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Saturday Special: Let Shannon Dunk!

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A couple of thougts about last night’s Rookie/Sophmore game:

*The only thing worse than some of the defense was the shot selection. I truly think that when some young players think “All-Star Game” they figure it’s a way for them to show off and they end forcing the spectacular play rather than just letting it come to them.

*DeJuan Blair is a beast.  So is Tyreke Evans.

*Yesterday, I said that I thought the Sophs would win this game because of their inside presence.  I truly believed that Lopez and Gasol would be too much for an undersized Rookie front line.  Uh, forgive me for forgetting that these types of games are dominated by guards and the big men are the players that end up shaking their heads a lot as they have to turn around and run back up court after another forced shot.

But, enough about the rookie game.  Tonight is the night we get to see our first performance from a Laker.  The NBA listened and they let Shannon dunk.  Enjoy the video below as a warmup to tonight’s Dunk Contest (hat tip to ProBasketballTalk).  I know we’ll all be rooting for WOW as he looks to bring the trophy back to to LA for the only time since Kobe did it back in 1997.


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Comments

  2. sT says

    Great Mimsy, you beat me to it, and with that, ShanWOW will bring home the trophy for sure. He has done this dunking since High School, he is a natural at it.

  3. Chownoir (was J) says

    Go Shannon! I’ve been swamped with work and it’s been so much fun to catch up to the posts, comments and recorded games this past couple of days. Very fun to decompress to great Laker wins over Utah, Portland and Spurs. It’s fun to watch the games already knowing the results and just focus on what the team is doing, both good and bad.

    Put me in the camp that thinks the Amare to Clev move actually hurts them. Especially if they give up Z and JJ Hickson. Assuming Z doesn’t do the 30 day buyout and return special. I think losing Z is huge in terms of on and off court chemistry. Z understands his role in the offense and plays it well. He’s also been a great soldier and willing to take a back seat to the Shaq circus. Not to mention how he didn’t make a big stink about Brown screwing up his games played record in Clev.

    I think Amare would cause both on and off court issues. Also JJ Hickson is a young athletic big that knows how to hit the creases and convert those passes from Bron when he dives to the hoop. I think it’s been underrated what JJ has brought to Clev. Giving up both him and Z will weaken Clev more than getting Amare back.

    The Jamison deal is the one that scares me. He would fit in really well I think in that team. The right personality and his on court game would mesh really well.

  4. the other stephen says

    i don’t think i would be comfortable shaking hands with shannon. it would be like meeting a baseball glove.

  5. EJK says

    First off, I can’t wait to watch WOW dunk tonight! I believe I read someone post on this site at some point that the main concern with his chances of winning is whether he possesses the showmanship of a guy like nate robinson as shannon seems to be a quiet, humble guy by nature, and I tend to agree. We all know that it won’t be a lack of athletic ability or hangtime to catch up with him because the man can straight up jump outta the building!

    As far as the possibility of Amare to Cleveland, I have to agree with chownoir and the other posters who have said that that scenario does not scare them especially if the deal includes hickson and big z. While I dont claim to watch phoenix or cleveland regularly, it seems to me that hickson has become an important rotation player for them that infuses a lot of energy when he is in the game as he seems to make important hustle/defensive plays. While stoudemire is a player who can really fill up a stat sheet, one interesting game that I caught and stood out to me was the suns-mavs game where the suns came made a 4th quarter come-back to overtake the mavs with stifling d…and with amare sitting on the bench for the entirety of the 4th quarter. I just dont think amare would improve the cavs much with his lack of attention to details (and defense).

  6. wiseolgoat says

    I would move the dunk over the Birdman to #1 once you consider the stakes and the fact that the play basically turned our postseason fortunes around.

  8. Mimsy says

    So what exact time is this dunk-fest? I can’t seem to find it anywhere, and I’d hate to miss it…

  13. Snoopy2006 says

    Are the Celtics the most humorless team in the league? It looks like Kendrick Perkins has rubbed off on Rajon Rondo. Haven’t seen the dude smile or look happy even once.

    Time for the worst HORSE competition ever. Kevin just admitted he’s going to shoot regular shots. Thanks Kevin, we all watch this to see your pre-game warmup routine.

    Rondo can’t shoot. Casspi might pull this one off.

    Edit – those 2 shots they showed from Lebron and Dwight will be better than anything we see in the actual HORSE game.

  16. Snoopy2006 says

    This is what the NBA deserves after picking such awful HORSE contestants. I think I’ll go watch paint dry until the real night starts.

    Lebron, Dwight, Monta, and Kobe. Ideal HORSE field, although I don’t know if 2 of those guys would enter.

