Isaiah Rider
Height: 6'5"
Year: 1994
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: 49
These kinds of dunks are hard to rank. Am I basing this list solely on today's standards (how they would be scored and ranked if someone did them in this year's competition)? Or does historical significance come into play? Based on this dunk appearing higher on the list than the Gerald Green dunk at #31, obviously I have factored in the latter, because from a purely technical standpoint, Green's is a far better dunk. But by the time Green did his dunk, it was standard practice, whereas when Rider brought it out in '94, it was revolutionary. Although I've already argued that Orlando Woolridge should truly be credited with having performed the first between-the-legs dunk, at the end of the day, J.R.'s dunk is the one that brought it to the masses. The Easy Bay Funk Dunk. It was like the backflip in MotoCross: after one guy did it, it was all that we saw for the next 15 years.
#29
Dwight Howard
Height: 6'11"
Year: 2009
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
Showmanship aside (this was the second year Dwight rolled with the Superman schtick, and it was actually a pretty solid gimmick both years) the fact that he makes this dunk look so easy probably works against him. So, that makes this one of the rare times when a dunk appears better on paper than actually watching it. He dunks this one on a 12 foot high hoop. 12 feet! That's ridiculous. That's like being able to dunk if you're 4'11". Plus he does it off a backboard lob pass from Jameer Nelson. Superman, indeed.
#28
Terence Stansbury
Height: 6'5"
Year: 1987
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 49
I teased this one last week. The infamous Statue of Liberty dunk. This is one that I don't think Randy will be able to argue as anything but a true 360º. Sure, it didn't have a lot of power to it, but the Statue had grace. Something you don't see much anymore.
#27
Nate Robinson
Height: 5'9"
Year: 2006
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: 44
Spud was great, don't get me wrong, but a lot of his dunks fell under the 'they're good because he's so little' banner. There's nothing wrong with that, they're still impressive, but had a guy 6'5" done the exact same dunks, he never would have got out of the first round. As far as little-man-dunkers go, Nate's stand on their own. Not because he's small, but because they are just good, no matter which criteria you're using to judge. Add in the fact that he's so short, and it just takes them to another level.
#26
Steve Francis
Height: 6'3"
Year: 2000
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
If you haven't figured it out yet, let me spell it out for you: I like when a guy has to go get it. When he has to reach back or stretch out or jump just a little bit higher. Especially for the shorter guys. It makes the pose in the air look so good: feet way off the ground, ball cocked all the way back. These dunks are tailor-made for the slow motion replay.
#25
Kenny Walker
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1989
Round 2, Dunk 2
Score: 49.5
Ya, we've been over this before. Skywalker didn't have a ton of variety in his dunks. But this is still different enough from the two-handed-double-pump-360º that appeared earlier on this list to merit inclusion. Usually people show the one where he comes in from the baseline as the epitome of Kenny's 1989 performance, but I think this one (also a one-handed-windmill-360º, done a round earlier) is a little bit better.
#24
Josh Smith
Height: 6'9"
Year: 2005
Round 2, Dunk 2
Score: 50
The thing I like best about this 360º is that Josh gets the spin out of the way quickly, leaving himself time to pause and pose for the cameras for a brief second before putting it home. Plus he spins the opposite way that you normally would. Everything about this dunk is good except for the shabby director/switching work that was done by TNT causing us to almost miss the live dunk as it was happening.
#23
Nate Robinson
Height: 5'9"
Year: 2007
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 45
Much like Desmond Mason at the Number 50 spot, this is pretty much just a guy going up and getting it. No gimmick. No hook. Just one of those dunks that looks so good on the replay that you can't help but love it.
#22
Jason Richardson
You might not know it, since he mostly just shoots threes these days, but J. Rich is one of the great dunkers of all time. His arsenal of windmills, 360º's and between-the-legs dunks were all great. But never more so, then when he strung a few of them together. In this case, the 360º, the windmill and the lob.
#21
Dwight Howard
Height: 6'11"
Year: 2008
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 50
Although an impressive dunk by any account, I still can't help but be more impressed with his head on this one. He's so tall, and jumps so high, that his head has to stay on one side of the backboard while he stretches out and windmills it on the other side.
