Bring the real Dunk Contest back

What happenend to seeing the best NBA players squaring off in a battle of athleticism, creativity, and originality? The Slam Dunk contest has gone from Dr. J, Michael, VC, Dominique, Kobe, and even Dwight Howard to players that seem some what irrelivant to NBA fans who occasionally watch. I mean the contestants still make some noise but the contest lacks that must watch feeling. The contest has progressivly gotten worse. Can the NBA bring the real dunk contest back please? Fans want to see players like LeBron, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose enter the dunk contest. Put on a show for the viewers sake and for the judges.





   






Its not only the players that is making the dunk contest less appealing, its the new format and rules. Its still going to be four participants, but only one round and each dunker gets 3 dunks . One round? are you kidding me?? If you think thats bad, its based off fan voting thanks to social networking sites such as Twitter.com, so i guess theres no need for judges anymore. Can you say popularity contest? The dunk contest rules were fine as they were, 2 rounds , elimination,  and 24 seconds to re-do a miss. Personally the worst part to me is the no judging. A great dunk deserves and 50 and now who is going to determine that ? Some fans are extremly biased to their favorite team and players.









Another reason why the contest is going rockbottom is the constant use of props. Yeah they're cool to see once in a while but every dunker is going to use to props for the appeal of the judges, well now fan votes.

To me, a creative dunk is not bringing out a car and leaping over the hood, its a athletic freak twisting his body and moving the ball in ways in which we dream of. Im talking bout a combination of power, flare, grace, and swagger. Remember Michael Jordan taking off from the free throw line and posing in air or when he was pretty much horizontal to the ground on his famous "kiss the rim" dunk?



Or When Vince Carter literally shut the Oracle Arena down with his amazing 360 Windmill dunk which Kenny the Jet Smith made famous by shouting , "Lets go home!"

Now those were the defintion of Dunk Contest dunks, the originality and swagger of those dunks were on a different planet. These dunks have a lasting memory in any sports fans life.

The Dunk Contest also gave the fans great battles between dunkers. I do not remember the last time we had a Jordan Vs 'Nique or VC vs Steve Francis type matchup. Since it is one round now, theres not going to be a classic duel between two stars.

With all this being said, the dunk contest most likely will never go back to its old ways. Having the best of the best one up each other with each dunk. Which to NBA fans who really appreciate the league and All-Star Weekend is really sad. Oh well, maybe this years dunk contest on Feb. 25th will change my opinion.

My Prediction of this years winner is : Indiana Pacers Guard, Paul George ...

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