  18. Drew says

    That trade is a steal for the Mavs…I think they just got alot better with butler, haywood, and stevenson is a useful player. Plus they didnt have to give up dampier in the deal

  19. jeremyLA24 says

    The H.O.R.S.E game was atrocious! I only cought the last three minutes but all they were doing was shooting from the top of the 3pt line. Rondo and Durant looked like they were forced to be there and the TNT guys were trying to make it seem important when it wasn’t even interesting.

    If you’re going to make a new contest than do it all the way instead of setting a bad pace for the rest of the night… geez.

  20. Aaron says

    Did someone say Amare would hurt the Cavs? LOLOLOLOL. Imagine Lebron with an actual good player playing next to him? I don’t want to. It would be scary. We better hope the Cavs don’t get Amare. I said a few months ago we are good enough to win even with the worst PG in the NBA. But here is the thing… you never know when other teams are going to make a trade and get better… so if you are the Lakers you should be trying to bring in an average starting PG right now. And I am sure they are trying.

  21. Mimsy says

    Is this supposed to be an introduction for the Slam Dunk contest or just five minutes of stroking the great ego of the state of Texas?

  22. Andreas G. says

    LA winning this shooting stars thing? With Kobe on the team, it would have been over already;)

  24. Mimsy says

    Go team LA! Why did the put Pau on the 3-point shot though? That’s not his shot… they should have put him on mid-range and Barry on 3.

  27. Snoopy2006 says

    What is with the constant rodeo montages? Look, I get they’re trying to put this Texas theme on things, but what percentage of NBA fans get amped up by seeing clips of Deron Williams spliced with grown men waving lassos and riding bareback? 1%? 1.5%?

    The sad thing is they might scrap the HORSE competition after the awful event this year. What NBA execs don’t get is that it’s a great idea, they just have a flawed method of selection. Durant had to be there, but Rondo is a stretch over guys like Ellis. And Casspi was there for non-basketball reasons.

    Put the vote in the hands of the fans or bloggers, and we’ll finally get the competition we want.

  28. Mohan says

    Yup, HORSE was pretty sad. Pretty ridiculous when the most interesting part is a shootout from the top of the circle.

    I’ve gotta say though, Durant and Rondo shot the lights out. That was impressive.

  29. Warren Wee Lim says

    IMO Haywood will impact the Mavs more than Butler will. Butler is a 21ppg scorer on one of the worst teams of this season but like KD said, its more on his own than buying into team concept. Haywood will have a field day catching Jason Kidd passes.

  32. jeremyLA24 says

    Warren, 0-2? I just want ShanWOW to win so I can forget about wheelchair boy winning the 3pt contest.

  33. Mimsy says

    #27
    It’s because no one from Texas would have bothered to attend the event to begin with if it wasn’t exclusively all about Texas.

    Yes, I despise rodeos and cowboys and anyone who obsesses over them. There’s a reason the rest of the world doesn’t give two cents about anything related to Texas greatness — it’s not that great!!!

  34. Bynumite says

    Shannon is going to kill it. I heard that DeMar DeRozan has a great Michael Jackson tribute planned in one of his dunks.

    Side note: The Nike Puppet commercials have become so bad it is almost comical.

  35. BOOBOO says

    Just a quick poll: Who here is planning on actually voting?

    Because, well, that’s how the winner is decided. All the rooting and speculation won’t help if no one votes for Shannon.

  39. joel says

    seriously, if nate wins again….my faith in nba humanity will drop a bit

    disappointing dunks so far by derozan, shannon, g-force

  47. BOOBOO says

    Shannon doesn’t have the body control, showmanship, or creativity to really dominant this contest. Judging from Crash’s dunks, neither does he.

  48. Jim C. says

    Those two dunk attempts combined by Shannon may represent the least amount of cojones that I have ever seen in twenty years watching the slam dunk contest.

    Incredible, unbelievably lame and weak.

  49. joel says

    jesus christ….after all this campaigning shannon…..you bring those dunks to the contest….

    *shaking my head*

  51. BOOBOO says

    Why is Mbenga in warm up gear? Did he sign himself up as an “assist man,” because that’s the only way he’d get front row seats for the event? Haha.

    Also, does the new Dallas stadium not have the lighting effects? What happened to the crazy lights and dimming after the dunks?

  53. Anonymous says

    Wow, at least Antonio Harvey attempted more difficult dunks than Shannon. Very disappointing to say the least.

  56. Vince says

    Wow, after all that campaigning, all that hype, what the heck happened to shannon???????, Weak A** dunks!, well, at least he has cojones when it comes to in-game dunks…

  57. Anonymous says

    They need to change the format of this competition to show more dunks. Only 2 dunks For each competitor?

