All-Star musings…
February 18, 2008 by Evil E
Can I still call him the Man-Beast? Did you see what Sean Williams did? Who should TNT fire first?
Dwight Howard won the Slam Dunk contest for the 2nd year in a row!
Oh, that’s right, he was robbed last season.
The Man-Beast kicked things off with a sweet behind the backboard dunk and then sealed the deal with his ridiculous Superman dunk, which I could watch over and over and over…
Superman!!!
I’m not a fan of Gerald Green, but his cupcake dunk was pretty sweet as well. I thought Jamario Moon’s 1st dunk was nasty too. But this year’s Slam Dunk contest was all about Dwight Howard. He wowed everyone, but it’s unfortunate that David Stern yet again prevented us from seeing D-Ho do a 360 between the legs dunk on a 12 foot rim.
Speaking of David Stern, did you notice how strongly he emphasized how much the NBA Cares about New Orleans? The NBA has done a lot for helping out New Orleans and that’s a very admirable thing, but it’s hard not to wonder if Stern was the man responsible for David West making the All-Star team. I love David West, but Baron Davis deserved to play in that game. And while we’re at it, why are players allowed to play in both the Rookie-Sophomore game AND the All-Star game like Brandon Roy did this year? It just takes a spot away from someone else who deserves to play.
Did you see what Sean Williams did during the Rookie-Sophomore game? He threw down a filthier version of T-Mac’s off the backboard pass to himself dunk.
Sean Williams - Filthy dunk
And then he gave LaMarcus Aldridge some friendly words of encouragement after the game…
Sean Williams - Filthy mouth
Now, Sean could have been playing around with Aldridge, but he was kicked off his college team last year and was avoided by most teams in the draft due to perceived “character issues.” And giving the finger to another player and dropping a loud F-Bomb with a camera right in front of you after a fun exhibition game is usually considered “questionable behavior,” even IF he’s friends with LaMarcus. The two of them played high school ball against each other in Texas, so Sean could have serious beef with him. His physical skills are pretty unreal, but Williams has a long way to go mentally. The Nets must like those type of players tho, because they recently traded for Stromile Swift.
Speaking of trades, the Hawks landed Mike Bibby from Sacramento to try and end their 8-year playoff drought. They gave up veteran PG’s Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue, as well as big men Shelden Williams and Lo-Wright, which is a great sign for Al Horford’s minutes going forward. It will be interesting to see if Bibby takes shots away from Joe Johnson, J-Smoov, and Marvin, but I don’t imagine any of them losing too much fantasy value. Can Bibby prove that he’s still a winner?
The Jason Kidd to Dallas trade is also going to happen, no thanks to Devean George and Jerry Stackhouse. As a result, those guys are staying in Dallas while Trenton Hassell and Keith Van Horn go to Jersey instead. Giving up Devin Harris, Diop, and 2 future 1st round picks is a steep price to pay for Jason Kidd, but I still like this deal for the Mavs. Harris has the physical tools to become a great PG in the future, but Kidd has the winning mentality that Dallas needs to get to the next level. If you own Josh Howard, do NOT deal him away now!
Jason Kapono won the 3-point shootout for the 2nd year in a row. If anyone has beef for not making my All-White USA team, it’s him.
Those blue & silver East jerseys were pretty slick! I also thoroughly enjoyed the New Orleans tunes: Stephanie Jordan, Branford Marsalis, and Jonathan Dubose Jr. performed a beautiful version of the Star Spangled Banner and the Halftime show with Ellis Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. was pretty sweet as well. New Orleans has got that jazz, that’s for sure!
