NBA All-Star Weekend: 5 Ways to Improve Dunk Competition

Feb 15, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) celebrates with Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross (31) and Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (24) after the 2014 NBA All Star dunk contest at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 15, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) celebrates with Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross (31) and Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (24) after the 2014 NBA All Star dunk contest at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
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Feb 15, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) celebrates with Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross (31) and Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (24) after the 2014 NBA All Star dunk contest at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 15, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) celebrates with Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross (31) and Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (24) after the 2014 NBA All Star dunk contest at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Last night’s dunk contest was perhaps the worst one I’ve ever seen. They took all of the best parts of the contest (anticipation, the moment and reaction) and completely threw it away. If I wasn’t a part of the NBA media, I’d write the contest off for good. Since I am going to have to continue watching these, I thought I’d throw out a couple of ideas to make things better.

One of the major issues with the dunk competition is we’ve seen so many of these things done before. When you’re doing the same things, how do you spruce them up? Presentation! What were the two best dunks last night? The ones that had a bit of pomp and circumstance surrounding them were the best.

I’m not saying every single person should bring out a car to jump over, but those types of things help. Dwight Howard‘s Superman act was memorable, not because of his dunk, but because of the presentation. Let’s get to the list.