NBA: Ranking the 50 Sickest Dunks from 2011

With just a few weeks left in the year and only six days worth of basketball yet to be played on the professional level, I thought today was as good a time as any to take a look back in the year that was in the NBA and the league's players' various endeavors.

What I wanted to do specifically was look back at the myriad of dunks that took place over the past 365-ish days and pluck out the 50 best.

That includes half an NBA season, a dunk contest, the playoffs, all the Summer League action, charity games and even a few looks into the near future with a preseason dunk here and there.

So let's take a look at what happened this year, going back over the past 11 and a half months and see the rim-rattlingest throwdowns of the past year.

A final word of warning: Prepare to see Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose...a lot.

Bonus: Andray Blatche, You so Crazy.

One of my favorite players in the league (favorite because he's not on my team) is Andray Blatche.

It's been a long time since I've seen a player make as many brain-farts per minute as Blatche.

Here we see Blatche going up for a dunk, and at some point mid-dunk he just loses it, the ball goes up over the rim and he just catches it and comes back down with it.

That, Andray Blatche, gives you the best non-dunk of the year.

50. LeBron Does It Twice

Let's start out with a mainstay in the "Best Dunks" category over the majority of the past decade.

Here we have LeBron James with back-to-back dunks, both of which are his patented breakaways that get him on the highlight reel and the SportsCenter Top 10 more often than not.

49. Udonis Haslem Throws Down on Bogans

Ahhh, yet another dunk from the Miami Heat, which is something you should get used to seeing.

This particular dunk comes from an outside member of the Big Three in the Eastern Conference Finals. Udonis Haslem, who had just blocked Derrick Rose on the defensive end, gets the pass on offense and throws down a vicious dunk on Keith Bogans.

48. Oh Yea, Ron Artest Can Dunk

It's been a while since I can remember seeing a Ron Artest dunk that was noteworthy enough to put in any kind of list.

Well, this one is just good enough to make me take notice.

Here Ron Artest starts out in the corner, takes Chris Kaman to fat camp and goes up and under the rim and has a nice little throwdown.

The little prance-and-flex at the end just puts the "Ron Artest Seal of Approval" on the whole thing.

47. Chris Bosh Does It Right

Good golly, Miss Molly, this Heat-Bulls series contained more highlight-reel dunks per minute than any other series in NBA history. While I can't know that for sure, you'll be agreeing with me by the end of this slideshow that it was definitely a good series for dunks.

Let's start it off with Chris Bosh getting a smooth pass from LeBron James and then taking advantage of poor weak-side defense from Carlos Boozer and putting the ball down in his mug.

46. Ray Allen Can Jump?

Even more bamboozling than Ron Artest putting up a highlight reel-worthy dunk is Ray Allen doing so.

The then-35-year-old gets the ball streaking along the baseline from Kevin Garnett and puts one in on Chris Bosh, dangling from the rim in joy as he gets his two points.

45. J-Rich Rolls It Back

Let's go in the wayback machine, shall we? All the way back to a time when Jason Richardson could do things like bring down the house.

Well, this isn't a dunk that's going to stop all the action, but it was a great combination of timing, leaping ability and a great reach to get up and grab that ball to put it home.

44. Get Us Going, John Wall

The first dunk that I've seen in any sort of NBA competition since the Finals that made me make a noise came from the young John Wall in a preseason game a few days ago. I thought it was good enough to put in this list.

Wall blows by his man on the three-point line, raises up and throws down a dunk with power with the right hand.

I'm ready for the season to start up now.

43. He Did Jump a Car

I'm not a huge fan of the theatrics surrounding the Slam Dunk Contest these days, so like most people around the Internet, I'm not a huge fan of Blake Griffin's final dunk from this year's contest.

In reality, if you take the car away it's probably the second worst dunk of the night, as all he really does is jump from the bottom of the free throw circle and lifts his legs up.

However, it was a memorable dunk, and for Pete's sake, he did jump over a car.

42. Derrick Rose Blows by Everybody

A game early in the year pitted Derrick Rose against the pre-Carmelo Knicks, so you know there was some dunking going on.

Rose blows by a distracted Toney Douglas and then throws down a two-handed slam on Danilo Gallinari's head.

41. LeBron Puts It Back

LeBron James shows off his offensive rebounding chops in this clip, and just for good measure, he adds a little bit of a dunking clinic on top of that.

Early on in the series, LeBron played like LeBron has always played, as shown in this clip as he gets eye-level with the rim, grabs the board and slams it home with both hands.

40. Wants It, Gets It, Slams It

You know when you're concerned about bumping your chin on the rim on way down from a dunk that you're pretty high up there.

Blake Griffin calls for the alley-oop from Baron Davis here and gets so high up that he could bonk his adam's apple on the rim on the way up and rips the ball down through the twine.

