End Of NBA Dunk Contest? Here's How To Make It Better.

The NBA All-Star Weekend has been one of my favorite weekends. It is much better than the NFL, MLB and NHL. I think it succeeds is because of the preceding night before the actual game. All Star Saturday night seems to outshine the game simply because of the anticipation for the Slam Dunk Contest. But, the slam dunk contest has come under scrutiny for its lack of big name stars and the participants' inability to come through with clean, original and creative dunks.

This year, the highlights were the close, entertaining game and not on the lackluster Saturday night. If you were there, you missed out on the line of the night delivered by Charles Barkley. Prior to the big announcement of the winner, decided by texting, Barkley stated in a low, sarcastic tone, "Maybe nobody won." Albeit a tongue and cheek slam on the lackluster contest, it spoke to the fact that the dunk contest needs a makeover...again.

The NBA has tried to find ways to energize the contest.  The 3 point contest has not significantly changed over the years because of the nature of the contest:  you make shots.  It is entertaining due to the fact that fans can relate to making jumpers and the crowd generally gets into it when a player hits 3, 4, 5...10 in a row (e.g., Craig Hodges).

The dunk contest is different.  Most fans have never dunked.  And, if they have, they cannot fathom any dunk outside of a one hand flush.  The NBA has tried to tweak the event. Less participants, fewer rounds a dunk clock.  It even  retired the dunk contest a couple years due to lack of spark. Last year's contest even seemed like it had a mini-producer.  Think about it, how was it that Nate Robinson had a green jersey, shoes and ball in his gym bag? It was obvious it was to be the foil to Dwight Howard's Superman gimmick.

But, as I was watching as 206's own Nate Robinson won his 3rd dunk title (which is becoming more of a mark of infamy than anything) and saw that The Air Up There (aka Mr. 720) from And 1 Mixtape fame handed him the trophy (TAUT won an "amateur" contest earlier). I came to think that perhaps the likes of TAUT and Team Flight Club entertain the crowd by competing against NBAers on Saturday night.

Certainly, there would be branding issues...and ego issues.  TAUT and TFC could come up with better dunks than what Nate et al. did Saturday night.  Of course, that is what TAUT and TFC do. They don't hit jumpers.  As for branding, the NBA or one of its sponsorship partners would have to step in and sponsor them.  Sprite Slam Dunkers?

The Slam Dunk Competition is spiraling to its end unless something more entertaining is done.  Let's hope some non-NBAers step in.