Terence Stansbury
Height: 6'5"
Year: 1987
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
When most people hear Stansbury's name they think of one thing and one thing only: The Statue of Liberty. Don't worry, it's coming. But until then, don't forget that his other dunks were pretty good too.
#39
Dominique Wilkins
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1988
Round 3, Dunk 3
Score: 45
I've argued it many times before: Dominique got absolutely robbed on this dunk. Now, let me clarify. MJ had a better dunk contest overall. I'm not arguing that. He deserved the win. But to give 'Nique such a low score on this? I'm not saying it wasn't a 45, because it was (maybe a 46 or 47 at most) but based on the other dunks that were being awarded 50's in '88, this should have easily been at least a 48.
#38
Larry Johnson
Height: 6'7"
Year: 1992
Round 2, Dunk 2
Score: 48.4
LJ (sorry, I much prefer that nickname to 'Grandmama') was a heck of a player before he injured his back. And a heck of a dunker too. Need more proof? How about an impressive double clutch 360º?
#37
Kenny Smith
Height: 6'3"
Year: 1993
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 46.5
Mr. Smith makes him second appearance in the Top 50 with this alley oop, 360º. Decent power too. And of course, as with most dunks, it always looks better when it's a little guy. Not too shabby.
#36
Amaré Stoudemire
Height: 6'10"
Year: 2005
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
Steve Nash in a dunk contest? Yes, please. Obviously with this one, the pass overshadows the dunk, but it's still actually pretty good, considering he does most of a 360º (probably more of a 270º) off the lob. So while in the end it's mostly Nash, it's still a great dunk.
#35
Fred Jones
Height: 6'2"
Year: 2004
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: 50
This one doesn't look that impressive at first glance, until you watch the replay and see just how far back he had to reach to grab it. I don't know if it was a bad pass, or if he wanted to go get it, but either way, it looks damn good from the side.
#34
Dominique Wilkins
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1988
Round 3, Dunk 1
Score: 50
Speaking of going up and getting it, Dominique was so high up, and so far back on this one, that it couldn't help but be impressive. Especially seeing the power he still was able to get on it. It's nothing fancy on paper, but that side reply does it for me every time.
#33
Michael Jordan
Height: 6'6"
Year: 1988
Round 3, Dunk 2
Score: 47
Alright, continuing our discussion on 1988. If I'm going to give them crap for giving Dominique a 45 on the two-handed-windmill, then I have to do the same for them giving this dunk a 47. On a night when they were handing out 50's like they were condoms at a college dorm orientation, to not give this dunk a 50 was basically highway robbery.
#32
Kenny Walker
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1989
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 48.8
Kenny Walker may have only really had one dunk, a 360º windmill, with alternating variations (one hand, two hand, etc…) but it was still a heck of a dunk. One that he had obviously honed to perfection. In fact, even though it's basically all he did to win each round and take the title in '89, it still felt fresh each time he did it, just because it was that good, and that much better than what everyone else was doing at the time.
#31
Gerald Green
Height: 6'8"
Year: 2008
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: n/a (fan voting)
Although a great dunk, by the time we saw Green do this one in '08, we'd already seen enough variations on the through-the-legs dunk that it had gotten kind of stale. That said, judged on it's own merits, it's still pretty impressive. Most alley oop East Bay dunks require a low bounce so that the ball is almost already through the legs when you grab it, but Gerald takes it off the high bounce here, making it pretty damn nice.
Height: 6'5"
Year: 1987
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
When most people hear Stansbury's name they think of one thing and one thing only: The Statue of Liberty. Don't worry, it's coming. But until then, don't forget that his other dunks were pretty good too.
Dominique Wilkins
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1988
Round 3, Dunk 3
Score: 45
I've argued it many times before: Dominique got absolutely robbed on this dunk. Now, let me clarify. MJ had a better dunk contest overall. I'm not arguing that. He deserved the win. But to give 'Nique such a low score on this? I'm not saying it wasn't a 45, because it was (maybe a 46 or 47 at most) but based on the other dunks that were being awarded 50's in '88, this should have easily been at least a 48.
Larry Johnson
Height: 6'7"
Year: 1992
Round 2, Dunk 2
Score: 48.4
LJ (sorry, I much prefer that nickname to 'Grandmama') was a heck of a player before he injured his back. And a heck of a dunker too. Need more proof? How about an impressive double clutch 360º?
Kenny Smith
Height: 6'3"
Year: 1993
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 46.5
Mr. Smith makes him second appearance in the Top 50 with this alley oop, 360º. Decent power too. And of course, as with most dunks, it always looks better when it's a little guy. Not too shabby.
Amaré Stoudemire
Height: 6'10"
Year: 2005
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
Steve Nash in a dunk contest? Yes, please. Obviously with this one, the pass overshadows the dunk, but it's still actually pretty good, considering he does most of a 360º (probably more of a 270º) off the lob. So while in the end it's mostly Nash, it's still a great dunk.
Fred Jones
Height: 6'2"
Year: 2004
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: 50
This one doesn't look that impressive at first glance, until you watch the replay and see just how far back he had to reach to grab it. I don't know if it was a bad pass, or if he wanted to go get it, but either way, it looks damn good from the side.
Dominique Wilkins
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1988
Round 3, Dunk 1
Score: 50
Speaking of going up and getting it, Dominique was so high up, and so far back on this one, that it couldn't help but be impressive. Especially seeing the power he still was able to get on it. It's nothing fancy on paper, but that side reply does it for me every time.
Michael Jordan
Height: 6'6"
Year: 1988
Round 3, Dunk 2
Score: 47
Alright, continuing our discussion on 1988. If I'm going to give them crap for giving Dominique a 45 on the two-handed-windmill, then I have to do the same for them giving this dunk a 47. On a night when they were handing out 50's like they were condoms at a college dorm orientation, to not give this dunk a 50 was basically highway robbery.
Kenny Walker
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1989
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 48.8
Kenny Walker may have only really had one dunk, a 360º windmill, with alternating variations (one hand, two hand, etc…) but it was still a heck of a dunk. One that he had obviously honed to perfection. In fact, even though it's basically all he did to win each round and take the title in '89, it still felt fresh each time he did it, just because it was that good, and that much better than what everyone else was doing at the time.
Gerald Green
Height: 6'8"
Year: 2008
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: n/a (fan voting)
Although a great dunk, by the time we saw Green do this one in '08, we'd already seen enough variations on the through-the-legs dunk that it had gotten kind of stale. That said, judged on it's own merits, it's still pretty impressive. Most alley oop East Bay dunks require a low bounce so that the ball is almost already through the legs when you grab it, but Gerald takes it off the high bounce here, making it pretty damn nice.
Can I be picky? On the rotation dunks, I think calling it a 360 is pretty generous.
ReplyDeleteWas the Nash header accomplished on the first try?
Larry Johnson, Kenny Smith and Kenny Walker are legit 360's. Amare, not so much, but I said that in the little blurb. Or are you one of the guys so picky that you didn't consider Taurian Fontenette's 720 to have been the real deal either?
ReplyDeleteNash was on the second try. You can tell by the commentary that the cat was already out of the bag, as they were already talking about his soccer background.