Dunk This

It's no secret, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest has become a major disappointment in recent years. Since many of the league's best dunkers have decided their superstardom is far too important to risk an injury on a meaningless competition, the fans are left watching the likes of Chris Anderson and Nate Robinson. Now I will take nothing away from Nate Robinson and last year's battle between he and Andre Iguodola was amazing, but come on. We want to see Lebron, we want to see Kobe, we want to see something incredible. And since these guys refuse to do it, we need to change the way it is presented. My idea is to have the dunk contest be a team event. Either by a combined score method, or 1 on 1 matchups, let four East dunkers face off against four West Dunkers. If nothing more, it will give a new reason to take interest in the event which has fallen far off of the days of Jordan, Carter, Dominique and company. Maybe the new found team mentality will help put a little pressure on the bigger stars to compete.

Also, with the idea of teams maybe there can be added extras in the contest. Each team could have an athlete or celebrity outside the NBA compete. Or each team could have a "veteran" spot, or even a "legend" guest dunker. Anything to get the hype back on what used to be the highlight of all star weekend. Get us enthusiastic about dunking again, please...