  58. Jim C. says

    This dunk contest is a disgrace. Nate wimps out on his dunk. The cameras don’t even manage to catch Derozan’s dunk. This is pathetic. A complete waste of time to watch.

    Shoddy and lame.

  60. Bobji says

    Mbenga should’ve been in the dunk contest instead of Shannon or Gerald Wallace. I don’t think he could have been any less creative.

  61. Jim C. says

    My god, this was the most boring all star event that I’ve ever seen. They haven’t even announced a winner yet, and I honestly couldn’t care less. I’m just insulted that the NBA thought that this would actually manage to entertain me.

  66. passerby says

    agree anonymous…rather embarrassing though.

    the silence of the dallas crowd is deafening…

    this ruins a lot for me today…shanno, the LA stars and another California person winning being a Celtic. not to mention the butler trade although that’s fine competition for me.

    oh well, moving on to humming to june. bigger moves on its way. GO LAKERS!

  70. BrooklynBoyKP says

    Dude I saw a video of Shannon in a HS dunk contest video where he was sick (finished third to lebron) and this was so much less creative.

  71. Mimsy says

    So we’re all in agreement then? The next time Shannon wants to dunk, we’re all going to vote “NOOOOOO!!!!!!”

    Right?

    Seriously. I have shoes to re-lace, hair to wash, and bathrooms to clean. There are countless ways I could have spent this evening that would have been far less boring than watching the slam dunk contest tonight.

  73. BOOBOO says

    I’m actually more pissed that Nate Robinson, of all people, actually gets to set the most Dunk Contest wins. I almost feel it’s an insult to the legendary dunkers before him. A shame, really.

  74. jeremyLA24 says

    Man that was BAD! I wrote some stuff on the last thread that was way too optomistic of this contest. Why didn’t shannon do the arm in the basket dunk or a through the legs? He didn’t even windmill that alleyoop, what the hell. I feel bad for everyone who campaigned on LETSHANNONDUNK. Next year they need to bring non NBA players so maybe there will be an “embarrassment factor” for the dunk stars if they get shown up by ameratures.

  76. Paulo says

    Not a good slam dunk contest. Maybe DJ was Shannon secret weapon if ever he made it to the Finals.

  78. sT says

    I had been looking forward to this all day, and now… for what? When is the next Laker game, I could use one about now, with a win of course included.

  80. Mimsy says

    @72,
    Well, at least nobody deserved to win… this was so boring I am personally insulted that I was duped into wasting time watching it.

    Note to self: Spend next year’s Valentine’s Day weekend far away from the NBA’s pathetic attempts to put on a sad and boring show. I said it last year and I will say it again, they seriously need to take a few hints from the NFL on how to put on a good show that actually entertains their audience.

  81. Snoopy2006 says

    Well if it makes anyone feel better, the D-League dunk champion came from our LA D-League team.

    I had a feeling several months ago that Shannon is a better in-game dunker than contest dunker, but 1) I didn’t have the cajones to say it on this site, and 2) I saw the video of his high school dunk contest and changed my mind. I do feel he didn’t give his best dunks for some reason, but I agree with Booboo – he probably just doesn’t have the creativity. And everyone could have predicted Gerard Wallace disappointing.

    The real losers tonight: the NBA selection committees. HORSE was the most egregious, by far. You can’t fault them for Shannon or Nate, but otherwise…just fail. Whoever started letshannondunk may now hang their head in shame.

    Is Pierce the most arrogant all-star in the league? He wins the championship and says he’s the best player in the world. He wins the shootout, and says he’s one of the best shooters in history. After Game 1, he should have added acting to that list.

  83. Ummmmm says

    wOw

    that was horrific

    did these guys even practice?

    Shannon Brown’s in game dunks are 200x better than whatever it was he was doing tonight switching to his left hand.

    Kobe should have just shot a 3 instead of passing to him.

  87. jeremyLA24 says

    If I was TNT, I would only host the All-Star Game and let ESPN host Fiday and Saturday’s weekend fillers. On top of that, if I was ESPN I would put Friday and Saturday’s events on ESPN2! yeah, it was about that bad. Maybe if these guys grow some and decide to jump over fixed objects, get your wrists bruised from rim cracking dunks, and actually spinning or pumping the ball in air they will put it back on premier television slots. Until then I don’t think this should be a sold out event or a prime time T.V event. It should just be for suckers like me that prey that next year someone will go off.

  88. Karl says

    I’m 100% certain this hasn’t been said yet, but that was the worst dunk contest I’ve ever seen.

  89. Jim C. says

    I know that I’m beating a dead horse here, but if Shannon (or ANYONE) in that dunk contest had hung their freaking ***** out there, and then lost…even if they had gone down in flames spectacularly, I still would have been happy.

