Years where the wrong contestant won the Dunk Contest

[bergs14]

I was always gutted J-Rich never won in 04. He probably didn't deserve to win, because he missed some dunks which would of been all-time if they had of gone in. But Fred Jones won by doing the most basic shit. J-Rich was trying 180 between the legs and 360 honey dips lol. Even his replacement dunk (360-tomahawk) was better than Jones' weak dunks.

Definitely thought Aaron Gordon should've won also.

[Rake2204]

To be clear who I think should’ve won:
1985- Jordan (I liked his dunks better in this contest than his others)
1986- Dominique
1988- Dominique
1990- Kenny Smith
1991- Kemp
1996- Michael Finley
2004- J-Rich
2006- Igoudala
2010- DeRozan
2016- Aaron Gordon (I didn’t think this at the time though)

I like your list and agree with a number of them, though not all of them.

1985 - I think Dominique Wilkins was the rightful winner. His final round dunks were all clean, creative, and powerful. Dude was at peak elevation at this point. Jordan, meanwhile, had an incredible cuff reverse for his final dunk but his previous two were so-so with his second dunk, a bounce 360, almost grazing and being his weakest. Wilkins didn't slip in the finals. Jordan's second dunk could almost qualify as such by comparison.

1988 - One hundred percent with you on this one. For anyone who's watched the uncut footage of this contest, it's pretty apparent the judges purposely shafted Wilkins on his final dunk to leave the door open for Jordan, and I kind of can't blame them.

For the uninitiated, Wilkins had scored a 47 or higher on each of his first seven dunks. His final dunk surpassed the quality of a few of those dunks (a super mean two-handed windmill). Yet, he was given a 45 for that dunk, two points lower than anything either Jordan or Wilkins had received that day (out of 16 dunks total). A normal score would have eliminated Jordan, which the folks in Chicago obviously didn't want. Again, I have a hard time blaming them because they traded some score rogering for one of the quintessential moments in dunk contest history (Jordan's winning free throw line dunk).

That said, that free throw line dunk was the second time Jordan had completed that dunk that day and he even missed his first final round attempt of it.

1990 - Agreed. Kenny Smith had better, more original dunks. Wilkins was going through the motions. To me, it seemed like judges were making amends for the '88 situation.

1991 - I'd never really considered this one but looking back, I think there's a case for it. Brown's double-dunk was unique but weak. Brown just happened to capture the juice with his final pump-it-up dunk. Also, Kemp got kind of low-balled on that near-free throw line dunk. But then again, his last dunk was underwhelming and left the door open for Brown to steal the spotlight once and for all.

1996 - I was all aboard the Brent Barry train this year. He had a nice "program" and I was impressed he was able to still jump from the line after spending a minute running about. Also, if the criticism was going to be Barry's repeat of the free throw line dunk in the final, I also do not feel Finley's bounce windmill was different enough from his first round windmill. Both guys re-treaded a little and Barry's re-tread was more impressive, in my opinion.

2004 - By the rules, I guess Jones won. But Jones should have never, ever, ever been in the finals. He was awarded a score of 50 for a routine bounce one-hander in the first round - high school layup line stuff. Honestly, assuming Richardson still botched his lofty attempts in the finals, Chris Andersen (the rightful second finalist) could have swooped in and stolen it.

2006 - Yeah, Iguodala should have won this one. Nate Robinson took a billion attempts to finish dunks that were less impressive than Iguodala's at critical times. That said, I do think Iguodala made the mistake of leaving the door open by missing multiple times on key attempts as well. The people obviously wanted Robinson to win so in order to stem that tide he had to nail his performance - first attempt, flush - that's how you beat down the Nate storyline. His own misses muddied the waters just enough to justify some people's Robinson love fest.

2010 - I disagree, only because I think no one deserved to win this one. Should have been left vacant.

Nate Robinson's final round: routine bounce two-hander after multiple attempts then an off-the-backboard reverse two-hander on first attempt.

DeMar DeRozan's final round: using his left hand to boost off a teammate while jumping over them for a one-handed dunk (which he missed at first) then he missed a routine one-handed dunk from 13 feet before recharging so he could make a routine double-pump two-hander from even closer.

