The only thing the dunk contest had yesterday was the biggest overreactions I’ve ever see. I was excited to watch the three point contest and that held up (shoutout Joe Harris), but the dunk contest absolutely blew it.
First off, what was the John Collins second dunk with the aviation costumes and the prop? That took way too long for everyone to come out to and for the dunk just to be ‘meh’ at best.
So the dunkers and the grades:
John Collins C+
The first dunk was good, not great with the hand on the backboard, but I feel like he could’ve done a lot better than just doing that first. The second dunk was so bad. I don’t even want to talk about that again.
Dennis Smith Jr. B
DSJ did a really good job with his dunks, and he would’ve had such a better chance of winning if he just connected on his first dunk every time. He had the second best dunk of the night with J.Cole applying the assist. DSJ has big boy hops, and I think he’s going to be a really good fit in MSG for the Knicks. And if Cole would’ve made his dunk, DSJ would go up to a B+.
Miles Bridges C-
Miles Bridges first dunk was good, not great, nothing special. Just like DSJ, he would’ve had a good chance to win if he just finished his dunk. He gets the low grade of the class because he only finished one of his dunks. That second dunk was filthy if finished though.
Hamidou Diallo A-
Diallo stole the show. That dunk with the elbow in the rim, over Shaq was the highlight of the whole game. That was dirty to the max level. Shaq needed to use Tide detergent on his bald head after that. More importantly, his dunks got better when he needed to, first with the lob from Westbrook, and then with the dunk over Shaq. His third round he just needed to not mess up, and he would win with just an average dunk.
The NBA weekend was overrated, as everyone on social media was calling it one of the best dunk contests of all time, which is awful to say. Most importantly, I wish they would have more competitors next year, because 4 wasn’t enough at all.