Slam Dunk King?

On ESPN Sunday’s NBA Countdown, Magic Johnson announced that he is more than willing to invest up to $1 million in attempt to convince Lebron James to enter the dunk contest.  His million dollar offering was followed by members of the studio crew who also chipped in smaller amounts of money to contribute to the cause.

"Please, LeBron, get in the dunk contest. I'm going to put up a million dollars," Johnson said.  "A million dollars from Magic to LeBron. Please get in the dunk contest. I go every year. I want to see you out there. A million to the winner, ” Johnson pleaded live on national television.

Although I've been stating my case for James to compete in the contest, as you can see in my earlier post Can Lebron James Save the All Star Weekend?  this recent call for action all began after James started throwing down monster dunks in his pregame rituals, including a off-the-backboard tomahawk and a between-the-legs. James mentioned earlier the month that he might stop because people were criticizing him for not doing the dunk contest and then doing these pregame dunks.

 

Before the Miami Heat's game against the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon, James spoke with ESPN reporter Lisa Salters. Once asked about competing in the Slam Dunk contest, "I think about it every year but I don’t have a response yet," James said.  He also acknowledged being knowledable of Magic Johnson's offer, "Tell him I'll get back to him," James told Salters.

I believe Lebron as well as other all stars in the NBA should compete in the dunk contest because it’ll bring back excitement to the contest. Although if James chooses not to compete in the contest, his legacy will remain the same, but I think it will be fair to the fans if he entered. But the fact that James is now considering it is a positive sign seeing as though he said he’ll never enter the contest in a press conference earlier in the season.

I believe he should reject Johnson’s lucrative offer and compete incentive-free. My dream Slam Dunk Contest would include:

· #6 Lebron James/ Miami Heat
· #0 Russell Westbrook/ Oklahoma City Thunder
· #32 Blake Griffin/ Los Angeles Clippers
· #1 Derrick Rose/ Chicago Bulls
· #2 John Wall/ Washington Wizards
· #31 Terrance Ross/ Toronto Raptors

Although it is unlikely that this group of contestants will never participate together, this will make for the best Slam Dunk Contest EVER. We have to get these stars to compete.

Can Lebron James Save the All Star Weekend?

The past weekend, the NBA hosted its annual All Star Game weekend in Houston, Texas. Festivities featured events such as the skills competition, three-point contest and the slam dunk contest. The slam dunk contest was expected to be the most thrilling event to watch but it actually turned out to be the most disappointing. The NBA believed it was doing the fans justice by saving what they believed to be the best for last and started the dunk contest at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Fans waited until then anticipating a display of enormously difficult, high-flying dunks performed by the best high-flyers in the NBA.

Instead, fans were disappointed at how the selected group of high-flyers which were all second-rate players attempted multiple dunks which most were unable to complete. The newly competitive style of competition between the East and West All Star teams that the NBA has implemented to this weekend was supposed to add a little more excitement to the weekend, particularly the slam dunk contest. This year’s dunk contest was intended to be the best in nearly five years but instead we had to sit through one of the worst contests in history.
 

This is the reason why many believe the dunk contest should include the stars of the NBA today such as Lebron James, who has never took part in the dunk contest. Many believe Lebron should participate in the dunk contest because all the greats who had an aerial assault to their skill set did. Lebron is on record, saying he would not compete in the contest but rather suggested that fans vote on his in-game dunks. I believe Lebron should compete in a dunk contest before he retires, not because other greatS have done so but because the fans are eager to see how he would perform. Lebron prides himself on servicing his fans and what better way to do so then to give them what they are begging for.