Was The 2012 NBA Dunk Contest The Worst Of All-Time?
We’ve had some pretty lousy dunk contests over the past few years, but the 2012 contest may go down as a huge stinker considering that its lack of star power was coupled with a lack of innovation.
I mean, seriously, Jeremy Evans?
We had missed dunks, dunks over Diddy, more missed dunks, and pretty much every reason to wish that they aired old dunk contests rather than subject us to this terrible exhibition. But wait, was it really the worst dunk contest ever? Let’s reflect on some piss poor dunk contests and then see if the 2012 contest stands out.
2002: The Wheel
Okay, this dunk contest wasn’t horrible as much as it was hindered by a horrible idea. A wheel was implemented that forced the participants to replicate some of the greatest dunks in the history of the dunk contest. How lame is that? What happened to originality? Jason Richardson ended up winning, but we would have liked to see him cut loose rather than being forced to do Julius Erving slams. Corny.
1996: Air Barry?
Man, was this an unoriginal competition. Greg Minor was boring. Michael Finley was powerful, yet unimpressive. Darrell Armstrong was blah. That left the door open for Brent Barry. Yes, Brent Barry. You know what Brent did? Well, first, he never took off his warmup jacket. Then he dunked from the free throw line, not once, but twice! Wait, twice? How original. Oh yeah, he won.
1992: The Bulls*** Blindfold
Here’s what’s weird about the 1992 dunk competition. If you look at the names, you would think that this was a monster of a competition. Shawn Kemp, John Starks, Larry Johnson, and Stacey Augmon were all out there. However, their dunks were so-so. The finals ended up being between the powerful Larry Johnson and some guy named Cedric Ceballos. Out came the blindfold that everybody knew he could see through and Cedric Ceballos hoodwinked everyone into giving him the trophy. What a crock.
2010: Who?
Before 2012′s contest of no names, 2010 was criticized for its utter lack of star power. Good ol’ Nate Robinson won again. It was boring as hell. At least he didn’t miss a kabillion dunks like he did in 2006.
So which was the worst? You be the judge.
[...] Conversations around the NBA All-Star game were 82% positive over the weekend. Dunk contest winner Jeremy Evans, who jumped over Kevin Hart in the winning dunk, appeared in 8% of conversations and was 57% negative. Some said the 2012 Dunk Contest was one of the worst ever. [...]
[...] this year’s contest was considered one of the most boring ever, no title this weekend meant quite as much as this one did for [...]