The Dunks They Should Have Done

The 2012 Dunk Contest marks the first time in history basketball fans have agreed on something. The people have spoken and the Ciroc Sprite-sponsored event was a colossal failure. Fans have rightly complained about the unnecessary pageantry of the whole thing, dependence on props, and the general lack of creativity. Some have already dubbed it the worst Dunk Contest of all-time and would rather see the event scrapped altogether.

I like the Dunk Contest. Vince Carter in 2000 made me fall in love with the event. The same unbridled joy I experienced as a 13-year-old is what I want for this generation. Older folks remember Spud Webb, or the Jordan-Dominique duel. My generation has Vince Carter. Maybe Blake Griffin jumping over a Kia qualifies, I don't know, but I believe players can do better. I'm disappointed this year's contest turned out poorly, so naturally, I have some suggestions. The ideas from this year's participants were there. They slightly failed from an execution standpoint. A wrinkle here and a wrinkle there and we're talking about potentially the greatest Dunk Contest of all-time. These are the dunks they should have done.

CHASE BUDINGER 

Chase Budinger's first dunk featured Diddy for no reason. The White Men Can't Jump concept was brilliant, only to be brought down by Diddy's antics. I know All-Star Weekend caters (or is trying to cater) to the same demographic as the BET Awards, but Diddy's inclusions was still puzzling. Aside from payed a shitload of money to plug his new television network, his appearance, and plea for the predominately white crowd to raise a fist for Black Power, got away from the theme. Budinger should have jumped over someone else for his first dunk -- the one and only Rosie Perez.

Perez played Gloria, Woody Harrelson's girlfriend in White Men Can't Jump and is currently available for work. She's waiting around for Law and Order to call, why not make her part of the Dunk Contest? She still looks as good as she did in 1992. They could have dressed her up in an Orlando 2012 outfit or if they wanted to go the extra mile for their sponsors, splash a big Sprite logo across her breasts. VIEWERS WOULD NOTICE.

JEREMY EVANS

Evans' second dunk was the event's best. Teammate Gordon Hayward sat on a chair and threw two balls in the air. Evans leaped over Hayward, caught both balls in mid-air and slammed them home. Great dunk but it could have been better. We've all known about Evans' supernatural leaping ability all-season, despite never having seen him play. This was the time to unleash his all-word hops. Instead, we saw him jump over a seated Hayward and 4'8 comedian Kevin Hart. Evans needed to do more here, but how could he?

Evans is a guy who can jump OUT of the gym. Under no circumstances should he be constrained by a stadium's parameters. He should have taken this one outside, right around the corner to Universal Studios.

Excellent sponsorship opportunity, a space to accommodate more fans, and most importantly, an obstacle that allows Evans to showcase his true leaping ability. What's not to like? Gordon Hayward will still have a place to sit and throw the balls up since it's sooooo important that a teammate be involved for one of the dunks.

PAUL GEORGE

George was the early favorite to win the contest, and still could have, if not for a costly mistake. His tribute to Pacers' President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird was an excellent one. George stuck a sticker of Bird's face on the backboard with his left hand while following through with a right-handed dunk. He attempted this dunk third, but should have made it his second one. He needed to use the Bird sticker on his first try since he wasn't going to convert anyway. For his second try, instead of another sticker, George could have stuck a light switch on the backboard.

The light switch could have been a precursor to his glow-in-the dark dunk he then would have attempted third. George turns on the lights midway through his glow-in-the dark dunk so viewers could have actually seen it, as opposed to what we did see:

DERRICK WILLIAMS

Williams was the fourth name on a list the casual NBA fan couldn't pick out of a lineup. We all know the most popular participant has an advantage over his competitors. Blake Griffin won two years ago before the contest even started. Williams had a perfect opportunity to increase his name recognition and didn't seize it. His teammate Ricky Rubio has captured the imagination of basketball fans across the world. Williams needed to wear a Rubio mask to trick some of the voters.

Suddenly Williams is the favorite. The crowd gets behind him and we'd finally have the answer to the age-old question: What would it look like if Ricky Rubio threw a lob to a bigger Ricky Rubio? For good measure, Williams could have sported a Spanish gaucho hat and dunked while being chased by a bull -- thereby directing some of the ethnic humor away from Jeremy Lin for a while. Give the kid a rest.   

The Dunk Contest is fine. Some tinkering here and there and we're back in business. We're still going to watch next year regardless. 

