It’s no secret that the annual NBA Dunk Contest is a hit or miss affair. Many times the hits, such as Vinsanity in 2000, the MJ-Dominique duel in 1988, or Dr. J’s performance in the 1976 ABA contest are so memorable they become difficult for contests after them to measure up.
However, the misses in the contest are sometimes just as memorable as the hits. Kenny “The Jet” Smith has been a fixture at almost every dunk contest since he became a TNT NBA analyst in 1998, and has seen his fair share of dunks. Therefore it only seems right that he narrated a video of the five worst dunks in NBA Dunk Contest history. The video counted down from 5.
First up was Cedric Ceballos. The validity of Cedric Ceballos’ famous “blindfolded” dunk in 1992 has long been questioned, and Smith falls firmly in the camp that believes Ceballos could see through the blindfold. Which would make his dunk just an ordinary dunk and not the spectacular one many at the time believed it to be. Charles Barkley, who was chipping in on commentary gave a half-hearted attempt to stick up for his former teammate, Ceballos, but to no avail.
Tim Perry, a nine-year NBA veteran, who played on the Philadelphia 76ers, New jersey Nets, and the Phoenix Suns, gets called out by Smith for being unenthusiastic about his own performance in the 1993 contest. Judging by Perry’s dunks, he has every right to feel unenthusiastic about the performance.
Larry Hughes, had the unfortunate circumstance of not only being in the same contest Vinsanity, but also fooling Smith with his dunking potential. Smith does not hold back in his criticism of Hughes, even breaking out another sport’s rules to send him on his way.
“This guy fooled me. I had him coming in second or third. But here it is. Strike one. He throws the ball and misses it. Strike two. This is baseball ladies and gentlemen. You’re thrown out the game! Strike three! Next contestant. Get on out. His own teammates, everybody is laughing at him.”
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, or Chris Jackson as he was known as at the time, might have just been in over his head a little when he entered the 1993 contest. Smith called him a great shooter and person, but “he shouldn’t have been in it (dunk contest), and froze when the cameras came on.”
However the worst dunk contestant might be Darrell Armstrong, who in the 1996 contest couldn’t even bring himself to actually dunk. Smith called him “the worst of all.” Armstrong was content with doing a layup, which would be fine if he was in a layup contest and not a dunk contest.
The dunk contest is tough. After Carter’s acrobatic display in 2000 the dunk contest become one of the worst events of the All-Star weekend, as no one could measure up to Vinsanity. It was only until Dwight Howard stole Shaquille O’Neal’s nickname and donned a cape did the contest began to become somewhat relevant again. And this year Zach LaVine put on the best show at the event since Carter’s in 2000. Now let’s hope high fliers like LaVine, his fellow teammate Andrew Wiggins and the next generation of dunkers can carry on the tradition of Carter, Wilkins, Jordan and Dr. J, and not of Ceballos, Hughes, or Armstrong.
(YouTube)