Height: 6'5"
Year: 1994
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: 49
These kinds of dunks are hard to rank. Am I basing this list solely on today's standards (how they would be scored and ranked if someone did them in this year's competition)? Or does historical significance come into play? Based on this dunk appearing higher on the list than the Gerald Green dunk at #31, obviously I have factored in the latter, because from a purely technical standpoint, Green's is a far better dunk. But by the time Green did his dunk, it was standard practice, whereas when Rider brought it out in '94, it was revolutionary. Although I've already argued that Orlando Woolridge should truly be credited with having performed the first between-the-legs dunk, at the end of the day, J.R.'s dunk is the one that brought it to the masses. The Easy Bay Funk Dunk. It was like the backflip in MotoCross: after one guy did it, it was all that we saw for the next 15 years.
Dwight Howard
Height: 6'11"
Year: 2009
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
Showmanship aside (this was the second year Dwight rolled with the Superman schtick, and it was actually a pretty solid gimmick both years) the fact that he makes this dunk look so easy probably works against him. So, that makes this one of the rare times when a dunk appears better on paper than actually watching it. He dunks this one on a 12 foot high hoop. 12 feet! That's ridiculous. That's like being able to dunk if you're 4'11". Plus he does it off a backboard lob pass from Jameer Nelson. Superman, indeed.
Terence Stansbury
Height: 6'5"
Year: 1987
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 49
I teased this one last week. The infamous Statue of Liberty dunk. This is one that I don't think Randy will be able to argue as anything but a true 360º. Sure, it didn't have a lot of power to it, but the Statue had grace. Something you don't see much anymore.
Nate Robinson
Height: 5'9"
Year: 2006
Round 2, Dunk 1
Score: 44
Spud was great, don't get me wrong, but a lot of his dunks fell under the 'they're good because he's so little' banner. There's nothing wrong with that, they're still impressive, but had a guy 6'5" done the exact same dunks, he never would have got out of the first round. As far as little-man-dunkers go, Nate's stand on their own. Not because he's small, but because they are just good, no matter which criteria you're using to judge. Add in the fact that he's so short, and it just takes them to another level.
Steve Francis
Height: 6'3"
Year: 2000
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
If you haven't figured it out yet, let me spell it out for you: I like when a guy has to go get it. When he has to reach back or stretch out or jump just a little bit higher. Especially for the shorter guys. It makes the pose in the air look so good: feet way off the ground, ball cocked all the way back. These dunks are tailor-made for the slow motion replay.
Kenny Walker
Height: 6'8"
Year: 1989
Round 2, Dunk 2
Score: 49.5
Ya, we've been over this before. Skywalker didn't have a ton of variety in his dunks. But this is still different enough from the two-handed-double-pump-360º that appeared earlier on this list to merit inclusion. Usually people show the one where he comes in from the baseline as the epitome of Kenny's 1989 performance, but I think this one (also a one-handed-windmill-360º, done a round earlier) is a little bit better.
Josh Smith
Height: 6'9"
Year: 2005
Round 2, Dunk 2
Score: 50
The thing I like best about this 360º is that Josh gets the spin out of the way quickly, leaving himself time to pause and pose for the cameras for a brief second before putting it home. Plus he spins the opposite way that you normally would. Everything about this dunk is good except for the shabby director/switching work that was done by TNT causing us to almost miss the live dunk as it was happening.
Nate Robinson
Height: 5'9"
Year: 2007
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 45
Much like Desmond Mason at the Number 50 spot, this is pretty much just a guy going up and getting it. No gimmick. No hook. Just one of those dunks that looks so good on the replay that you can't help but love it.
Jason Richardson
Height: 6'6"
Year: 2003
Round 1, Dunk 2
Score: 50
You might not know it, since he mostly just shoots threes these days, but J. Rich is one of the great dunkers of all time. His arsenal of windmills, 360º's and between-the-legs dunks were all great. But never more so, then when he strung a few of them together. In this case, the 360º, the windmill and the lob.
Dwight Howard
Height: 6'11"
Year: 2008
Round 1, Dunk 1
Score: 50
Although an impressive dunk by any account, I still can't help but be more impressed with his head on this one. He's so tall, and jumps so high, that his head has to stay on one side of the backboard while he stretches out and windmills it on the other side.
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