The All-Star Weekend discussion thread

Mr. S£im Citrus said:
You might as well have said that you only care when a Kings player is in it, because that definitely wasn't the last good Dunk Contest.
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Well, no, that's not at all my position, nor did I say it was the last "good" one. (Frankly, it wasn't a good one, in my opinion, apart from the result.) My position is that (as one who has always been skeptical of judged sports) once I saw a Kings player get screwed by judges, I realized it was nothing but a popularity contest and have ceased to care since.

Today, without consulting Dr. Internet, I can't tell you if a Kings player has participated in the dunk contest since Wallace or not (though if one has, I certainly would have known it at the time - but by now have forgotten). The reason I can't tell you is that I have not cared since then, Kings player or no. And to be clear, that does not mean that I have not watched any dunk contest since then. I'm sure that I've watched a handful and certainly seen highlights of more. But the event stopped being something that I made time for. If it's on, it's on. If I forget, oh well.
 
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Capt. Factorial said:
Well, no, that's not at all my position. My position is that (as one who has always been skeptical of judged sports) once I saw a Kings player get screwed by judges, I realized it was nothing but a popularity contest and have ceased to care since.

Today, without consulting Dr. Internet, I can't tell you if a Kings player has participated in the dunk contest since Wallace or not (though if one has, I probably would have known it at the time). The reason I can't tell you is that I have not cared since then, Kings player or no.
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Not even when Shaq was in Ben McLemore's "corner" and had him come out with a crown on? Yeah, it's been ridiculous for a very long time
 
Capt. Factorial said:
Well, no, that's not at all my position, nor did I say it was the last "good" one. (Frankly, it wasn't a good one, in my opinion, apart from the result.) My position is that (as one who has always been skeptical of judged sports) once I saw a Kings player get screwed by judges, I realized it was nothing but a popularity contest and have ceased to care since.
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I just want to know why it took you seeing a Kings player get jobbed to realize that it was a popularity contest? I knew it was a popularity contest when Jordan robbed Dominique.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
I just want to know why it took you seeing a Kings player get jobbed to realize that it was a popularity contest? I knew it was a popularity contest when Jordan robbed Dominique.
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I came to the NBA later than that. But seeing a player I was rooting for get robbed had more resonance than any previous robbing (if any) that I had seen would have.
 
Well then, a case could be made that the participants being a bunch of unknowns is a blessing in disguise, then? If nobody is popular enough to get preferential treatment, then we know that the best dunk won, right?
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
Well then, a case could be made that the participants being a bunch of unknowns is a blessing in disguise, then? If nobody is popular enough to get preferential treatment, then we know that the best dunk won, right?
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That would make some sense. Since I didn't actually pay any attention at all this year, I gather from your comments that there aren't any stars in the contest? (I'll take your answer off the air...got a family thing starting.)
 
Capt. Factorial said:
That would make some sense. Since I didn't actually pay any attention at all this year, I gather from your comments that there aren't any stars in the contest? (I'll take your answer off the air...got a family thing starting.)
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The biggest name in this contest was Kenyon Martin, Jr., who didn't make it out of the first round. The winner was a guy from the G-League.
 
hrdboild said:
That's a fair point. Once the props and costumes and guest stars started to upstage the actual dunking though is when I stopped caring. It should be player, basketball, and maybe a teammate as far as I'm concerned -- let's see how creative you can be with just your hops. That's my Old Man Yells at Cloud bit. :)
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Yeah that's where I am. I think revamping the scoring criteria the way diving, gymnastics, figure skating have away from 6/10 point scales to a skill multiplier + upping the prize pool to make it the marquee event again are the simplest things you can do to give it the boost it deserves.

I also think having players earn their way in to the 3 point and dunk contests could boost the appeal. Not sure where that in-season tournament idea went, but same kind of deal where you might round robin in December or January to get 8 finalists for each event.
 
Funny that in 2k myteam this week there was a challenge to dunk 20 times with Saturday all stars and I couldn't get a juiced up Mac McClung to dunk once in the game. :D

I'll always remember post Jordan, Kenny Sky Walker winning I think my 9th grade year. Was there a less memorable winner in the last 35 years?
 
pdxKingsFan said:
Funny that in 2k myteam this week there was a challenge to dunk 20 times with Saturday all stars and I couldn't get a juiced up Mac McClung to dunk once in the game. :D

I'll always remember post Jordan, Kenny Sky Walker winning I think my 9th grade year. Was there a less memorable winner in the last 35 years?
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Jeremy Evans would like a word. And Fred Jones is standing right behind him.
 
McClung is a pretty big name in the basketball community, just not the NBA. HS legend with the 2nd best mixtape ever after Aaron Gordon.

I think he has an NBA future. I was surprised he didn’t stick on the Lakers

He’s undersized, but he’s improved a lot as a ball handler and shooter. Those were the two of his biggest weaknesses out of college. I hope he can find his footing in the league. I think he’s good enough to play rotational minutes
 
I had to step out after the first dunks but caught the highlights. I remember watching all those Mac McClung mixtapes back in his high school days so I knew he had hops. He'll need to shoot to stick in the NBA as a guard but seeing his dunks, I'm glad he was invited to this and won it without any gimmicks. Winning the dunk contest feels like a fitting pay off to his crazy high school exploits. This may be the peak of his NBA career but it's cool to see him getting some national media exposure and props from some of the all-time greats.
 
Friend from high school just gifted me Eagles tickets tonight so looks like I may miss our re-debut :(
 
It absolutely didn't, but I think that what they were going for was that, by picking the reserves first, the "last player picked" would still be a starter. One of those "What do you call the person who graduated last in their class in medical school?" sort of things.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
It absolutely didn't, but I think that what they were going for was that, by picking the reserves first, the "last player picked" would still be a starter. One of those "What do you call the person who graduated last in their class in medical school?" sort of things.
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yeh I get the attempt but still fell flat in my mind. Admittedly I don’t have a better solution.
 
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