NBA: Predicting Dunk Contest Participants in the 2011- 2012 NBA Season

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LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 19: Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers dunks the ball in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest apart of NBA All-Star Saturday Night at Staples Center on February 19, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User express

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The Dunk Contest has become one of the most highly anticipated parts of February for NBA fans and we are surely going to be impressed again with high-flying spectacles.

During the last lockout the contest was cancelled, but hopefully All-Star Weekend doesn't suffer the same fate in 2012.

Four contestants are chosen, and these four players will surely make the contest a must-watch.

Will Bynum

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Every dunk contest needs a little guy and this one is a first-timer on the big stage.

He's only played in the playoffs once, when Detroit was swept by LeBron and the Cavs in the 2009 Playoffs, so he's not used to much attention, but that's exactly why he's here.

Will Bynum is a high-flyer who really knows how to throw it down, despite not being a shade over six feet tall.

He's an impressive dunker and will be fun to watch. He will get some votes from those judges who love watching the underdogs fly.

DeMar DeRozan

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In the 2010 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest (aka the most boring in recent memory), DeRozan was robbed. He lost to Nate Robinson by 0.2% in the final round, when Robinson's dunk really wasn't that impressive.

Being an athletic wingman, the two-time Dunk Contest participant should be able to grab the votes with his impressive acrobatics.

Also, players like him generally succeed in the Dunk Contest.

Before Blake Griffin's car-leaping throwdown, every winner in the past 25 years, besides Nate Robinson and two others, has been a perimeter player.

And he's in good dunk-contest company too, as these players include the likes of Kobe, Jason Richardson, MJ, and Harold Miner.

JaVale McGee

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The second consecutive player with four capital letters in his name, McGee really deserved to win the contest this past year.

I mean dunking three balls in on one jump? When he attempted the third my jaw dropped, just as the third ball did the same, except it went into the hoop.

McGee is a rising star in this league, and like DeRozan, he deserves another chance. His dunk was just so impressive that there's no way that he can't be in Orlando this February (if there is an All-Star Weekend).

He is one of those athletic big men who are expected to use their height to do something impressive. Kind of like Josh Smith, the winner of the 2005 Slam Dunk Contest.

Blake Griffin

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The hood of a car isn't very high.

Any of the other three participants could have slammed the ball through the rim while jumping over the car. Griffin was just the most popular.

While I admit that it was pretty cool, it honestly wasn't too impressive. But he won anyway.

Serge Ibaka, a contestant in last year's competition, complained that the contest was too much about props, and he's right.

The rookie Griffin took the NBA by storm last year and he's probably coming back to defend his title.

The league will surely keep him in the contest to see if he can win twice in a row. More people will watch it if he does, bringing back the fans that the league may be losing during the current lockout.

Griffin is one of the most athletic big men in the league, and he will surely wow us again.

But jumping over a Kia just isn't going to cut it anymore.