2000 Oakland Or 2016 Toronto: Which Dunk Contest Was Better?
An in-depth look at two memorable Slam Dunk contests.
The 2016 Slam Dunk Contest Finished Strong… But was it the greatest of all time?
NBA All Star Weekend is in full swing, with Saturday Night being capped off by an epic Slam Dunk Contest showdown between Zach Lavine of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic. But with the dust settled after some electrifying dunks in the final round, was this, the 2016 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest in Toronto a better overall showing than the 2000 NBA.com Slam Dunk Contest in Oakland?
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To give this a fair assessment, we’ll be looking at the field of competition, the dunks, the hype going into each contest, the dunks, the impact of the contests, and the dunks.
The Competitors
We first look at who participated in these contests:
The strength of the competitors field in 2000 alone gives this contest the edge over 2016’s dunkers. The one thing that has been usually consistent in past dunk contests was the star power. Big names drew the big crowds, not just the dunkers themselves. Some of the greatest of all time put their own stamp on the contest like Dr. J and Michael Jordan, while Vince Carter literally brought back the contest and stole the show (more on that, keep reading). What has happened in recent years is a flock of young, talented players enter the dunk contest to showcase their skills, but usually put forward an underwhelming performance.
Such is the case when comparing the two fields here. Vince and T-Mac will one day grace the NBA Hall of Fame. Steve Francis and Jerry Stackhouse are still remembered for their skilled play league wide. The only two players didn’t really have illustrious careers were Ricky Davis and Larry Hughes. Comparatively, while Andre Drummond has the Detroit Pistons in playoff position, sitting a half game back of the 8th playoff seed in the East, Zach Lavine, Aaron Gordon and Will Barton all play for teams with losing records. And outside of Lavine, neither of the remaining two have shown promise to be a future star in the league.
The Hype
Next is the hype going into each dunk contest. Oakland’s 2000 contest had a lot of hype surrounding it, and it wasn’t just because of Carter and McGrady. It was the first dunk contest since 1997, as the NBA removed the contest during the 1998 All Star Weekend and there being no All Star Game during the 1999 Lockout Season. So fans were itching to see some high flying dunks during that weekend. It’s safe to say that after the first round alone, they were not disappointed at all.
Toronto’s 2016 festivities has fans and analysts alike begging for the Three-Point Contest to be the main event over the dunk contest with the former drawing the likes of the Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, as well as James Harden, J.J. Redick and host Kyle Lowry bringing the star power. This year’s dunk contest was almost an afterthought, so it was actually a welcome surprise that Lavine and Gordon delivered on some electrifying dunks. Still, the hype wasn’t initially there and we had to wait for the final round to see the good dunks which was a stark contrast to 2000, where every round and almost every dunk was keeping fans on the edge of their seats.
Also, 2000 had one unique hype advantage that 2016 did not have: YouTube. In 2000, unless you spent countless hours at the playground, chances were that you had never seen any of the dunks or their variations before. All you would have had were Sportscentre highlights for a small sample of what to expect. In this era, all you have to do is type in “Great Dunks” and you’ll be treated to videos upon videos of dunks better than we saw in Toronto.
The Dunks
This is the fun part! I can’t possibly cover every single dunk in both contests, but we’ll look at some of the standouts.
Obviously, in case of 2000 as well as 2016, the crowd came to see one person and one person only, that was Vince Carter and Zach Lavine respectively. However, as far as the 2000 dunk contest was concerned, Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady were no slouches coming into the event. Prior to the 2016 All Star Weekend, the casual NBA fan didn’t really know who Will Barton and Aaron were, and Andre Drummond was just there for show in my opinion. This was the Zach Lavine show, plain and simple.
Here are four of the best dunks from each contest:
Steve Francis: Self Pass Ankle Dunk
At first glance, this dunk doesn’t look all that special. But when you factor in that Francis is 6-foot-2, has small hands, and had to reach back to catch the ball to throw it down in one shot, this dunk ranks as not only one of the best in the 2000 dunk contest, but of all time.
Vince Carter: Reverse 360 Windmill, Honey Dip, East Bay Bounce Pass
Where do I begin? First of all, Vince was the man the fans came to see. Second, all the dunks he threw down were made up almost on the spot.
The Reverse 360 Windmill was his opening dunk, which he threw down very casually. But the dunk was actually more difficult than VC made it appear. To jump the opposing way while doing a windmill is no easy feat and what saved Carter from blowing that dunk were his big hands.
