Kenny Smith ruined the dunk contest.

[Glide2keva]

i wish lebron would join, he can do every dunk in this contest easily and better. watching evans and paul, lebron is on a whole nother level in terms of athleticism

I watched lebron in a DC, wasn't impressed.

[Shepseskaf]

I haven't watched a dunk contest in a decade, because they all pretty much suck.

The Kenny hate has to stop, though. Just look at how pretty his daughter is.

[Rake2204]

something cool would be if the fans vote for the best 12 dunks they would like to see, and then put those on a wheel for the 4 contestants to spin and perform. let it be random and unpredictable, if you cant do it, too bad

instead we see this crap nowadays where they practice it to hell, instead of it being based off true ability and skill

I would not be a fan of this at all, ever. I must ask, do you remember the wheel of 2002? That was full of dunks we'd already seen before, and even that was a complete mess (outside of Jason Richardson stumbling upon Dominique's windmill, Jason's signature dunk). Steve Francis, a legendary two-foot dunker, drew Terence Stansbury's one-foot, Statue of Liberty helicopter 360. For a dunker like Francis, it was an impossible task. So, instead of seeing something wild Francis had created, we had to watch him struggle through the worst dunk imitation we'd ever seen. Could you see how problematic it might be if fans voted for a 720 and Rudy Gay was then tasked with completing it?

The main draw of the dunk contest is player creativity. What will they do that would reflect upon their particular athletic skill set? Further, to lament players of today due to their apparent willingness to practice their dunks is completely out of place. They're supposed to practice. The biggest disasters most often come when players don't have a plan and try a dunk for the first time the night of the contest. Vince Carter claims he just went with the flow the night of his contest and if that's to be believed, he'd be a very rare exception. When you're the best dunker of all-time, I think you might be afforded that luxury.