Ugh. Rigged dunk contests. -Mike

This year's dunk contest may have been the WORST one I remember. The dunks were cool, sure. I loved Jeremy Evans' 2 ball dunk, and seeing Paul George jump over Roy Hibbert and Dahntay Jones was cool, but really? This just seemed like the NBA trying to reach into Vince McMahon's pockets. How fake did this seem? And why is it faked? What is the point of it? Do they really think more people will watch because of a planned dunk? Look at the greatest wrestling matches in history if you want to see how that works out. The obviously faked "spots" in wrestling are the ones that get pointed out, and these are the things that water down a match.

Take a look at Mick Foley's fall during his Hell in a Cell match with Undertaker. Was he supposed to fall? Probably not, at least he says he wasn't. But was the fall necessary? Of course it was! America loves accidents! America loves surprises! Watching Mick Foley fall to what everyone figured was a storyline death brought thousands of more fans in. So what would be wrong with letting these professionals, who play an actual sport, go out and do something that will amaze the fans, and possibly draw more fans in? Why not give players an actual reason to join the dunk contest? Why not give a cash prize? Or here's something even crazier: how about making it a tournament? Here's an idea for the format.

Since the NBA seems obsessed with fan voting, how about the fans choose 8 participants, who have been given a choice on whether or not to be included on the ballot. We know from the offseason how whiny the players (and owners) can get.The 8 players that get voted in are put into seeds, much like the playoffs. The 1 seed faces the 8 seed and so on. The dunks should be based on originality, not on this intensity meter bullshit. Players can use any props needed. The tournament format forces players to pull out all the stops on every attempt. You never know what your opponent might pull off.

One more idea: why not give amateurs a shot? You want to tell me that James "Flight" White wouldn't have won this dunk contest? Why not hold a contest for amateurs? Sprite is already doing something similar. They have a campaign where you send in a video to them of you doing a trickshot or whatever, and they do something with it. I wasn't really paying attention, but I got the gist of it. So a sponsor of the NBA hit what could be a gold-mine for them. I highly doubt the NBA will take advantage of this. But damn it, I wish they would.