39. No Defense, but I'm Not Complaining

Here we have a LeBron highlight from some Summer League action, something I feel like we should have seen a lot more of.

Still, this is classic LeBron. Usually he comes from the baseline or the wing with this move, though.

Here, with the lack of defense, he's able to streak through the lane and power down a thunderous windmill.

38. Skyenga Goes Highenga

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to see a whole lot of this young man, who is shown here dunking over Pau Gasol for four reasons.

First, this kid can leap like a frog; he can dunk from anywhere. Second, Fred McLeod makes everything he does seem at least nine times more exciting. Third, he's going to get a ton more playing time this year. And fourth, he's like a gift from the heavens to SportsCenter writers looking to go crazy with nicknames.

Enjoy this fellow, folks.

37. Sorry, Gary Neal

Tyreke Evans has been a fun player to watch over in Sacramento over the past two seasons, and he's going to be a part of the future for that team. Here's a big reason for both of those things.

Evans gets the ball on a breakaway here in a game against the Spurs, takes off from the bottom of the free-throw circle, puts a hip into a leaping Gary Neal and delivers the thunder and lightning into the hoop.

36. Oh, the Body Control

One thing that makes Derrick Rose's dunks just look so much better is that way he's able to twist and contort his body as he is in mid-air to get where he needs to be. It's a bit like how Steve Nash leans the slightest bit to the left or right so he can get the perfect passing lane to get his teammate the ball.

Here, Rose breaks down his man like he's a child, slips through the lane, leaps and encounters Joel Anthony at the rim. Instead of trying to go through him, he just leans a bit to the right and goes around him. 

Beautiful.

35. The Pass or the Dunk?

I've had a mental debate with myself for about five minutes over this dunk (yes, this is how I spend my life, don't judge).

On the one hand, Stephen Curry tosses the ball some 75 feet perfectly to Dorell Wright for the dunk. On the other hand, Wright places himself at the perfect position to catch the ball backward and still know where the hoop is to put the ball in the basket.

This is why I'll never be in the NBA, ladies and gentlemen. Not because I can barely touch the rim, but because I could never fathom having this much body control. I'm like a 6'2" Shawn Bradley late in his career, people.

34. Excuse Me, Dirk

Who said the Clippers lost their alley-oop man when they traded away Baron Davis? Mo Williams tosses a nice oop himself right here.

Williams streaks along the baseline and sees just enough space to toss the ball up in front of the rim. DeAndre Jordan then goes up and throws down a dunk over Dirk Nowitzki.

33 Blake Smash!

Let's give Blake Griffin a little more love, shall we?

After a few technical fouls late in a game with the Heat (as Baron Davis becomes the voice of reason), Blake Griffin is out for revenge.

Griffin gets a pass from Davis on the weak side, ducks under a leaping Wade and double clutches the ball before he slams it down with all of his might.

32. Little Man Gets Up

Everyone loves to see a little man get up; it's a huge part of the reason why Nate Robinson has three Slam Dunk Championships to his name.

That's why when Rodney Stuckey gets up like he does here and puts the baby to bed on Chris Bosh's head, people got up out of their seats and yelled.

31. Ian Mahinmi, Meet Poster

This, my friends, is the classic LeBron James poster dunk.

He streaks into the lane at Ian Mahinmi, goes a bit to the right, raises up and throws his arm up high with that slight wrist cock so it looks like a cobra ready to strike. Then he just slams the ball down on his victim, allowing the poison of a posterization to just sink in.

30. Dwight, That Was Kind of Mean, but Awesome

Oh what it must be like to be a 7', 260-pound conqueror of nature like Dwight Howard.

Howard uses his amazing strength to just bully Omer Asik too far under the basket to do anything about Howard dunking on his face.

29. Kobe Gets It Done

Sometimes I forget how athletic and how great a dunker Kobe once was, and then I see him do things like this and it all comes rushing back to me.

Here we see Kobe take the ball from the wing and just make a man out of Carl Landry, who gives a half-assed swat at the ball as Kobe comes streaking by him.

The crazy thing is that this wasn't even Kobe's best dunk of the game.

28. DeMar DeRozan DeRails DeJazz

In this particular clip you'll see DeMar DeRozan spinning viciously through the lane, rising up and slamming it home on two Jazz players.

The thing that makes it impressive to me is the spin move that got him space. If I were to attempt a move like that, first of all I would probably lose the ball. Second, I would have no clue where I was in relation to the hoop after spinning.

27. How He Do That?

Usually I wasn't a fan of the charity game dunks because they came when nobody was even thinking about playing defense. They were dunk contest slams with less heart.

However, this piece of work from John Wall had me singing his praises for days.

