NBA Slam Dunk Contest 2012: Brilliant Ideas to Make Event Entertaining

The NBA dunk contest has evolved into a boring joke, but it is easily fixable. A few tweaks to this format would breathe new life into this event, and make it must see TV once again. 

The event has disintegrated into guys bringing in lame props so the fact that they are doing the same old dunks doesn't seem so boring. It's not working. 

Here are some that would make this event great. 

Dunk Specific Rounds

The competitors could compete in a series of rounds where they have to do a certain style of dunk. So the first round would be reverse and windmill dunks. The second round could be dunks where the ball is bounced off the floor or the backboard. 

Competitors would have five minutes on the clock. They would then be judged on the entire round, not just one dunk. 

The top three finishers would then advance to the finals. They could do whatever they wanted in the finals, but instead of a time limit they would have just four attempts, and be judged on one their best dunk attempt. 

This would provide a wide array of dunks. It would also leave big drama for the final round. 

They don't need to leave the changes to just the main competition, either. They can add events to this. Like these next two. 

Team Competition

Three players from the NBA, the AND 1 Streetball Tour and the D-League would comprise three separate teams. 

Each player would get four attempts, and the team's score would be the total score of all the players. 

This would be a nice showcase for players who don't normally enjoy that big of a spotlight, but have amazing dunking skills. 

Raise the Hoop

This would be run like a pole vault competition. Players would pick what height they wanted to start at, and then the hoop would be raised with each made dunk. 

The person that dunks at the highest height is the winner.