Forgotten Flyers: NBA Rim-Wreckers Who Are Consistently Overlooked

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love dunks.  If you read my Dwight Howard and Jason Maxiell articles, you've probably gathered that.

I consider myself a "Dunk Expert."  If there was a PhD in Dunks, I would easily have one.

Recently, Fox Sports, TNT, and ESPN all compiled their Best Dunkers lists.  I agree with some of their obvious choices, but I feel that some long-time posterizers haven't gotten the credit they deserve. 

So, in this list, I'm focusing on the Forgotten Flyers.
 

1) Desmond Mason

For some reason, the list-makers sleep on Dez.  I mean, the guy won a dunk contest, for God's sake—you'd think they'd know who he is.  Mason has been crackin' tin since he broke in with the Sonics.
 
Just look at what he did in the dunk contests: 2001's left-handed leaner off of two feet, with his back foot on the free throw line?!  Then, in 2002—in a questionable loss to Jason Richardson—the off-two-feet, through-the-legs leaner from straight on!
 
Just ask Lamond Murray if Dez should make the list.  He got postered by a humongous right-handed arena-crumbler on a backdoor cut a few years ago.
 
And to top it all off, the windmill he dropped in a game against Charlotte two years ago...oh. my. LORD.  First of all, Mason started from a drop step, then brought the ball all the way up and all the way down before killing the rim off.  Enough said.
 

2) Baron Davis

While some of his individual dunks have made Top-10s—for example, the right-handed leaner over Jermaine O'Neal that caused the broadcaster to exclaim, "That's ya family, that's on ya family!"—BD doesn't get much love on the overall lists.  For some reason, Steve Francis always gets undeservedly ranked ahead of him.

I've been watching him defy gravity since his early days at UCLA, when Earl Watson left the ball off the glass and Baron crushed it over a 6'10" dude.  Baron has postered a ton of big guys—KG, Dale Davis, and Andrei Kirilenko to name a few.
 
The crazy thing about Davis is that not only did he tear his ACL in college, but his body type shouldn't yield this much levitation.  He's a stocky, 6'2" point guard, yet he can punish rims in traffic!  Check out a YouTube video of his UCLA days to see some outrageous, almost-inhuman stuff.
 

3) Stromile Swift

This guy is a straight freak!  Someone took the time to create a Top 100 Blocks and Dunks for Swift- it's on youtube, and it will blow your mind.  The Stro' Show has been a poster-assembly line ever since his freshman season at LSU.  

His combination of 6'9" height, a 12-foot wingspan, and a huge vertical allow him to pump on anyone and everyone—just ask Yao Ming.  If you haven't seen the dunk where Stro just dribbles down the lane, acting like Yao isn't even there, then violently thunders a two-hander over the entire population of Asia, get on that. 

That dunk should definitely be Top 10 of all-time, but instead, these "listmakers" whack it to Chris Webber's behind-the-back dunk on Barkley.  Give the Stro' Show some love!
 

4) Jason Richardson

The two-time dunk champ doesn't seem to get the recognition he deserves.

Starting at Michigan State, where he caught a blocked shot and reverse dunk-tipped it against Arizona, J-Rich has been levitating over everyone for years.

His windmills and 360s off of fast breaks have been all over Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays for the better part of a decade.
 

5) Ricky Davis

This guy has been doing nasty sh*t his entire career.  All kinds of posters, trick dunks in games, and sweet alley-oops all over the place.  People forget he was involved in the Carter-McGrady-Francis dunk contest, in which he pulled off a between-the-legs reverse dunk. 

Ricky D can jump out of the galaxy—and if need be, over top of human beings.  He rubs people the wrong way with his sh*t-talking and that cheap triple-double, but there is no denying his skywalking ability.
 

These are the five guys who get overlooked the most, and it needs to stop!  Who else do you think should get more love?