It's hard enough to switch hands during a layup, or even a dunk for that matter, but John Wall goes from his left to his right behind his back and slams it down.

26. Slam It, Shannon!

We can't very well talk about people dunking and not talk about Shannon Brown now, can we?

Something about the way he pulls off this dunk is just beautiful. It's not easy to pull of a switch in mid-air, but Shannon Brown makes it look as easy as baseball players make nabbing a sharp ground ball look.

25. Tri-Ballin'

With a little help from John Wall in this year's dunk contest, JaVale McGee was able to up the ante on the old classic two-ball dunk by putting in three balls.

He took off with two in hand as Wall tossed up a third ball, dunked the two in his hands before the third ball got to him, grabbed the third ball and slammed it home.

24. How Chandler Scores 75 Percent of the Time

What we have here is the classic move by Tyson Chandler with all the more emphasis and excitement that comes from it happening in the NBA Finals.

After Dirk Nowitzki misses a long jumper, Chandler streaks through the lane, grabs the ball and rattles the rim with his power.

The best part about it? Chris Bosh timidly standing on the weak side, raising an arm like he was going for the rebound, but staying out of the way so he doesn't get run over.

23. Don't Even Try, Dragic

Derrick Rose and the new breed of uber-athletic point guards is great for the NBA, but it's not so great for the guys in the NBA like Goran Dragic who have to defend them.

Rose can get up so high that in a situation like this, Dragic should just let him go ahead and dunk, rather than putting a hand up and getting put on a poster.

22. A Serge of Athleticism

For some reason, a free-throw line dunk doesn't get as much love as it once did. People want props like cars, extra basketballs or extra hoops to really get excited, but I think these people are forgetting something.

This dude is dunking from the freaking free-throw line, people.

A reaction of, "Wow, that's pretty good," is unacceptable. That dunk was terrific.

21. Al Thornton-Tastic

Not only did I not think Al Thornton could still jump this high, I didn't think that Zaza Pachulia was capable of getting dunked on this hard anymore.

Thornton catches a pass from Kirk Hinrich and reminds Zaza Pachulia that his name is Zaza Pachulia.

20. Blake-Sanity

Here you have the best dunk that Blake put up in the dunk contest this year.

Griffin collects an alley-oop off the backboard with his momentum carrying him in the opposite direction of the basket and he channels his inner Vince Carter to put the ball in the hoop and hang on it by his elbow.

19. Kevin Durant, Man of Summer

Apparently, the more amazing a dunk you did in these Summer League games, the more people flooded on the court after you did it, which is why Durant got mobbed after his fourth straight three in the now-legendary Rucker Park game.

I feel like that would be an appropriate addition to NBA games. Get a group of hardcore, hometown fans to sit up close, or possibly just chill in the tunnel for the game, and then whenever the other team calls a timeout to kill the momentum from something that a home team player just did, have them mob him and pat him on the head like a white family patting the belly of a Buddha statue at a chinese restaurant.

18. Two Hoops

As far as gimmicky dunks go from this year's dunk contest, this was the best one.

JaVale McGee uses his best weapon, his wingspan, to give the people a show with this dunk.

He takes off from the left side with two balls, throws one off one backboard, leaps, catches it, dunks the ball in his left hand in the left hoop and the one in his right hand in the right hoop.

17. Reach Back, Slam Home, Repeat

There isn't a rim Blake Griffin has met that he wouldn't like to dunk on. Some are just more privileged than others and get the joy of being dunked on by an artist such as Griffin.

Here Griffin hones in on a stray shot, goes up and grabs it as it sails behind his head and then wrenches his arm in the other direction to put it in the pie tin.

16. Reach and Teach, Young Man

The 2011 Eastern Conference Finals will be remembered for two things: the Heat winning to go to the Finals and Taj Gibson showing the world he can dunk.

This was his second-best dunk of the series, and that's saying something, considering how good this one is.

The distance Gibson has to reach back just to nab the rebound on this one is insane and then he goes and slams it down with emphasis.

15. Just Move, Jon Brockman, Just Move

Here we see DeAndre Jordan getting a lob from Eric Bledsoe with nobody guarding him.

Naturally, Jon Brockman does what any big white dude in the NBA would and steps forward trying to do something, but ends up getting put on a poster instead.

Jordan then steamrolls Brockman, knocking him on his backside and nearly punching him in the head in celebration.

14. Brandon, That's Too Much

This is another game from over the Summer, this one from the Melo Center in Baltimore in which Brandon Jennings alley-oops to himself off the backboard and sends the crowd into a frenzy.

The best part? It has to be the middle-aged white dude at 11 seconds in who can be seen for a half a second just fist-pumping the whole time.

13. Can't Get Enough

Because we can't get enough Blake Griffin here in America, here's another dunk by the big guy from Oklahoma.

