Air Bud:
Just saw that the Rockets Chase Budinger will participate in the NBA dunk contest on All-Star Saturday night. Don't buy the stereotype, Budinger can dunk. Coming out of high school he came in 2nd in the McDonald's All-American dunk contest to Gerald Henderson who went to Duke.
Of course I'd rather see a dunk contest with LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Durant, but the established pros have refused to participate for the last decade or so. I still like the dunk contest though and some of the originality has come back. From Gerald Green blowing out a cupcake sitting on the rim, to Steve Nash passing the basketball off of his head soccer style to Amare Stoudemire, to JaVale McGee dunking on two goals; the young guys have revived the dunk contest. The Saturday night events are always my favorite part of the weekend, hopefully the young guys don't disappoint this year.
The 4 contestants this year are Chase Budinger, rookie Derrick Williams of the Timberwolves, rookie Iman Shumpert of the Knicks, and Paul George of the Pacers. If I had to pick now, I'd take Paul George.