The Five Worst Things About the 2009 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Here are the top 5 worst things about this year's dunk contest.

5. Nate Robinson jumping off teammate Wilson Chandler's back.

Did Nate Robinson actually expect anyone to like his dunk? Jumping off someone's back is not only lame, but it actually made the dunk easier for him. Most of my friends could do that same dunk if they wanted to.

After Robinson's dunk, everybody I was watching the contest with shrugged their shoulders in disappointment. Come on Nate, you can be more creative than that.

4. Rudy Fernandez and J.R. Smith took forever

Rudy Fernandez might have had the best dunk in the contest on his second attempt. Too bad he needed all of the two minutes allowed and more to finally finish it.

J.R Smith was even more disappointing. He took almost the entire time as well on his second dunk, but unlike Rudy, he just gave up and simply dunked it two handed.

If you’re going to waste our time by missing over and over again, at least do something exciting.

Every year at least one dunker does this and makes the contest look like a joke.

You would have thought the NBA would have solved this problem, but apparently not.

3. Nate Robinson lifted himself over Howard

This is one the criticism that I can see a lot of people disagreeing with. But in my opinion, jumping over someone is not only unoriginal, but overrated because all the dunker is really doing is spreading his legs over the person’s head.

I know everybody loved seeing Robinson dunk over Howard and I can see why. However, everyone knows Nate Robinson can jump high and he didn't show anything new on the dunk.

He did almost the exact same dunk when he won the contest in 2006. In reality, Nate Robinson didn't get any higher than he did when he dunked over Spud Webb in 2006, it just looked better on a bigger guy in Howard. 

But regardless, Robinson didn’t even clear Howard. He used his hand to lift himself over Howard to dunk it.

If you want to see a real spectacular dunk over an even bigger guy, go check out Vince Carter's dunk over 7-2 Frederick Weis in the 2000 Olympics.

2. The judges were clearly biased for Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard might have gotten the two worst 50’s in the history of the contest.

On Howard's first dunk, he had five attempts and thus definitely didn’t deserve a 50.  Even if Dwight Howard had made his dunk on his first attempt, he still wouldn't have deserved a 50.  It no doubt would have been a nice dunk, but a score of 50 should be only saved for the best dunks.

His second dunk might have been the most over-hyped dunk ever.  Before the dunk, he brought in a toll booth, changed into his superman outfit, and had a 12 foot hoop brought onto the court. The stage was set for Howard to wow the fans.

Everybody in the stands was on there feet expecting him to do do something amazing. Instead Dwight Howard baby dunked the ball. If Dwight Howard's plan was just to baby dunk it, he should have raised the hoop even more.

The Judges clearly let Howard's hype and popularity get to them and ruined this year's dunk contest because of it.

1. The Entire Contest

I wrote about a month ago that this upcoming dunk contest could be the worst ever. Well, this past contest was so bad, that I think the NBA should consider removing it.

The only good thing to come out of this year's contest is that it was so bad that it might have inspired LeBron James to compete next year. 

While being interviewed by a sideline reporter, James said "Right now, I'm preliminarily putting my name in the 2010 contest Saturday night."

If that's the case, I may have to reconsider whether I want the NBA taking away the contest.

Brought to you by TheSportingTruth.com