I don’t remember the exact moment I decided to join the Blake Griffin bandwagon, but I do know it was during his amateur days, long before Timofey Mozgov got a whiff of Griffin’s crotch as a pro.
But I do remember when I, while maybe not exiting the bandwagon, at least looked into distributing Settle Down pills to my fellow passengers: It was the first time I heard Blake placed ahead of Shawn Kemp in the annals of all-time NBA dunkers.
Admittedly, maintaining objectivity just isn’t going to work in this situation, because I grew up in Seattle with at least two Shawn Kemp posters in my room as a kid. I still contend “The Reign Man” was robbed in the 1991 All-Star dunk contest in favor of Dee Brown. Kemp’s #7 Team USA jersey was the first jersey that I felt I had to get (I never did). And for as long as he was in the NBA, from Bulls vs. Blazers to NBA 2K3, the first thing I did when popping in a new basketball video game was assume Kemp’s digital identity and start dunking on people.
So, no, I can’t say Blake Griffin is a better dunker than Shawn Kemp. You can’t convince me that Mozgov and Danilo Gallinari‘s humiliation trump what Kemp did to Alton Lister and Chris Gatling. Kemp is the best in-game dunker I’ve ever seen, and his Very Best Of… still takes the cake over Blake. As for a No. 1 hit, I’ll take the Alton Lister dunk.
What is your favorite in-game dunk of all-time? The best descriptive answers will be printed in the next issue of Dime.
