NBA dunk contest has lost some shine, but not to Kenny Smith

ORLANDO—Kenny Smith knows a little bit about dunk contests.

During his playing career, Smith appeared in three All-Star weekend dunk contests, with only three players having appeared in more—Dominique Wilkins (six), Clyde Drexler (five) and Nate Robinson (four). He has had a first-hand view, then, of how these things can go. In his first contest, Smith was runner-up to Wilkins, a legendary dunker. In his second, he lost to relatively unknown rookie Dee Brown and, in his third, the winner was an equally unknown rookie, Harold Miner.

Wilkins is a Hall of Famer. But when NBA fans hear the names “Dee Brown” or “Harold Miner,” it is the dunk contest that immediately comes to mind. Miner did little in his four-year NBA career besides win those contests, and Brown landed a major Reebok ad campaign by pumping up his shoes before his dunk. So when Smith hears fans complain that players such as LeBron James, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard are not in this year’s contest, he rolls his eyes.

“I can’t wait for the Sprite Slam Dunk contest, that is always one of my favorite things to see,” Smith told Sporting News. “When you think (about) some of the great dunk contests, they aren’t always the guys you think. It would be great to have Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin in there, sure. But think about it—-we didn’t really hear of Nate Robinson, we didn’t hear much about Spud Webb or Brent Barry or Harold Miner or Dee Brown before they won the dunk contest. These guys make their names there. This is their opportunity to shine, when they have this stage.”

This year’s field is especially unknown, especially with the withdrawal of Knicks guard Iman Shumpert. Pacers guard Paul George is the only starter among the group, and the only player averaging double-figure scoring (12.1 points per game). Timberwolves rookie Derrick Williams made his name in last year’s NCAA Tournament, and was the No. 2 pick in the draft. Rockets forward Chase Budinger—-who was also a volleyball star—will be in the mix, as will Shumpert’s replacement, Jazz forward Jeremy Evans.

All are dunk-contest newbies, and Smith said it is almost impossible to imagine what making your dunk-contest debut is like. “That was the first time in my life when I walked on the court in my team uniform and I looked around, and I didn’t have my team with me,” Smith said. “All these things you practice when you were alone out there, well now, you’re not alone. I was excited. It was a surreal kind of moment. They’re looking at you out there.”

So who will we be looking at when the trophy is handed out? Smith was not going to venture a guess. “We don’t know whether these guys are game dunkers or prop dunkers,” he said. “We don’t know-—there is a different flair, a different confidence you need to be a contest dunker. You will try things in a dunk contest you would not normally try.”

We, though, will take a stab at it …

Dunk contest: Budinger. Evans is a darkhorse in this contest, but Budinger has great athleticism and might, somehow, get Yao Ming involved in this thing. Back in 2006, Budinger was the runner-up of the McDonald’s All-America game dunk contest.

3-point contest: Anthony Morrow. Morrow does one thing and he does it very well-—he can shoot. He has shot better than 40 percent on 3-pointers in each of the four years he has been in the league, and his 43.9 percent shooting from the 3-point line would rank fourth in league history. Plus, Morrow is honoring the late Nets star Drazen Petrovic by wearing his jersey, which is pretty cool.

Skills contest: Kyrie Irving. We’re looking for Irving to follow in the footsteps of another No. 1 overall rookie point guard, Derrick Rose, who won the contest in 2009. Irving does not quite have the speed of Rose, but he does have enough skill to take this title.