I maintain that that contest was so wack that no one cared to dispute the winner because it was mostly a matter of who sucked less - and both people lost at that.

2016 - Probably should have been Gordon but this contest had the total opposite problem of 2010. It was a matter of two guys pulling off incredible dunks non-stop so I didn't lose a lot of sleep over LaVine winning.

[coolhandsteve]

I like your list and agree with a number of them, though not all of them.

1985 - I think Dominique Wilkins was the rightful winner. His final round dunks were all clean, creative, and powerful. Dude was at peak elevation at this point. Jordan, meanwhile, had an incredible cuff reverse for his final dunk but his previous two were so-so with his second dunk, a bounce 360, almost grazing and being his weakest. Wilkins didn't slip in the finals. Jordan's second dunk could almost qualify as such by comparison.

1988 - One hundred percent with you on this one. For anyone who's watched the uncut footage of this contest, it's pretty apparent the judges purposely shafted Wilkins on his final dunk to leave the door open for Jordan, and I kind of can't blame them.

For the uninitiated, Wilkins had scored a 47 or higher on each of his first seven dunks. His final dunk surpassed the quality of a few of those dunks (a super mean two-handed windmill). Yet, he was given a 45 for that dunk, two points lower than anything either Jordan or Wilkins had received that day (out of 16 dunks total). A normal score would have eliminated Jordan, which the folks in Chicago obviously didn't want. Again, I have a hard time blaming them because they traded some score rogering for one of the quintessential moments in dunk contest history (Jordan's winning free throw line dunk).

That said, that free throw line dunk was the second time Jordan had completed that dunk that day and he even missed his first final round attempt of it.

1990 - Agreed. Kenny Smith had better, more original dunks. Wilkins was going through the motions. To me, it seemed like judges were making amends for the '88 situation.

1991 - I'd never really considered this one but looking back, I think there's a case for it. Brown's double-dunk was unique but weak. Brown just happened to capture the juice with his final pump-it-up dunk. Also, Kemp got kind of low-balled on that near-free throw line dunk. But then again, his last dunk was underwhelming and left the door open for Brown to steal the spotlight once and for all.

1996 - I was all aboard the Brent Barry train this year. He had a nice "program" and I was impressed he was able to still jump from the line after spending a minute running about. Also, if the criticism was going to be Barry's repeat of the free throw line dunk in the final, I also do not feel Finley's bounce windmill was different enough from his first round windmill. Both guys re-treaded a little and Barry's re-tread was more impressive, in my opinion.

2004 - By the rules, I guess Jones won. But Jones should have never, ever, ever been in the finals. He was awarded a score of 50 for a routine bounce one-hander in the first round - high school layup line stuff. Honestly, assuming Richardson still botched his lofty attempts in the finals, Chris Andersen (the rightful second finalist) could have swooped in and stolen it.

2006 - Yeah, Iguodala should have won this one. Nate Robinson took a billion attempts to finish dunks that were less impressive than Iguodala's at critical times. That said, I do think Iguodala made the mistake of leaving the door open by missing multiple times on key attempts as well. The people obviously wanted Robinson to win so in order to stem that tide he had to nail his performance - first attempt, flush - that's how you beat down the Nate storyline. His own misses muddied the waters just enough to justify some people's Robinson love fest.

2010 - I disagree, only because I think no one deserved to win this one. Should have been left vacant.

Nate Robinson's final round: routine bounce two-hander after multiple attempts then an off-the-backboard reverse two-hander on first attempt.

DeMar DeRozan's final round: using his left hand to boost off a teammate while jumping over them for a one-handed dunk (which he missed at first) then he missed a routine one-handed dunk from 13 feet before recharging so he could make a routine double-pump two-hander from even closer.

I maintain that that contest was so wack that no one cared to dispute the winner because it was mostly a matter of who sucked less - and both people lost at that.

2016 - Probably should have been Gordon but this contest had the total opposite problem of 2010. It was a matter of two guys pulling off incredible dunks non-stop so I didn't lose a lot of sleep over LaVine winning.

Yeah & that

[Celtics 1825]

Blake Griffin 2011 easily