NBA Slam Dunk Contest 2015: Grading Every Dunk and Every Participant

The folks at Barclays Center in Brooklyn were treated to the "Zach LaVine Show" during the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night.

The rookie out of UCLA dominated the competition from start to finish. LaVine, a Seattle native, scored perfect 50s on both of his opening-round slams before dominating Orlando's Victor Oladipo for the championship, 94-72. In doing so, LaVine, 19, became the second-youngest dunk champion in NBA history and the first Minnesota Timberwolves player to triumph since Isaiah Rider took home the trophy in 1994.

LaVine, though, wasn't the only talented youngster to bring down the house. Oladipo, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brooklyn's own Mason Plumlee had their own shining moments in the Big Apple.

The star-studded New York City-based panel of Bernard King, Nate Archibald, Chris Mullin, Walt Frazier and Julius Erving offered scores on a zero-to-50 scale. We here at Bleacher Report prefer handing out letters, grade-school style—which we did for each of the evening's 12 dunks, completed and otherwise, based on creativity, sheer-awe inspiration and, of course, success.

Mason Plumlee, Round 1, Dunk 1

Mason Plumlee summoned his Duke connection with Kyrie Irving for an alley-oop off the side of the backboard, finished off with a reverse two-handed jam. Plumlee's spectacular slam, while failing to roust the hometown Brooklyn Nets crowd to its feet, was still a feat to behold, especially from a near-7-footer.

The legendary judges awarded Plumlee a 40 for his efforts, but it gets a B+ from us.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Round 1, Dunk 1

Giannis Antetokounmpo's first go-around in the Slam Dunk Contest had all of the sizzle that the dunk contest entails.

The giant Greek flag. The women in togas. The leaf fans. The high bounce and the seemingly even higher catch.

What it missed, though, was the steak of, well, actually flushing the ball home. For that, the Greek Freak could do no better than a 30 from the judges (i.e., a maximum score of six per judge). We'll go a bit easier on him with a B-.

Victor Oladipo, Round 1, Dunk 1

Victor Oladipo's Frank Sinatra may have been a bit off-key, but his "New York, New York" dunk hit all the right notes.

The second-year guard for the Orlando Magic, who participated in last year's dunk contest, took three tries to pull off an incredible baseline 540-degree spin into a reverse jam. The judges rightfully awarded the former Indiana Hoosier a perfect 50—a score Old Blue Eyes would've surely matched with an A+ of his own.

Zach LaVine, Round 1, Dunk 1

Fortunately for the folks at Barclays Center and those enjoying at home, Zach LaVine let someone else do the singing—or, rather, rapping—for his introduction.

LaVine was first inspired to play basketball after watching Space Jam as a toddler. In an homage to his basketball-origin story, LaVine came out to the Quad City DJ's doing the Space Jam theme, with a Toon Squad No. 23 Jordan jersey on his back to up the ante.

Somehow, LaVine didn't just live up to that hype, he overshot it considerably—in his first dunk, on his first attempt! LaVine tossed the ball up high, caught it on a bounce and went through his legs for a windmill slam behind his head.

Not surprisingly, the judges, swayed partly by the raucous reaction of the arena, gave LaVine a 50. We'll do them one better and award LaVine an A++.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Round 1, Dunk 2

For his second act, Giannis enlisted the help of his brother, New York Knicks D-Leaguer Thanasis Antetokounmpo, for a solid, successful slam.

With his brother jogging the baseline, Giannis caught a soft lob from Thanasis, pumped down below his waist and used his incredible length to finish behind his head. That completion helped Antetokounmpo up his score to 35, for a first-round total of 60 and nab a B+ from B/R.

Mason Plumlee, Round 1, Dunk 2

Like Giannis before him, Mason Plumlee turned to his brother, Phoenix Suns center Miles Plumlee, for an assist, albeit after trying something trickier to start.

The Brooklyn Nets big man began by tossing the ball from behind the backboard, running from the baseline to catch the ball and spin around in mid-air for the one-handed reaching jam.

Apparently, two unsuccessful attempts at that were enough to steer Plumlee's thinking elsewhere. For his third and final try, Mason brought Miles in for a classic jump-over-your-almost-nearly-seven-foot-brother dunk. 