One man who doesn’t have any jazz or flavor is Craig Sager. One of my friends wants to give it up to him for “not giving an eff,” but NO self-respecting professional should rely on ridiculous outfits to carry him thru his career, and that includes pimps. Sags has become a bad joke that simply won’t go away. Did you see Nash blow his nose on Sager’s hankie? If Nash doesn’t respect him, then NONE of the players do. It’s about time Craig Sager simply disappears…
But before you do that TNT, please fire Reggie Miller first! I didn’t hear him say one interesting, intelligent, or funny thing all weekend long. The perfect example of why Kenny Smith is dope and Reggie Miller is wack came before the 3-point shootout. Rip Hamilton went by the table to say hi to everyone and Reggie Miller stood up and shouted for Rip to “represent,” so Kenny called him out because he knew Reggie didn’t have the balls to go out on a limb by picking Hamilton. Of course it didn’t take me this long to realize that Reggie brings nothing to the broadcasting table, but the fact that he couldn’t contribute anything of value over the entire All-Star weekend setting is a surefire sign that he needs to be replaced.
Does anyone actually like Craig Sager and/or Reggie Miller?
I’m still unsure how a player can win a dunk contest, that has 4 rounds, by only completing 3 dunks. If this was a “Just Make Sure the Ball Goes Through the Hoop” contest, I could understand the love for the Man-Beast’s performance, but shouldn’t a dunk contest winners signature dunk at least be, well, a dunk? The shoeless dunk was much misunderstood, much like Dwight’s sticker dunk last year. The candle dunk was more impressive than 3 of Howard’s 4 dunks (the one with the kiddie hoop was real nice).
Then again, at least there is still the D-League dunk contest, which was pretty damn good, and as an added bonus, didn’t feature commentary by Magic Johnson.
It’s too easy to pick on Magic, so I’ll leave him alone.
How could you not get hyped up for the Superman dunk Billy?!? And you preferred D-Ho’s kiddie hoop dunk over his behind the backboard one? I dunno about that man…
Dwight Howard is somewhat athletic.
The Tip Dunk was insane. As for the Superman Throw at least he made it look like a “dunk” lol. It was all net. I like the energy brought this year to the dunk contest. Maybe not alot of ground breaking dunks but it was fun. Sean Williams off the glass dunk was nice catching with his left NASTY. Next year maybe go from 4 to 6 dunkers. I liked this year b/c it didn’t take the whole 2 minutes to dunk (Nasty Nate) Most guys go it on their first or second shot.
Quick aside about Moon: if the report about him is true(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080219.WBwbbasketball20080219100117/WBStory/WBwbbasketball/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080219.WBwbbasketball20080219100117), that he didn’t really practice that’s a damn shame. His two dunks, if practiced a bit more, could have been so much more impressive. Each dunk he could have easily gotten more rotation/distance on his dunks. He looked like he had enough distance to dunk from the free throw line, and possibly enough to take off from the tape (his first attempt at the dunk when he actually did jump from the FT line was thrown through the hoop, I think the judges should go back and give him at least a 48 for that… j/k ). Better yet, why not get Jose Calderon, or someone who knows how to pass the ball, to assist you instead of Jason Kapono??
Anyway, I did think the off the back board dunk was nice, but I just thought the kiddie hoop was more impressive. People got so amped up for it because he’s the Man-Beast, if Birdman did those exact same dunks (which he in all likelihood could if he wasn’t kicked out of the league currently), it wouldn’t have received nearly the same amount of love that the Man-Beast got. He might not even have made it out of the first round (especially if Rudy wasn’t dumb on the first dunk and/or Moon didn’t put the tape down on the second). But that’s the nature of the beast (pardon the pun), or so the saying goes. (Aside #2 - I also liked Rudy Gay’s off the backboard support better than Howards off the backboard dunk, so maybe I just have odd taste in dunks.) The tip dunk was alright, but I’m pretty certain 35% of the league could do it. On the other hand, I highly doubt that 10% of the league could do an East Bay Funk shoeless.
The kiddie hoop dunk was impressive, to me, because he had to go up to get the ball at 10 feet, and then windmill it.
All that being said, do I honestly think he didn’t deserve to win? No. It wasn’t as if it was some travesty that Dwight Howard won the dunk contest. Dwight is a player I really enjoy watching play basketball. Not more than all hustle Jamario Moon, but definitely more than his finals opponent Gerald Green. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about for this dunk contest. It was cute, but nothing special in my eyes, but will just lead to people using more pointless props and less actual dunking and amazing feats of athleticism.