The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is in the books and now people are bitching about the format, players and just about everything else related to it because the event wasn’t particularly memorable. This happens every season when the competition is less than stellar. What are we doing here?
In a world where everyone has the memory of a goldfish, that is not surprising. But it is still damn annoying. The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is no different from any other annual sporting event. It’s great in some years, terrible in others and average on occasion as well.
The same can be said about the NBA Finals, Super Bowl, World Cup or literally anything else. As awesome as Super Bowl LVI was, the preceding three games sucked butt. That’s life. There is no need to revamp something because of a down year.
However, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest is different. If it’s bad, the public complains incessantly. The minute this year’s event was over, people were already firing off articles about how the competition needs to be changed.
By the way, those bitching should really be careful what they wish for. Every change to the NBA Slam Dunk Contest format has been a significant downgrade. Have we all forgot about the farcical 2014 edition where no one seemed to understand the rules? Or what about letting fans vote on the winner? Things can get much, much worse.
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Commentators Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith and Dwyane Wade dumping all over this year’s dunk contest on the TV broadcast certainly didn’t help matters. Sure, this year sucked. But no one was complaining about things in 2018 or 2020.
If Twitter must bitch about the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, let’s focus on a real issue. Scoring is fucking stupid. How can a player miss his attempt and still receive a score of 60? This is utterly ridiculous.
Someone could go out, brick three jumpers and still receive a 60. Why even bother having scores below this? Just rate dunks on a 1-4 scale since that is what’s actually happening. Or let judges score them accordingly. If a player can’t make a dunk, he deserves a zero.
At the end of the day, it is simply the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. There is no need to make a big fuss or demand changes. Let’s appreciate the awesome moments when we get them and quickly forget the bad years like we do with every other dour sporting event.
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