Doubt Mason Plumlee's 2015 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Chances at Your Own Peril
The NBA majority doesn't seem too excited about Mason Plumlee participating in the Slam Dunk Contest, but that shouldn't be the case.
The 24-year-old will join Zach LaVine, Victor Oladipo and Giannis Antetokounmpo to complete the foursome of players trying to leap through the roof of the Barclays Center next Saturday. Plumlee has almost gained a reputation of sneaking into basketball areas that weren't actually earned, a lingering standing after he conspicuously made it onto Team USA's World Cup roster over the summer. But this time, it's different.
The Brooklyn Nets center can throw down. People just don't pay attention to it.
Look, there's a certain bias we have against guys like Plumlee.
Can I say that? "Guys like Plumlee?" Is that obvious enough? It certainly doesn't seem like he can get up there...until you watch him play, of course. That's when you see Mase can soar.
He's dunked on guys:
Near guys:
Through guys:
Over guys:
Most importantly—since in-game dunking is so different than open-court, contest dunking—he's done it with no guys at all:
And Plumlee gets creative, too.
It's not like the Nets center—whose 86 dunks are the fifth-most in the NBA, by the by—hasn't been in a dunk contest before, and he's been creative in them, too.
It may have been a long time ago, but Plumlee was part of the McDonald's All-American Dunk Contest back in 2009, and he actually showed off some creativity by slamming in alley-oops, following up on one-handed three-point makes and even going with a three-ball dunk. Yep, he put three balls in the hoop at once.
Plumlee is one to mess around after practice, too. From Brian Lewis of the New York Post:
"Back in high school he high jumped 6 feet, 8 inches and finished second in the McDonald’s All-American Jam Fest, reportedly the first to dunk three balls at the same time. His transition dunk Saturday against Washington was NBA.com’s Dunk of the Night, and at Monday’s practice he elevated and dunked over Jerome Jordan.
All seven feet of him.
"
That's what dunkers do. They kill the self-esteem of others, even their own teammates when they feel like it.
“No, not for the dunk contest. I was just having fun,’’ Plumlee said on if his slam over Jordan was practice for All-Star weekend, via Lewis. “[Jordan] said, ‘You can’t dunk over me.’ Tiny, the guy that helps us out, I said, ‘If I dunk over Tiny, you got to let me dunk over you.’ ’’
Let's be real for a second: Plumlee isn't going to be the favorite, nor should he be. When Zach LaVine is around, everyone else falls in line behind him. And no, that's not sarcasm. You can now watch the following GIF 400 times in a row.
I assume you spent the last hour repeatedly staring at that dunk. It's impossible not to fixate on LaVine. He's the one who's supposed to win, but Plumlee is going to put up a fight.
It's clearly a matter of personal preference, but crazy-athletic big men can sometimes put on the best shows at All-Star weekend (see: Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, JaVale McGee). Plumlee could show off some of the pizzazz those guys did, and if he does, he'll leave plenty of people surprised even if that shouldn't be the case.
Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade but maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work on ESPN's TrueHoop Network at ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of Feb. 8 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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