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By: Keith Dobkowski, NBA News Writer
February 18, 2005
As we approach the NBA’s All Star weekend the fans are left
wondering whether designated NBA savior LeBron James will go
for the hat trick (that’s the closest we will come to hockey this
year) and participate in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. LeBron is
already slated to play in Friday’s Rookie game and will start in
Sunday’s All Star game.
Saturday will mark the 29 anniversary of the Slam Dunk contest.
The first dunk-off took place in Denver as well as Julius “Dr. J”
Erving defeated David Thompson in the finals. The Doctor
secured victory with the infamous foul line dunk. The same move
has been completed twice more by Michael “Air” Jordan in the
1980s and Brent “Bones” Barry in the 1990s. And both times the
result was the Dunk Trophy.
Entering this years dunk contest is a relatively anonymous group
of players. Backups and rookies have replaced the star power
that the dunk contest once retained. No longer are first team All
Star’s Jordan and Dominique “The Human Highlight Film” Wilkins
competing for the championship but rather Chris Andersen and
Josh Smith. No Spud Webb but a J.R. Smith. The lone star in the
group is Amare Stoudemire who does remind us of a young
Shawn Kemp in All Star form.
Stoudemire is the only All Star and regular starter among the
group. He has hardware with his Rookie of the Year trophy, a
shoe contract and plays for the most exciting team in the
league. The three others have less wins combined this season
than Stoudemire.
The NBA is not lacking dunkers. Actually most observers
complain that there is too much dunking and not enough
basketball skills nowadays. The problem is the NBA's top
dunkers lack of desire to compete.
In the days of Jordan there were eight contestants in the field.
They were All Stars and starters, and they were often their
team’s best player. Wilkins, Jordan, Kemp, Larry Nance, Dr. J.,
and Vince Carter highlighted past dunk-offs. Today, the NBA has
problems getting four players to compete.
A change is necessary and it must be done immediately. Most
believe a raise in cash for the champion would bring back the big
names, but when Kobe Bryant makes nearly $20 million per
season, a $25,000 bonus isn’t much. A larger solution is needed.
The NBA should offer the winner publicity in the form of NBA
spokes model. The NBA should guarantee the winner of the
dunk contest that their winning dunk (or dunk of their choice) will
headline every advertisement the NBA makes until the following
dunk contest. The first clip in every “I love this game”
commercial should be the winner’s dunk. “Read to Achieve”
should show the dunk clip as well.
The tie to the NBA’s self-promotion commercials would guarantee
superstar status. The champion’s image would be played 1000s
of times during the year. And the free promotion would allow
players to benefit greatly.
Because of the added and guaranteed publicity, the players
could request specific language in their endorsement contracts
offering bonus money. Shoe companies such as Nike and Addias
would be fast to follow for their stars would be appearing in non-
stop commercials at the NBA’s expense.
Instead of earning a mere $25,000 for winning the dunk contest,
a player could see a $1,000,000 bonus from his endorsers. And
the NBA is already paying for the commercials and therefore
there would be no added expense.
With such a system in place, instead of saying “who” when the
Players names are called at this years dunk contest, we could be
saying “wow.” Just imagine the eight best dunkers facing off
against each other. Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Jason
Richardson, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Tracy McGrady, Steve
Francis and Manu Ginobili are the first eight that come to mind.
All are starters and stars on their respective team. Six are All
Stars and both Francis and Richardson could easily have been.
But rather we are left without the best dunkers and as just
announced, with out LeBron as well. There is a solution and it is
not canceling the dunk contest, but bringing back the best
dunkers.
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