B_&_B

I AGREE!!!
I've never seen someone pull off a dunk like that before, but because it was the first dunk of the contest, it got no respect from the judges.

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"People say we are coming, but I almost think it's to the point where we are here," he said. "I think it's no longer coming. We are here now."... Brandon Roy.

trifecta

As far as the thread topic is concerned, I completely disagree. I'd hate to watch a bunch of guys who were only there to represent their teams but didn't really deserve it. If theres' a toss-up between two guys - one on a team that's already represented and one not - then sure, take the latter guy but don't make it a rule.

As far as changes, I'd like to see either the NBA force their top players to participate in the weekend's events (possibly by adding language into the standard contract) or increase the pot to something that the players might actually care about.

Blazer Ringbearer

Yeah, increase the pot...

What if the winner of the dunk contest got a million dollars?

Holy crap, you'd have all of the top dunkers in the league lining up for a shot to compete. Vince, McGrady, Francis, Lebron, everybody...

You could open up the competition to 8 or 16 players.

Don't you think it would be worth a million dollars from the league? The ratings would be sooo much higher. What is the pot now, like 25,000? Is it even that high?

They could raise the pot for 3-point as well to raise the competitive level. Let's face it, today's player isn't all about pride - it's about the bling...

deanwoof

i dont think a million dollars makes a difference to these guys. you have tmac making $14M a year, lebron making like $90 in endorsements, jrich just signed a $8-9 mil contract, vince carter has $100 bills coming out of his headband, and so forth. Raising the pot wouldn't necessarily make the super-duper stars come out imo, as much as i want them to come out.

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Blazer Ringbearer

Say you make $50,000/year...

Are you telling me you wouldn't be swayed by a chance to make $5,000 in one hour?

I don't care how many millions I have, if I have a chance to make one for an hours worth of work - I'd do it...

These guys complain about $25,000 fines - you better believe they'd get excited about a million bucks.

mook

I think they need to offer more cash prize money, but more importantly they need to add some intangibles to massage the star ego. how about declaring that the winning dunk will appear as an opening graphic before every TNT game through the playoffs, and/or part of the NBA tv ads? that way by winning the dunk contest you are making yourself more generally famous and more marketable for other product endorsements.

deanwoof

man, that's different cuz we're normal people and we dont make much money. i probably would PAY $100 to BE IN the contest. but i'm referring to these superduper stars that keep saying no to the contest. they're already making millions upon millions. for us, that's like running around the block for 5 bucks. i konw i wouldn't do it.

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Trader Ed

3 pt FG% leaders as of today

You look at that list, and take some of the players who have shot say... 200 attempts... and it dwindles the list a lot. YOu simply fileter out the players who do not shoot a lot.

I think they could have easily had a different list of invitees

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"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts..."

Heart, desire and hustle! Its the fire within that makes a champion.

trifecta

Part of the problem is that right now, it's cool to say no. Back when Jorden, Nique etc used to do it, everyone wanted to participate. I think that if you raised the pot and got players like Kobe and Carter to do it, others would quickly follow - and a million bucks would be a big deal to many of the participants. Not every dunker is a max player.

ProudBFan

Excellent thread. I've been agonizing over this all weekend. It just sucks that it's been so long since our last legitimate All-Star appearance... and nobody outside us Blazers fans seems to give a damn.

The All-Star game is a popularity contest. And we're not gonna have anyone in it until they become known (and in a positive way) at the national level. Zach, Miles, and Bassy all have a legit shot in the next couple of years, but they each have to elevate their game... and so does the team as a whole.

Bottom line: You gotta be someone the NBA wants to showcase. And, right now, we don't have anyone who fits the bill.

PBF

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