The judges gave Plumlee a 36, for a total first-round score of 76. Plumlee's feat of flight, while impressive, came with the aide of a hand on his brother's back, bringing him to a B-.

Victor Oladipo, Round 1, Dunk 2

Oladipo exchanged his classy threads and iffy pipes for an assist from his teammate, Magic rookie point guard Elfrid Payton.

But before Oladipo took flight, he stole a moment to get an autograph from Hakeem Olajuwon. As it happens, The Dream was (and is) a favorite of Oladipo's mother, who also hails from Nigeria.

Better yet, 'Dipo made good use of that autographed ball. He had Payton lob it off the side of the backboard, affording Oladipo to catch it—mid-air, mid-360-spin—and throw it down with his right hand.

The judges docked the dunk a bit for the lack of authority on the finish, but they still gave Oladipo a 39. His first-round score of 89 was good enough to secure a spot in the championship.

And the dunk itself, from us, gets an A-.

Zach LaVine, Round 1, Dunk 2

By the time he came up for his second dunk, LaVine needed only a 26 to guarantee a shot at his first dunk title in as many tries.

LaVine, though, didn't leave anything to chance. To close out the first round, LaVine bounced the ball off the floor, caught it in flight, went behind his back and flushed it through...with room to spare in his jump.

The judges gave him a 50, and we'd tend to agree—another A++ for the Pacific Northwesterner.

Victor Oladipo, Championship Round, Dunk 1

For his first dunk of the final, Oladipo once against enlisted Payton's help, though without the same success.

Not that Elfrid was at all at fault. He was seated the whole time, holding the ball over his head. 'Dipo did well to grab it from his backcourt buddy each of the three times, but he could never quite get the rock up and over the rim.

The judges scored Oladipo with a 31. The effort was there, but without the finish in the final, it's tough to give him anything better than a C+.

Zach LaVine, Championship Round, Dunk 1

Andrew Wiggins, LaVine's assistant for his first championship dunk, has the hops and the agility to win this competition, should he choose to enter it at some point in the future.

On this night, though, Wiggins, the Rookie of the Year favorite, needed only to hold the ball aloft and let his teammate do the heavy lifting. LaVine soared in from the baseline to grab the ball from Wiggins before switching the ball from his right hand to his left—between his legs, no less—and finishing with his weaker hand.

That was more than enough to garner a 45 from the judges, and it's no worse than a standard A from us.

Victor Oladipo, Championship Round, Dunk 2

To catch up to LaVine after a poor opening salvo in the championship round, Oladipo attempted to up the ante with a one-handed 360-degree dunk off a tall toss. But after three poor passes, Oladipo went to plan B: letting his point guard handle the ball.

That worked out much better for Oladipo. Payton left him a lovely lob off the back of the glass, which Oladipo caught from behind and finished in front of the backcourt with a right-handed windmill.

The judges, perhaps not so pleased by Oladipo resorting to a backup, gave him a 41. We'll be slightly more charitable with an A-.

Zach LaVine, Championship Round, Dunk 2

For his last trick, LaVine brought in another "Baby Wolf," fellow Bruin Shabazz Muhammad, for the assist.

LaVine did most of the work, of course, putting the pass between his legs for a right-handed dunk that, while not perfect, still got him a 49 from the judges. We'll go ahead and round that up to an A+ anyway.

Dunker Grades

Zach LaVine: A++

I'd go with more pluses, but that would just be silly.

But not quite as silly as LaVine's hops or the smoothness of his movements...or the sheer creativity that he brought to the table.

Aside from all of that, what really set LaVine apart from and above the competition was just how easy he made it all look.

No plan B's. No waiting through miss after miss. Just pure, unadulterated magic in motion.

Victor Oladipo: A-

'Dipo gets an "A+" for creativity but a demerit for execution. It's all well and good to have great ideas; you're not going to win without flair and imagination.

But there's no ignoring the misses and the backups, even if the intentions were grand for the former and the execution improved for the latter.

Mason Plumlee: B

It's always extra impressive to see someone as big as Mason Plumlee do the sorts of things that he was able to pull off. Had he managed to dunk without so many misfires and/or without going to his second-string idea, he may well have had a shot at advancing.

Giannis Antetokounmpo: B-

As much as I love watching Antetokounmpo do things on a basketball court, his misfires sapped his performance of some of their erstwhile charm.

Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.

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