There’s been a lot of revisionist history when it comes to the dunk contest

[Po pimp]

I keep seeing people mention Kobe, Tmac participating. They were not All Stars at the time. Even Zach Lavine wasn’t an All Star, but he became one years later. I know Giannis threw his name in the hat, but he was in the dunk contest before as well and his dunks were trash lol.

Also the lack of stars participating lately is false as well. Jaylen Brown participated last year. Although the format was diffferent (some team shyt), Lillard and John Wall participated while they were All Stars and won. Even Donovan Mitchell won one year, and while he wasn’t an All Star, he averaged over 20ppg. Dwight Howard also won when he was an all star. I think Amare participated as well when he was an All Star.

Throughout the history of the dunk contest, you had a mixture of stars winning, as well as role players. It wasn’t always a bunch of stars in the contest over the years.

Last point is, the dunk contest has been around for about 40 years. There are probably 5 classic contests that people actually remember. It didn’t just fall off in the last few years. It goes through cycles. I even remember the year Josh Smith won and Magic was saying the dunk contest is now back, and this was after Vince Carter. Who even remembers Josh Smith’s contest?

 

[NoMorePie]

Anytime I remember the dunk contest I remember years ago that one dude (forgot his name) tryna dunk over some planes and damn near decapitated himself

 

[Hacksaw Jim Thuggin]

breh...people love to complain....

if ja and zion were in it they would still complain

and you're right...most of these dunk contests werent memorable at all

 

[CHICAGO]

NO POINT IN MENTIONING
JAYLEN BROWN.

HE WAS TRYING TO MAKE A POINT
AND GET THE STARS BACK INTO
THE CONTEST.

LATELY THE CONTEST HAS
BEEN A G LEAGUER AND
A BUNCH OF ROLE PLAYERS/BENCH WARMERS


​

 

[FTBS]

Biggest issue is expectations. People expect nikkas to defy gravity now. nikkas miss so much because they tryna do impossible shyt. Conversely MJ won doing a FT line dunk...a decade after Dr. J did it. Dominique just did different variations of a windmill over and over. And people ate it up. Now people are more invested in shytting on it.

 

[In The Zone '98]

Nostalgia is more American than apple pie

 

[mastermind]

I said this after a nostalgic post:

This is simply not true.

In the 1990s, It stopped having any stars after Kemp in ‘91, and stopped having great players since Dominique in ‘89.

Vince brought star power and big names in 2000 and Dwight had a brief run in 2008 and 2009, but historlocally the event has been about up and comers.

 

[boskey]

People acting like Lebron doing it in 2006 or whatever would still make a difference in 2025 is ridiculous. They cancelled the dunk contest 10 years after Jordan last did it and a year after Kobe did...but Bron would keep it interesting for 20 years?

 

[FTBS]

I said this after a nostalgic post:

Vince literally singlehandedly brought the dunk contest back...not in terms of interest or quality but actually literally. It was done in the late 90s.

 

[HandyWithTheSteel]

The ‘97 dunk contest was so ass they canceled it for the next 2 seasons.


Just like everything else about ‘90s basketball, the more research you do the more you see just how trash that era was.

I can’t even imagine the backlash if they canceled the dunk contest today.

 

[FS4LFE]

Most people criticism about the ASG and the modern product are rooted in nostalgia. People only remember the highlights and the good moments. The ASG and Dunk contest was never great every year.

Another thing is the media and former players have spent the last 15 years tearing down the modern product and its players. So it was only natural that the fans did the same thing. The media spent years saying only rings matter now they get mad when players move accordingly.

Idiots wanna blame Bron for everything cause he’s an easy scapegoat. People need to stop comparing everything to Kobe and Jordan. Let the game move beyond them. What’s the point of doing the dunk contest when people are just gonna say someone from the past did it better?

 

[CHICAGO]

People acting like Lebron doing it in 2006 or whatever would still make a difference in 2025 is ridiculous. They cancelled the dunk contest 10 years after Jordan last did it and a year after Kobe did...but Bron would keep it interesting for 20 years?

NO BRON WOULD HAVE GOTTEN
MORE STARS TO COME OUT
GOING FORWARD.

ONCE HE GAVE THE OK FOR
YOUNG STARS NOT TO COMPETE
THEY ALL FOLLOWED SUIT.

DUDES LIKE JRICH, DESMOND MASON, DWIGHT, BLAKE, WALL, OLADIPO, ZACH/GORDON HELD IT DOWN OVER THE YEARS
SO IM NOT SURE WHY PPL ARE
PRETENDING FANS SHOULDNT COMPLAIN
ABOUT SEEING G LEAGUERS AND BUMS
IN THE CONTEST.


​

 

[Remote]

NO BRON WOULD HAVE GOTTEN
MORE STARS TO COME OUT
GOING FORWARD.

ONCE HE GAVE THE OK FOR
YOUNG STARS NOT TO COMPETE
THEY ALL FOLLOWED SUIT.

DUDES LIKE JRICH, DESMOND MASON, DWIGHT, BLAKE, WALL, OLADIPO, ZACH/GORDON HELD IT DOWN OVER THE YEARS
SO IM NOT SURE WHY PPL ARE
PRETENDING FANS SHOULDNT COMPLAIN
ABOUT SEEING G LEAGUERS AND BUMS
IN THE CONTEST.


​

Have you even made a single post about the NBA where it wasn't criticizing something?

 

[CHICAGO]

Have you even made a single post about the NBA where it wasn't criticizing something?

GO FIND ANOTHER dikk TO HOP ON



​

 

[Remote]

GO FIND ANOTHER dikk TO HOP ON



​

I was hoping to make this a constructive discussion.