T'Wolves Provide A New Rebuilding Blueprint

While I watched Kevin Love grab rebound, after rebound, after rebound Saturday night, something dawned on me. Not that Kevin Love is really good, I already knew that. But I began to look around at the Timberwolves team on the floor. Love - Wesley Johnson - Super Cool Beas' lazy eyes - the ever more productive Darko Milicic, and none other than the 16 million dollar man, Luke Ridnour.
And that's when it hit me.
With the exception of Ridnour, Minnesota's four other starters were top five draft picks. (Side Note: While attending college at UW-Madison, I can't even count how many times, while discussing the Bucks with my roommates, one of us prefaced a point by uttering, "With the exception of Luke Ridnour." That man defies convention).
Should Ricky Rubio find is way to America, not only would he instantly become my second favorite NBA point guard/player, but also complete a Minnesota starting lineup composed entirely of top five picks in their respective drafts. I don't know of an economic way of finding out if this has happened before, but I would guess no. At least not in the era of 28 or more teams in the league.
Below are the teams broken down into how many top five picks they have in their starting lineup.

Four
Minnesota

Three
Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Miami, Oklahoma City

Two
Dallas, LA Clippers, LA Lakers, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento

One
Chicago, Cleveland, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Toronto, Utah, Washington

Zero
Charlotte, Detroit, Golden State, Houston, Indiana

What conclusions can be drawn from looking at this list? I feel comfortable making one assumption, and that is: If an NBA team doesn't have a top five pick in their starting lineup, they aren't contending for a Championship. Seemingly obvious stuff.
What about the teams that are contenders? Where do they turn up in this list? Everywhere -- and that's what is so interesting. Boston, Miami, and Oklahoma City in the 'Three' category. Dallas, the Lakers, and Orlando in the 'Two' category. And Chicago, San Antonio, and Utah in the 'One' category. There's no rhyme or reason to that.
Conventional thinking would say, "If you have so many high draft picks in your everyday lineup, then A) You're not very good because you've had so many top selections, or B) You're really good because those top selections are most likely very talented.
Then there's the Timberwolves, who have acquired their four starters in every way imaginable. They signed Milicic as a free agent, traded for Beasley, and drafted Love and Johnson (and Rubio). They're also not very good, which leads me to the point I'm trying to make:
Minnesota, whether intentionally or not, is creating a new blueprint for how to build a team. We just don't know if this will be a successful blueprint, or total bust (Insert Darko joke here).
Of course, there's plenty of flaws in targeting players based on their draft position. An especially loaded or slim draft will skew the results of where a particular player should be drafted. In an attempt to correlate draft position and talent, one must trust the management who made the pick in the first place, which probably isn't the best idea. Then there's also the problem of players whose draft position doesn't at all represent their level of play. Kobe Bryant, Rajon Rondo, and Steve Nash come to mind, none of which were drafted in the top ten.
If building a team around top five draft picks sounds like a somewhat chaotic idea, it's because it is. Watch the Wolves play. They look like a group of talented players thrown together with the hopes that something good will happen out there. Each player's role needs to be clearly defined, and to Coach Kurt Rambis' credit, maybe they have been. It just doesn't look like it. Or maybe all of these talented players, not used to accepting a scaled back role, have been non-responsive to compromising parts of their game.
I think Rubio can control the chaos. A great point guard, and Rubio is that, can make an average team competitive. The thought of him running the break with Johnson and Beasley on each side is thrilling. Speaking of Johnson and Beasley, can't they just switch positions? All I've been hearing is how Johnson isn't a good fit at the two, which I agree with. Why can't Beasley play as the off guard? He'd be a match up nightmare. Don't tell me it's because he can't play defense, because he hurts them just as much in that respect playing small forward. And Darko just needs to be Darko (Insert another Darko joke here). He'll never be good enough because he's constantly compared to LeBron and Melo, two of the best scorers and players of this generation. For this team Darko just needs to score about ten points a game (he's averaging 9.1) and grab five or six boards (Love will get the majority of them anyway). His biggest contribution will be on the defensive end, particularly blocking shots. Milicic is the most underrated shot blocker in the league right now. He's been playing well for the T'Wolves this year, he's just not LeBron or Melo, which will unfairly be the biggest flaw of his career.
This T'Wolves team is young, immensely talented, and still learning how to play together, not to mention how to win in the NBA. Collectively, they're not very good, and may never be. But in a strange way, they're making history.

