Fixing the NBA Slam Dunk Contest

(Gerald Wallace almost can't bear to watch..)

This weekend's 2010 All-Star events and activities made one glaring statement: the Slam Dunk contest needs serious revision. This year's contest was simply lackluster and the looks on the faces of other players and celebs witnessing it had to make David Stern just a bit uneasy about his product. You really have to wonder what former dunk champions Dominique Wilkins and Spudd Webb were thinking as they judged the young guys out there failing to do dunks that everyone's seen before. Even Spike Lee had trouble hiding the frown on his face as he was up close to witness a whole lot of nothing this year. TNT's Charles Barkley said it best before the winner was announced "Maybe no one will win". Spectators surely lost their time.

We all know now that the Knicks Nate Robinson was crowned the winner, via the fan vote, and wisely has announced he will retire from the competition now as its first 3-time winner. Robinson's gimmick was just like Spudd Webb's: he's a small dunker who has the crowd behind him due to his size. Nate didn't exactly bring anything groundbreaking beyond that. In year's past he used more creativity, but faltered in 2010. Now that his gimmick is over with, it's time to overhaul this annual favorite and bring back the prestige of the dunk contest.

1) Guys need to get serious - Several of the competitors looked like they just showed up to show up, but didn't bring it. Gerald Wallace did some powerhouse dunks but nothing new and seemed like he was bored to be there. DeMarcus DeRozan had the only 50 of the bunch, and even his dunk had been seen before. Shannon Brown showed up to the delight of Lakers fans, but then generated the most excitement when Kobe Bryant stood near the basket to toss the ball for an ally-oop. It seems that the use of props is the way to go, and Nate Robinson sort of did that, but it could have been better. Dunkers, bring your A game dunk material. Put a 10 scorecard over the basket, jump up pull the card off and jam. Study up on the previous legendary contest winners and put a new spin on their classic dunks. Much like Hollywood is rebooting and remaking various movie franchises, the NBA guys may need to look deep to generate interest in the contest.

2) Change format a bit- Over the years the format of the dunk contest has seen all sorts of changes, from having them spin a wheel to determine the dunk they had to do, to making them use a teammate, or making them dunk to music. The current time and rounds format aren't so bad, but adding two more dunkers could make it interesting. It's unknown why they've made it just four players, when in the past there were more dunkers to watch do their thing. Also, they had a "Dunk-in" this year to add the fourth guy, but those two guys are relatively unknown to the mainstream. It worked out this year, since DeRozen made the finals, but why not just have a list of ten prospective dunkers, and the fans vote on NBA.com. The six with the highest vote totals are in the contest. And having the fans vote on the finals is ok, but when it's an unknown player versus a major market former dunk winner, who has the advantage there?

3) Add in some non-NBA dunkers? It was recently suggested that they should maybe add in a guy out of the D-League who can do a 720 dunk, or even a street baller, a random fan who has some incredible dunking ability. Good ideas. Let them compete in a dunk-off, and make the prize money worthy. In relation to point #1, if a non-NBA guy is in there and showing his stuff, with prize money and pride on the line an NBA player will want to get serious to represent. Last thing the NBA dunkers want is to lose to "mere mortals" from outside their league. Maybe even add a legend who still has some hops (no not Shawn Kemp).

4) Hold an All-Star caliber dunk contest - Once again, it's time to get serious. As we all see in the All-Star game, that tends to be the real dunk contest on display as Lebron, Wade, Kobe and others woo the crowd with their skills. Over the past several years, the Skills Challenge has featured guys who have those skills and are all-star caliber players. This year's finals came down to Nash and Williams, and past winners have included Derrick Rose and D-Wade. The dunk contest should feature the game's best dunkers. Jason Richardson, Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant are just five names that come to mind. Vince Carter is another, but has aged beyond the contest. I'm not sure if they need to prove it, but it would be great for the fans. These are the elite dunkers of the league and they probably feel they have nothing to prove to the rest of the league, outside of winning games and rings. However, the fans are antsy and the dunk contest needs to be re-born. NBA, dunkers, and commish Stern, let's get serious!

Feel free to leave your own ideas on how to fix the slam dunk contest, or comments on whether it even needs fixin'!

Charles Barkley Taco Bell commercial - it rocks?

"The five buck box, it rocks it rocks, it rocks with a meal for lots and lots. That is lots and lots in just one box..." Annoyed yet? If you've watched any amount of TV since the Superbowl, you've likely been constantly bombarded by the Charles Barkley Taco Bell commercial. "It rocks, it rocks" Barkley rhymes and half-raps as he walks around with his Taco Bell meal. Lamar Odom even makes a cameo, but it's clear Odom isn't eating those $5 Taco Bell meals, while Barkley may have done 100 takes to get the ad right. Somewhere the Taco Bell Chihuahua is rolling over in its doggy grave (RIP).



The Barkley Taco Bell commercial aired ad nauseum during the 2010 All-Star Saturday night events. Unfortunately, unlike Barkley's commentary on TNT, the ad is not funny at all. In fact, it's rather Dr. Seuss in its style and could have been done a lot better. That's just one humble opinion though.

As evidence of Barkley's true off-the-cusp and blatant humor, a few of his quips from 2010 NBA All-Star Saturday night stand out:

"Ever notice how Gatorade doesn't work on guys who suck?" ...after Nate Robinson took a swig of Gatorade during the dunk contest.

