Early Dunk Favorite

The NBA Dunk contest used to be the contest everyone anticipated All-star weekend..sometimes more than the All-Star game itself. From the famous showdowns between Jordan and Dominique, to Dominique vs his larger than life buddy Spudd Webb, all the way up to more recent contest winners like Jason Richardson, Kobe, Vince Carter and most recently Nate Robinson, some say the dunk contest has lost its luster.

This year, we don't have the complete list of entrants to the contest just yet, but a name that was thrown into the mix several months ago is the Celtics' Gerald Green. If you've caught recent Celtics highlights (which are few and far with Paul Pierce injurred), you'll most likely be familiar with this high flier. He entered the league straight outta high school, had a stint in the NBDL and then was brought up to the Celtics' active roster. Danny Ainge, GM of the Celtics sees this kid as the future of the organization. So far his high flying has been impressive, and should he enter the contest, he would have to be the favorite to win it this year.

Other names you might see enter, Nate to defend his last year's win and possibly Andre Iguodola, Trevor Arriza and maybe guys like Rudy Gay or other rookies. Sorry folks, we'd all love to see Lebron, Melo, D-Wade, Kobe and Vince in there. Stars like them, J-Rich, Josh Smith seem to be passing on the contest due to how it comes off these days. It's a shame the contest has degraded to what it is..although you can't front on the behind the backboard dunk by Iguodola or Nate jumping over Spudd, once he made it happen. I remember when you got 2 chances to dunk. If you messed up, that was it. Nate Robinson doesn't get 14 attempts to dunk in a game if he misses, so why the dunk contest? Nonetheless, let's hope for a rejuvenation of the once classic element of All-Star weekend. The glitz and glamour of Vegas and many around the world will be watching..