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2001 NBA All-Star Game


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Saturday, February 10, 2001
Dunk field leaves something to be desired




The NBA will hold its Slam Dunk championship on Saturday night during All-Star weekend. That's the first mistake. The second is the list of competitors. What, were Vitaly Potapenko, Rasho Nesterovic and Luc Longley otherwise engaged?

Anthony 'Spud' Webb
Spud Webb played for a number of NBA teams, but was famous for his slam dunk competition exploits.

Let's face it, there is only one even intriguing event over the weekend and it sure isn't the game. Can you even remember an All-Star Game from the past decade? Sure, we recall episodes, such as Kobe Bryant trying to waive off Karl Malone, or the Isiah Thomas-led freezeout of Michael Jordan. But other than that, the game disappears from our addled brains in a hurry.

But the dunk contest is the opposite. Quick, two words: Spud Webb. He had a long, if uneventful playing career in the NBA, but his legacy already is secure: Slam Dunk champion in 1986.

Two more words: Dee Brown. He will be forever remembered for one memorable dunk, when he pumped up his sneakers and then went into the air for a dunk with his arm shielding his eyes. He won the 1991 dunk contest in Charlotte.

"It can be a big-time recognition thing," Brown says. "I know it was for me. The guy who wins it could be a household name. I mean, for me, I already was playing as a rookie for the Boston Celtics. We had Bird, McHale, Chief (Robert Parish) and all it did was enhance my name."

That's because people remember the dunk contest. Other than three days of unrelenting rain, the most vivid memory of last year's All-Star Game was Vince Carter's electrifying performance in the dunk competition. Carter already was a star, but he took off like a meteor after that.

Who can forget Michael Jordan's performance in Chicago, during what turned out to be MJ Appreciation Weekend? Cedric Ceballos may be best known for an ill advised boat trip, but he also authored one of the more innovative dunks in the competition, donning a blindfold and going coast-to-coast to win the event in Orlando in 1992. Terence Stansbury's place in Slam Dunk history is also secure with his dunk over a chair in Indianapolis before a hometown crowd at Market Square Arena in 1985. (He didn't win, however, and the league has since disallowed props.)

The dunk is the signature move of this generation of basketball players. They learn how to dunk before they learn how to box out and rotate, which is a topic for another day. What logo did the NBA select for its new developmental league? A player dunking. The guess here is that if you went to the Vince Carter film vault at ESPN, you'd see 95 percent dunks.

It's the event the fans and players want to see. They don't get involved in the 3-point shot contest with nearly the same energy and attentiveness. They certainly don't care a whit about another lame Saturday product: the rookie game which is only 50 percent rookies.

But the dunk contest is different and everyone knows it.

"It's like the home run derby contest in baseball," Brown said. "That's all people remember from that, too. It's the most exciting part of the whole thing. The players all stay around to see that. Most of them don't even stick around to see the game."

So why put the most exciting, crowd-pleasing, player-involved event on cable television on a Saturday night? It's ludicrous. It should be the focus of the weekend because All-Star weekend is first and foremost about entertainment and marketing with basketball somewhere down the list along with transportation.

But to do that, the players also have to cooperate and that gets to the NBA's second boo-boo. This weekend, it's not merely a boo boo -- it's a whopper of a blunder. The field for the slam dunk contest almost looks as if it has been assembled by Vince McMahon to ensure that no one watches it.

Here is the distinguished list of competitors: Jonathan Bender, Baron Davis, Corey Maggette, Desmond Mason, DeShawn Stevenson and Stromile Swift. You have three rookies, two of whom almost never play, and three second-year players, two of whom have found playing time to be a challenge. Davis is the only one of the six who has anything close to a meaningful role on his team.

"No one even knows who Stromile Swift is," Brown said. "He's in Vancouver, so no one sees him. And he doesn't even play." The same could be said for Bender (Indiana), Stevenson (Utah), Maggette (Clippers) and Mason (Seattle.)

What on earth is David Stern thinking? There should have been a not-so-subtle directive sent to Carter, Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis and Kobe Bryant that their attendance and participation in the slam dunk competition is, uh, encouraged. Can you imagine the anticipation leading into Saturday night with those four competing? Three of them did so last year (Kobe did not) and it merely produced the most magical moment of the weekend.

But Carter has decided not to defend (he is hurting, so it would probably be stupid) while the others have declined to participate. Maybe they feel that being identified as a dunker hurts their image, although, in Carter's case, that is his image, even if it's only a part of his game. Maybe they feel the dunk contest is suddenly beneath them. But we have a dramatic dropoff in known, identifiable talent this year; the new guys could well be good dunkers, but the public shouldn't have to go in with curious faces and a scorecard. The skinny is that the hosts had trouble even compiling a field. And what do we have: someone named Paul McPherson, who, we think is in the league, is upset that he wasn't included.

Once upon a time, guys like Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins, Julius Erving, Darrell Griffith and Larry Nance all competed in the same contest. Jordan, for instance, won the event twice. He participated in three dunk contests. Kobe called it quits after winning the 1997 event. The NBA then pulled the plug on the event before resuscitating it last year at Oakland.

It's on the docket again this year, but at the wrong time and with the wrong people. Other than that, it should be a great.

Peter May of the Boston Globe is a regular contributor to ESPN.com

ALSO SEE
All-Star Saturday: Baron looks to make first name for himself

All-Star Saturday Viewer's Guide

Five All-Star questions




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