Next, the Honey Dip. To this day, this dunk is highly underrated due to its lack of flashiness. But the crowd response more than made up for that. Vince drives to the hoop and elevates 38 inches off the ground and punches the ball – and his arm! – through the rim. And he hung there. Then walked away while people tried to piece together what just happened. Jaws were on the ground. There were mixed emotions in the arena: shock and awe!
Finally, the dunk that made the whole gym go nuts – The East Bay Off The Bounce Pass from T-Mac. Two spectacular things about this dunk: first, Vince forgot that he had to use a teammate for one of his first round dunks, so he grabbed McGrady at the last minute and told him what he had in mind. Secondly, it was the first time that Vince had ever attempted such a dunk. So when he took the bounce pass from his cousin, put the ball through legs and cranked it, it was the perfect culmination of what the fans had expected. And as TNT analyst Kenny Smith said “It’s over! It’s over ladies and gentlemen!”, Vince said the same exact thing almost in sync and unrehearsed. And it truly was over at that point.
Zach Lavine: East Bay From Inside The Free Throw Line
While this was the winning dunk of this year’s contest, it wasn’t the best in my opinion or that exciting. I’ll give Zach Lavine some credit, as he put his own twist on the classic dunk from the free throw line. But we’ve see far too many variations of this dunk for this to earn a 50, especially since he had a free throw line dunk earlier in the contest. But this was the better looking of the two, and it did get the crowd rocking.
Zach Lavine: Out Of Bounds Lob East Bay Reverse
I would say this was the best of all of Lavine’s jams. Timing is everything as Zach has to catch his pass, put the ball through his legs and finish with the reverse dunk. And I’ll give him bonus points for doing this on the first try! If this was his last dunk, I’d have no problem giving him the win.
Aaron Gordon: Mascot Hover Board Assist Into A Cock Back 360
Up until this point during the 2016 dunk contest, I was very disinterested and was about ready to turn off my TV for the night… Then Gordon steps on the court with the Orlando Magic mascot riding on a hover board. I was naturally intrigued. Then the mascot takes the ball to just inside the foul line and starts spinning! My eyes widen. Finally, Aaron Gordon times the jump perfectly, takes the ball à la Karl Malone, adds a 360 spin and throws it down! I was impressed and fully engaged in the dunk contest at that point. But as great as that dunk was, it was child’s play compared to this one…
Aaron Gordon: Over The Mascot and Under Both Legs
This dunk… wow! How Aaron Gordon didn’t win the dunk contest is beyond me. Just wow! That is all.
People think I’m crazy, but I still put Vince’s dunks ahead of the ones from this year’s contest. While way more flashier and creative than any dunk back in 2000, the was a certain level of control that Carter had over the crowd which very few players have been able to replicate. Add the ability to even silence a crowd in the best way possible after doing something spectacular, and the edge goes to Vincent Lamar Carter.
Impact
In my estimation, comparing these two dunk contests to each other is like comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron James or debating if Superman could beat Goku in a fight. Here’s the bottom line: the dunk contest is always “back” when we see something that excites us. Where the 2016 dunk contest is concerned, prior contests had become stale, boring and uninspiring. There have been way too many gimmicks that were added to try to improve the excitement of the competition, but ended leaving fans mostly disinterested. Such has been the reason that there was a push to have the Three-Point Contest as the main event.
With the 2000 dunk contest, the competition was truly back! It was defunct for two years, so fans were pining for it. There were no gimmicks, no intro videos, just dunks. Pure and simple! Vince Carter, as great and dominating a performance as he put on, was not only icing on the cake, but the whole darn cake as well! Not since Michael Jordon has there been an overwhelming display of showmanship than from Vince Carter’s 2000 performance. It has been, and will always be the contest which others, past, present and future will be measured by.
It is for that reason that the 2000 NBA.com Slam Dunk Contest from Oakland, California remains the greatest dunk contest of all time.
But what say you? Where do these two contests rank in your books? Leave your comment down below and share your opinion.
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All Star Weekend stats and facts are provided by NBA-AllStar.com. Matthew Allman is a staff writer for Raptors Rapture. For more coverage on the Toronto Raptors, follow Matthew on Twitter @ShadowRapsFan and also follow @RaptorsRapture for the latest in Raptors news.