J.R. Smith's Replacement of Rudy Gay May Save the NBA Slam Dunk Contest

When I heard the dunk contest was going to include the Grizzlies' Rudy Gay, the Magic's Dwight Howard, the Knicks' Nate Robinson, and the Blazers' Rudy Fernandez, who was voted in by fans, I was not looking forward to the contest this year.

If you can even remember Rudy Gay's performance last year, you would recall how unexciting he was.

Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard have competed twice already, and we have pretty much seen all of their tricks. Nate Robinson’s second appearance in the 2007 dunk contest was awful, as he clearly had no new tricks to use.

Dwight Howard, on the other hand, did have some new tricks in his second appearance. Of course, he had an early exit in his first contest, so that wasn’t really surprising.

I'm expecting a lot of props tomorrow night. When dunkers get desperate for dunks, the props start coming out. This year’s dunk contest is going to be more of a prop contest than an actual dunk contest.

However, now that J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets has replaced Rudy Gay, he could very well make it worth watching himself.

When Smith competed in 2005, he had the most underrated dunk of all time in the contest, in my opinion. He was the first dunker to put the ball behind his back and dunk it.

I don't know how he got a 45, even if he missed his first attempt. If Smith had gotten past the first round, he very well could have won that contest.

 J.R. Smith is a great dunker, but I wonder if he is entering the contest too late. The other dunkers have been preparing for it all season, and it seems that would put Smith at a disadvantage.

"I don't think so," Smith said. "If you're a really good dunker, you should be able to come up with something on the fly."

Apparently Smith has been trying to make sure he'll be ready by consulting teammate Chris Andersen, who is notorious for his 2005 dunk contest meltdown.

I just hope unlike Chris Andersen, he makes sure he can make the dunk he is going to attempts beforehand.

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