Thoughts On USA-Spain Basketball Friendly

It's amazing how a little bit of international competition can get someone's nationalistic juices flowing. I've commented on this plenty of times in regards to Alexi Lalas' World Cup commentary. Today's subject will be former All-Star, and Olympic Gold Medalist Steve Smith.
I respect Smith most for his three point shooting, but now can respect the way he handled the commentary of the USA-Spain friendly. With many Americans (I'm looking at you Fran Fraschilla), questioning the US's ability to defeat some of the better European sides, it's refreshing to hear someone provide a reason why we don't dominate the competition like we used to. Here's a few explanations Smith offered:
Officiating - The international referees aren't quite as good as their American counterparts. Now that's saying something. According to Smith, the international refs miss quite a few calls, so the players will just have to get used to it. Of course, Smith is operating under the assumption that American refs don't miss quite a few calls. I'd have to disagree.
The Ball - The basketball used in international play is apparently lighter than the ball our players use in the NBA. This is a legitimate adjustment. I remember as a kid playing with a WNBA ball. It was great. I could palm it and throw it across the court. Of course, the size and weight of it did result in a few air balls. Smith attributed one of Iguodala's air balled three pointers and Billups' three pointer off the glass to the weight of the ball.
Flopping - Smith's analysis of Tyson Chandler and Lamar Odom guarding Marc Gasol was pretty comical. The gist of it was that they couldn't body him because he would just flop. They also couldn't go through a screen because the other defenders would just flop. I love this analysis because it's true. The international game is built around flopping, and unfortunately, it's carried over to the NBA.

I was looking forward to getting my first look at last year's fifth overall pick Ricky Rubio. I have to admit, I assumed Rubio was overrated because he was flashy (a la Jason Williams in the late 90s with the Kings), European, and could play despite looking like the back up point guard on the sophomore high school team.
I was flat out wrong. It actually pained me a little to see Rubio pick Rose's pocket a few times as easily as he did. I underestimated his size. For some reason, I thought he was about 5'10, 170 lbs. Turns out he's 6'3, 190 lbs. He's a much better defender than people have been giving him credit for, and with his size, can match up with any point guard in the league.
I would have liked to see what he could have done against Rondo. Anyway, I can't wait until he makes his way to the NBA. I'm officially on the bandwagon.
Fresh off of acting like an NBA superstar and threatening a hold out, Rudy Fernandez made an appearance, sporting some new blonde highlights. Here's what bothers me about Fernandez's holdout: he's not an elite player that deserves to play major minutes for a contender. Revis' hold out is at least somewhat understandable. He's the best cornerback in the league and wants to be paid for it. Besides having one good year from behind the arc, what exactly has Rudy accomplished in the NBA?
Fernandez missed four of his five shots from the field, including a shot that was blocked in the final seconds by Durant to win the game for the US. Rudy had the chance to prove to his NBA coach Nate McMillan, sitting on the opposing side, that he deserves more minutes, and made himself look worse. In fact, Fernandez's highlight of the game was an offensive rebound he came up. Seriously, besides being blocked to end the game, that's all I remember him doing.
This post wouldn't be complete without a D. Rose update. Rose really got the chance to shine at the end of the game. He drove hard to the basket and made a layup over Gasol to put the US up 84-82. He then knocked down two free throws that clinched the game. Free throw shooting was an area of concern last year from Rose, so it was good for him to sink two big ones with the game on the line.
Rose's full skill set isn't being showcased during international play like it will be in the NBA season. Rose is best when he has the ball in his hands and can either drive the lane or create the open shot. He's being asked to distribute more than he normally would, which hurts his overall performance. The end of this game was him playing like he's accustomed to.
So is Team USA only a point better than Spain? I'm obviously a little biased, but I think the US is much better than they showed today. Remember, they didn't play Rondo, Love, or Granger. While I don't think Granger would make much of a difference against Spain, I think Love and Rondo would be huge defensive assets.
I think Rondo would be the ideal candidate on our team to guard Rubio and Love could provide another big body to match up with Gasol down low.
I'd also expect the overall intensity level of the US to improve as the stakes do. The same defensive lapses and bad shot selection plagued this team the way it does with so many good NBA teams. Eventually the great teams get bored. What the US did in the opening five minutes, jumping out to a 16-3 lead, is how they should have played the entire game. Instead, they lowered their intensity after jumping back and forth between big leads, and in the end, it almost cost them.