The Prime of the Dunk Competition

 As a child, I was blessed that I got to experience some of the greatest Dunk Competition competitions that were so good, I don't feel too bad not watching them anymore. The dunk competition is so amazing because these players do not have to be the best players, but players that can make the 3-4 best dunks and see if their scoring will get them to win it all. Here are a couple of my favorite years I got to watch in my childhood. 

My first real year I started watching it as a child was when I saw this 5 foot 9 basketball player making these absolutely insane dunks. This little guy, before he was getting into boxing fights, was playing for the New York Knicks where he played pretty well, but his top success is the dunk competition. He is a 3 time champion where he is always got the fans onto his feet. Some of the players they went against were pretty good, but nothing was better to watch Nate Robinson to compete against Dwight Howard. My 8 year old self was getting to experience every Saturday Night seeing a 5'9 and a 6'10 players try to out beat each other with the most creative dunks as possible. There has been a lot of rivalries, this one is a great one with total opposites playing. 

This player... has been one of my favorite players of all time, and it is mainly because of the dunk competition where he always showed his best. At one point, my young self thought he had the highest vertical of all time because the things he was doing, I have never seen before. The windmills, jumping over people, then he did the impossible. I am sitting on the floor, watching the game, and I say to myself, "Why is there a cupcake on the rim?" I then see one of the coolest dunks of all time where Gerald Green jumps so high in the air that he is able to blow the candle out which was on the rim, then be able to dunk the ball. My jaw was dropped, I stood up and started clapping. Nothing can top that creativeness in a dunk. 

There were then a couple of years of average dunkers with come creative dunks. Blake Griffin dunking over a car with a choir was pretty cool, a couple of players dunking with 2 balls at once, a couple of dunks jumping over people, nothing too crazy. But then in the year 2016, some people say that is the greatest dunk competition of all time. 

Yes, there may have been bigger dunk competitions with higher famous players like the one with Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins, but nobody can convince me there was a better overall competition than this one. These two players have had successful careers, dominating in their college careers and in their NBA careers as well. They can make their mid range shots, they can play defense, but dunking is their main go. This dunk competition was filled with 50 scores and jumping farther than I have ever seen before. Zach Levine dunking from the free throw line and also going between the legs from the free throw line to Aaron Gordon jumping over a mascot and a dunk with the ball under his legs. It was truly amazing and a must watch. 

Unfortunately, there has not been a competition like that one and I do not know if there will be one like that again. I like to think I was lucky enough to experience the prime of the dunk competition, but who knows what the future will hold.