got eliminated.

Maybe the poster meant the commentators as well?  I was pretty disgusted by them.  I mean, Fernandez was wearing a Martin jersey to honor the first Sapnish player in the NBA and the commentators kept making jokes about it like "Martin who?" and "Ricky MArtin?"  I mean, can you imagine someone saying stuff like that if someone were to wear a Jackie Robinson jersey? Not trying to make this a racial/political thread, BTW, just pretty disappointed and disgusted at the lack of maturity and professionalism shown by the commentators.

yes, that I can understand, the commentators were totally disrespectful, but the judges were more than fair, rudy was awful

Well, I haven't seen the dunks from the other players yet, but his dunks were solid and I believe this opinion is shared by many. Anyway, you're right, some writers and fans are also mad with the commentators, especially because the Martin jokes. I don't know, if they knew that Martin was deceased (and what his memory means to Spanish basketball fans) then those jokes were incredibly tasteless. Maybe they didn't know about him or thought he was still alive? If that's the case, I wouldn't make a big thing of the jokes. Anyway, although Spaniards are often too biased and paranoid about their own sportsmen, they aren't the only ones complaining, so I guess the rants I heard had some merit:

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/17259/dunk_contest_last_bastion_of_nba_xenophobia (from Tom Ziller)

http://thepaintedarea.blogspot.com/2009/02/quick-fernando-martin-note.html (this post has an interesting piece from George Karl about Martin - Karl was Real Madrid's head-coach when Martín died).

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/2/16/760806/why-fernando-martin

[marseye]

 

[The Walker Wiggle]

Yeah.. I heard the NBDL dunk contest was really entertaining, though. James White always puts on a show.

Hi, I'd like to change my vote to James White, thanks.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8yHQ15TdHU

I know I'm a little late to this, but WOW. (And why didn't somebody throw it up here sooner?)

[ma11l]

Yeah.. I heard the NBDL dunk contest was really entertaining, though. James White always puts on a show.

Hi, I'd like to change my vote to James White, thanks.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8yHQ15TdHU

I know I'm a little late to this, but WOW. (And why didn't somebody throw it up here sooner?)

Now THAT'S what I call a free throw line dunk.