2012 NBA Slam Dunk Contest: Jeremy Evans Wins Lackluster, Awkward Event

Something didn't feel right in this year's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest.

Maybe it's because last year JaVale McGee dunked three balls simultaneously and Blake Griffin jumped over a car.

Or perhaps it's because most of the names in this year's competition were unrecognizable to the casual fan. 

If you think Jeremy Lin was a no-name before Linsanity started, Jeremy Evans was an even bigger no-name in the NBA's biggest showcase event of All-Star weekend. 

He may have had the best dunk of the night when he dunked two balls after bouncing them off the backboard, but the whole event was a sham.

The fine people of Orlando paid hefty amounts to go see the event. Not only were they shortchanged by the fact that guys like Blake Griffin, Nate Robinson, Dwight Howard and  McGee were not in this year's event, but the newbies failed to provide any sort of excitement.

All we saw were a plethora of dunks that had fans saying, "Been there, done that."

In fact, there were three dunks that featured players jumping over other people, and the guy who jumped over the shortest person ended up winning. Although, he didn't win because of that dunk, it just exemplifies the lackluster event that was the 2012 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

To reiterate that notion, we saw Derrick Williams bore the crowd and television audience by trying a difficult between-the-legs dunk about eight or nine times.

These dunk contest participants need to have back-up plans so that they don't get caught doing the same act over and over again. It gets too repetitive and the dunk at the end loses its luster.

The worst part of the night was hearing the TNT broadcast crew praise mediocrity after the parade of average dunks.

Hearing Reggie Miller say, "That's nice!" when in reality we all knew it wasn't was just plain awkward. It would've been more effective to the broadcast if the analysts were honest. 

Nobody is asking the dunk contest to replicate what we saw in 2000 when Vince Carter captured the hearts of America. It would be nice, but it's definitely not necessary.

Having the Nate Robinson vs. Dwight Howard duals were highly entertaining too, even though it didn't match up to the dunk contests of old. Or even last year's rendition with Blake Griffin wowing Los Angeles with his explosive dunks catching our attention.

This year's dunk contest is easily the most forgettable one in recent memory. From the champion to the broadcasts and to the dunks, there was nothing worth noting and remembering from tonight.

To be honest, it seems like the point guard skills competition is becoming more exciting year after year. It was nice to see them expand the field to six. The NBA is increasingly becoming a point guard driven league and we had the best of the best performing for us in the competition. 

Tony Parker ended up winning the event, but we also saw nice performances from John Wall, Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams. 

It may seem like a repetitive showcase, but it has an Olympic feel to it. It would be nice if TNT posted the All-Star records on the telecast and made "breaking the record" part of the event. 

The Slam Dunk Contest, on the other hand, could use some tweaking.

The league needs more of its stars to participate, not a guy that's averaging 5:30 minutes per game. Perhaps financial compensation for participation may be necessary. Anything to get LeBron, Blake, Dwight and, yes, even Nate back in the Slam Dunk Contest.

Please, NBA. Nobody wants to waste their time with the bland, mundane and just awkward "showcase" we received tonight.

Follow Andre Khatchaturian on Twitter.