Randy Foye passes the ball about 75 feet down the court, delivering it into the waiting hands of Blake Griffin, who plops it right in the hoop.

12. Kevin Durant Gets Up

The Western Conference Finals were almost as dunk-happy as the Eastern Conference Finals, and this was the top dunk to come from that series.

Kevin Durant completely blows by Peja Stojakovic—which completely ruins Stojakovic's reputation as an elite defender in the NBA—raises to about nose-level with the rim and takes a two-handed shove from Kendrick Perkins as he slams it home over his head.

11. Streeeeetch

I'm not sure which part of this dunk I like more, the fact that Ben Wallace deserves the assist or the fact that Amar'e's arm had to stretch at least an inch longer than it's used to to throw this one down.

It looks like we may have had the controversial "Thrunk", but I think his finger just did graze the rim as his arm was swinging downward.

10. Thank God for the Drew League

Over the Summer, the only thing us hoops fanatics had to rely on for entertainment in terms of basketball was various clips coming from Summer League games, and most of them came straight from The Drew League.

This dude, who's name is Tim Trew, gets so high that he jumps over his defender. I guess you couldn't say he dunked on him because he was behind him once the dunk was done, but man, that's gotta be embarrassing.

This particular clip isn't an NBA player, but he is dunking on Sacramento's Pooh Jeter, so I figured I'd put it in here for you guys to enjoy.

9. Kobe of Old

While the Lakers had a hard time with the Hornets in the playoffs, Kobe Bryant did things that Kobe Bryant has always done throughout his career.

Kobe raises up here and drops some right-handed truth down on Emeka Okafor.

8. Derrick Rose Continues to Impress

More than anything, this is just a well-run fast break.

Ronnie Brewer makes like he's streaking right to the hoop, even leaping like he's taking the shot, but at the last second he flicks the ball over to a streaking Derrick Rose for an alley-oop. Rose then gets the ball, reaches back and slams it home.

7. Durant Ignores Physics

Oh how nice it must be to have arms that long.

Here we have what might be the best dunk from Summer League action from any NBA player as he comes down the court with mild defense threatening him (this is slightly more than Charity Game Defense), tosses the ball up off the backboard from the left side of the lane, floats to the right side and throws it down with all of his momentum traveling in the opposite direction.

That's scary good there, Durant.

6. Dwight, That's How You Dunk

You know when it looks like a seven-footer jumped high that he really, really jumped high.

Here we see a ferocious Dwight Howard follow Jameer Nelson on a breakaway, glare at the rim and make it quiver and then snatch the ball out of midair to abuse the rim as he throws the ball down on Jrue Holiday's head.

5. Boy's Got Control

Why not check in on Shannon Brown again, eh? I'm sure he's got something else worth watching from the past calendar year.

What looks like a pretty good alley-oop upon first glance turns into a monster of a jam with a second look.

Steve Blake's pass is way off the mark to Shannon Brown, so Brown has to reach way back behind his head to grab this one and pull it forward and slam it home before he passes underneath the rim. He kind of looks like a guy trying to regain his balance while slipping on a sheet of ice.

4. Dwight Can't Stop Dunking

I call this particular dunk the "Pac-Man Slam."

Here we see Mr. Dwight Howard—who has made quite a number of appearances on this list thus far, by the way—go up to grab an alley-oop from Jameer Nelson, only the ball is behind his head.

Still, he grabs it about a foot behind his head and contorts his body so that it looks like a Pac-Man chomping up a cherry when he dunks the ball.

3. Dwayne Goes Way Back and Way Forward

Everything about what Dwyane Wade does to get this dunk off is just downright impressive.

Not only does he shake off James Harden, but he spins around and away from Serge Ibaka and then bends back as far as he could to emphasize how long he was in the air, dunking on Kendrick Perkins.

The people that showed up before halftime in Miami really seemed to like the dunk (zing!).

2. The Showstopper

This was the most under-appreciated dunk in this year's dunk contest by the most under-appreciated dunk contest participant of all time. It's one you have to see the subtle nuances of to really appreciate. 

He catches his own alley-oop off the ground with one hand, goes up and under the hoop and slams it home while avoiding hitting his head on the rim while moving in the opposite direction.

1. Taj Gibson Don't Care

For my money, this is the dunk of the playoffs right here.

Taj Gibson gets the ball on a fast break and leisurely runs into the lane and takes off in the middle of the paint. Dwyane Wade, once firmly planted inside the restricted zone, realizes there's nothing he can do, so he tries to go up and stop the dunk, but he doesn't.

Instead, Gibson casually takes a hand to the face and all of Wade's body contact and keeps control of himself and the ball and dunks it hard on Wade.

Put that one in the vault folks, it's a dunk for the ages.

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