..in reference to four Dallas Cowgirls standing behind a seated Nate Robinson, waving their pom-poms...Kenny Smith "Looks like he's gonna use them" Barkley "for what, to cool himself off?"

...in reference to the dunk contest winner about to be announced by Cheryl Miller Dean: "maybe no one will win"

Barkley's T-Mobile ads with Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard were much funnier and better done. Please Taco Bell do us a favor and take this ad off the air or at least limit it to late night viewings! If not, re-write it after referring to some of the best NBA basketball commercials of all-time!

All-Star Saturday Night 2010 winners

(Nash, Pierce, Robinson shine on All-Star Saturday)

Dunkers, sharpshooters and skilled ballers all arrived in Dallas for Saturday night. That's when the NBA stars of the past, present and future make their way onto the courts for NBA All-Star Saturday. The annual events include the All-Star Skills Challenge, 3 Point Shootout and the crowning of a new Slam Dunk champion.

Haier Shooting Stars contest

The Haier Shooting Stars contest kicked off the events, where teams of three players from different cities competed in a timed shooting event which required shots from different spots on the court. The teams consisted of a current WNBA player from that city, an NBA player from the city and then a former player as well. This year's teams included Los Angeles (Marie Ferdinand-Harris, Brent Barry & Pau Gasol), Atlanta (Angel McCoughtry, Steve Smith & Joe Johnson), Sacramento (Nicole Powell, Chris Webber & Tyreke Evans) and the hometown Texas squad (Becky Hammon, Kenny Smith & Dirk Nowitski). In the early going of the contest, two former players hit half court shots for their teams (Brent Barry, Steve Smith). LA had the time to beat of 1:00 minute flat in the early round. Team Sacramento had to beat a time of 1:47 and just did so by 1 second on Nicole Powell's half court shot. Kenny Smith's half court shot made the third by a former player/TNT analyst in the opening round. LA & Texas advanced to the finals where the Texas team finished in an impressive 34 seconds behind some sharpshooting including a Dirk Nowitski half court shot. The Dallas fans were definitely pleased with the win.

Taco Bell Skills Challenge

(Nash's pinpoint passing comes in handy for Skills challenge)

In the Taco Bell skills challenge, last year's champion Derrick Rose sat out this year's contest due to a nagging injury. Taking his place was Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Also competing were Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash, the 2005 winner, and Derron Williams, the 2008 winner, which is just the way things worked out for the finals of the challenge. Steve Nash put up a time to beat of 29.9 to open the finals, putting the heat on 2008 champion Derron Williams. Williams messed up one of the final 2 passes that went in and out. It took him several more tries after that to get the pass through the hoop, giving Steve Nash the 2010 Skills Challenge victory.

After an intro from Alonzo Mourning and Dwyane Wade, as well as a video message from former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton it was a special halftime performance. Grammy Award-winning recording artist and Dallas native Erykah Badu performed her rendition of the James Taylor classic "You've Got a Friend" at halftime to represent the spirit of the NBA cares program.

Foot Locker Three-Point contest

(Pierce leaves the Dallas arena as 3-Point Champion)

This year's 3-Point contest competitors featured the likes of Paul Pierce, Channing Frye, Danilo Gallinari of the Knicks, Chauncey Billups, rookie Stephan Curry, and the defending-champ Daequan Cook of the Miami Heat. Defending champion Daquean Cook was eliminated early as Stephan Curry put up a score of 18, while Chauncey Billups and Pierce both had 17's. Pierce and Billups had a mini-shootout between the two to determine Curry's opponent for the finals, with Pierce getting a score of 20 to make the it. Curry and Pierce faced off for the crown, with Pierce's scoring of 20 besting Curry's score of 17. The commentators were surprised by Pierce's victory, despite him being the top scorer for Boston as they said he's not generally known for 3-point shooting. Pierce said he feels he's one of the better shooters in NBA history.

2010 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

(Robinson makes 2010 dunk history, 3-time winner)

The main event most years is the Slam Dunk contest. This year the defending champion Nate Robinson looked for a repeate as he battled Gerald Wallace, Shannon Brown of the Lakers, and the first-ever "Dunk-in" winner DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors. The "Dunk-in" was a contest held at halftime of the Rookies vs. Sophomores game between DeRozan and the Clippers Eric Gordon. Each did a variety of dunks and fans were able to text in their votes for whose dunks they preferred with DeRozan getting the nod.

In the dunk contest, each contestant got two minutes for each of their 2 dunks in the first round, with the top two scorers advancing. Dunks were judged by a panel of five judges consisting of former NBA players, several of whom won the dunk contest before. Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, Dominique Wilkins and Spudd Webb were the judges for the 2010 dunk contest. In the final round, fans were able to vote via text message or NBA.com

DeMar Rozan's windmill dunk from his teammate Sonny Weems' bounce pass off the side of the backboard wowed the judges enough to get the first perfect 50 score of the night to move him forward into the next round with a 92. The defending champion and crowd favorite Nate Robinson also advanced with a two round score of 89.

The 2010 dunk contest may not have held too many thrills, but thanks to the fans, Nate Robinson repeated as Slam Dunk champion with 51% of the vote going in his favor. Robinson may have won it with his use of props including the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. After his finals dunk, which was a double clutch reverse dunk, he grabbed a set of pom poms to celebrate, getting the Dallas crowd revved up. Nate posed with his trophy in front of the Cowgirls to celebrate his victory.

See Nate Robinson's winning dunk here