| 17 February 2012
The NBA All-Star Weekend is really a magical weekend for every fan of the NBA. In my opinion, the NBA is the only professional sporting league that gets their All-Star break right. From the allure of the street-ball like All-Star game, to the wows of the Slam Dunk Competition, there’s something for everybody…
Everybody except the Washington Wizards.
Last year’s second place winner of the Slam Dunk Competition, Washington’s own Javale McGee, was snubbed by the NBA for this year’s dunk contest. And with Blake Griffin (snobbishly, in my opinion) declining participation in this year’s contest, too, fans are more than likely going to be subjected to another snore-fest of a dunk competition.
The argument of whether or not McGee should have been the winner of last year’s slam dunk contest is a completely different debate, but for him not to even be invited to this year’s competition is absurd.
The man dunked three balls in one hoop and dunked two balls in two different hoops at the same time. With Blake opting not to do the dunk contest this year, McGee should have been an obvious re-invitation.
Instead, we are going to be “blessed” with the “talents” of Houston’s Chase Budinger, Indiana’s Paul George, New York’s Iman Shumpert, and Minnesota’s Derrick Williams.
The skeptic in me wants to go out and say that the only reason that Iman Shumpert is in the contest is so that Jeremy Lin can be the assist man on the required assisted dunk.
But honestly, I just have absolutely no idea why the NBA couldn’t get one household name if they were going to skip last year’s 2nd place winner.
Maybe the lockout is to blame. I don’t get why these big name stars won’t enter the slam dunk contest. But one thing’s for sure; after last year’s contest, one that I thought to be one of the best of all-time, NBA fans are going to be sorely disappointed at this year’s contest.
And for a league that is supposedly financially hurting, this lineup is not what the league needs now.
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