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By Chip James

So it’s a good month and a half before All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, but in the hope of making sure it's done right, I wanted to address it now.

The first thing the NBA needs in order to have a successful dunk contest is star power. In the past few years, they’ve had trouble since Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter have seemingly decided that the dunk contest isn’t for them. This year, the star power problem is easily solved. Two words: LeBron James.

When LeBron bends down to tie his shoe hundreds of cameras focus on him and every eye looks his way. His participation in the event will cause hysteria. And it won’t be all hype. He has the hops and creativity to really turn this event around and might even be the favorite going in.

Since Vince’s display in 2000, two guys have quietly held it down amidst constant criticism of the event. These two guys show off their hops in pre-game warm-ups and occasionally on the highlight reels and can definitely compete no matter who participates. Defending champ Jason Richardson and Milwaukee’s Desmond Mason have to be included in the 2004 contest.

Tall guys never seem welcome in the event despite some of the things Larry Nance did back in the day. As for the big fellas this year, the NBA needs to consider Amare Stoudemire. He didn’t do much in the contest last year but we’ll chalk that up to rookie jitters. With a year under his belt and his vision corrected in the off season, he should be ready to show that he has some tricks up his sleeve to go along with the powerful game dunks he shows on a weekly basis.

Anyone with the nickname “Tricky” and the vertical of Ricky Davis should be included. Ricky has had some dunks during Cavs’ games this year that would earn 10s from even the stiffest of dunk contest judges. Ricky may have a tough time competing with other contestants’ creativity but if he has LeBron throw him an oop during the contest, look out.

Ricky Davis makes five, so we need one more. With LeBron stealing all the hype surrounding this NBA season, this is the year for a dunk contest veteran to come back and reclaim his title while putting the rookie in his place at the same time.

Vince Carter is just the man for the job. He has a lot to prove on the court after a few seasons of injuries, but even more to prove in the dunk contest. What kind of person puts on one of the best displays in dunk contest history and doesn’t return to defend his crown? If Vince wins the dunk contest, he’ll catapult his name back up with the elite players in the NBA and in doing so steal some of LeBron’s thunder.

Wow. A dunk contest lineup of LeBron, Ricky Davis, Amare Stoudemire, Desmond Mason, Vince Carter AND the returning champ Richardson, now that would generate some interest. How can the NBA make this happen? David Stern, take a few sips of the Hypnotiq, open up your wallet, and award the winner $150,000 for first place. News flash, professional athletes love money. Yeah big gold trophies are cool and all but most of them already have a hundred of those anyways. Give the winner some good old fashion cheddar and watch the dunk contest be the most talked about highlight of the NBA season.