NBA Slam Dunk Contestants 2012: Why Lack of Star Power Makes Event Worthless

If there has ever been a more underwhelming list of players in a slam dunk contest, please let me know. Actually, on second thought, don't—that would just be sad. 

As Al Iannazzone of Newsday reported, Iman Shumpert of the Knicks is withdrawing from the event, meaning that Jeremy Lin will also not be involved. That leaves this group of dunkers to entertain us on Saturday night. 

Chase Budinger	Houston Rockets
Jeremy Evans	Utah Jazz
Paul George	Indiana Pacers
Derrick Williams	Minnesota Timberwolves

Its a lesson that we learn the hard way at the dunk contest every year, no exceptions: sitting back doing nothing but watching dunks gets boring quickly. 

We know these guys are great athletes with tremendous leaping ability, but it gets repetitive. A way to neutralize repetitiveness is to give us athletes that we know and already have strong opinions about. When we care about who wins, we care about what's happening. 

But in all honesty, if this is the best group of talent that the league can scrounge up, the event might as well not even be held.

If you're not a fan of one of those four teams, do any of those players appeal to you? They have nowhere near the notoriety of a Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Amar'e Stoudemire, Blake Griffin, or Dwight Howard. Those players were all stars when they participated. 

There actually is a solution to this. Instead of bringing in players, only allow players who made the All-Star Game to participate in the weekend's festivities. That way, you have players that your viewing audience knows and cares about. 

If you watch this group and aren't a fan of one of the teams, it is going to become extremely boring very quickly.

This year's contest is the first one to feature fan voting for the winner. 

Ideally, if you're going to make the fans your only judges, someone has to be there to make the fans care. Budinger, Evans, George, and Williams may be fine players, but they bring absolutely no panache. 

This one is going to be hard to watch for more than 10 consecutive minutes, if at all.  

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