    In particularly, if Shannon had taken some chances and just WENT FOR IT, then I would have been very proud of him. But I swear to Zeus that I had cheerleaders at my high school with more stones than any of those contestants showed.

  91. Mimsy says

    #88,
    Um… I think the fact he didn’t might have been the point he was making…?

    At least the dunk contest certainly looked that way: No stones, no guts, no courage, no entertainment at all. Boooooring.

  94. Snoopy2006 says

    The blonde Cowboys cheerleader was more interesting to watch than the actual dunks, so I thank Nate for that. He knows how to put on a show, even if it doesn’t involve him.

    Next year: strippers!

  96. the other stephen says

    alright, question: how many teams have won the championship after making one or more win-now mid-season trades?

  98. lesha says

    if brown made that the first dunk that he was trying… would´ve been sick i think. but the second one was really lame… even more so because kobe made a very good pass. if the ball would´ve gone a bit further behind and shannon had to really reach for it, would´ve looked much better.

    its a shame he lost, oh well…

  99. Palani says

    trying to get Blake?
    >>>Marc J. Spears: The Lakers have tried to move Luke Walton(notes) and Sasha Vujacic(notes) to shed some salary before Thursday’s trade deadline. One league source the Lakers have even had discussions with one of their Pacific Division rivals: the Blazers. The Blazers, the source said, seem more focused on landing a big man.

  102. Mark says

    I guess Shannon’s no-show pretty much sums up the Lakers this season (excluding the last three games): Has the talent and everything else, but disappointing anyhow because of not living up to where “it” should be.

    That’s half a truth and half a lie. 🙂

  104. wiseolgoat says

    Cavs close to getting Amare too, essentially for JJ Hickson and a pick (since Ilgauskas will probably get bought out and will just re-sign with the Cavs after a month).

  105. sT says

    I am curious, why do teams buy a player out anyway? To do him a favor and let him back in the League wherever he wants to play, or maybe save some money by buying him out for less than what he is owed?

  106. kehn says

    Ugh. Hopefully Amare turns out to be the lockerroom cancer that kills the Cav’s title hopes.

    Also – is there anyway this site can update the links section to include the Kamenetzsky’s (sp?) new Laker blog at ESPN?

  109. andre says

    107.yeah, in the last 20 years. thats the only championship team i can remember making a blockbuster type mid season trade.

    i really hate the waive and re-sign rule.

    if theyre unable to re-sign z (which i hope), then i can’t even say its a good trade. they become a much better offensive team but also significantly weaker defensively. vareflop and shaq would be there best defensive frontline…. and amare/shaq and amare/vareflop would defintely be mismatches other teams could exploit.

    z apparently has the best plus minus in the cavs roster? and we struggled with him and shaq in the lineup.

  113. Darius says

    The trades that sent Mychal Thompson to the ’87 Lakers, Mark Aguirre to the ’89 Pistons, and Rasheed Wallace to the ’04 Pistons are the three trade-deadline deals that have swung championships in favor of the team making the big acquisition. Can this Maverics deal do the same? Who knows, but it definitely makes them a better team. Many will look to Butler as the key cog – that’s natural since he’s the best player in the deal. But to me, it’s the inclusion of Haywood that makes this deal a strong one for the Mavs. They’ve really lacked an interior defensive presence and now they’ve got one of the better defensive bigs to play against Pau/Bynum, Duncan, Nene, and if they were to reach the Finals with this team Haywood would be more than just a speedbump against Shaq and Dwight.

    The only drawback I can see for the Mavs is that they’re still thin at SG and this puts Marion’s role in question. In crunch time will the Mavs go small with Kidd, Terry, Butler, Marion, Dirk? Or will they play a traditional line-up with Marion at SF and Butler at SG (where both players are a bit out of position) with a Dirk/Haywood combo at PF/C? Or, will Marion sit completely so everyone can play their natural positions (with Butler at SF)? These aren’t problems, per se, but they will be issues that need to be worked out wit the Mavs coaching staff and getting that straight with only 30 games left in the regular season is something that will take some work and compromise from the players in order for them to truly gel.

  114. Chownoir (was J) says

    Regarding the Mavs trade, agree that Haywood is a huge component for that team. He provides everything that Damp gave them and then some. Dallas did well going up against bigger teams when Damp played well. Haywood is not only a better player defensively but also offensively, giving them an option down low that has to be at least accounted for when drawing up schemes.

    I’ve loved Caron’s game for a while now and always wondered how the lineup of him at SF, LO at PF and Kobe would have done. He’s definitely an upgrade over Howard these days. I think sliding Butler over to SG isn’t ideal but isn’t that bad either. But trying to do this on the fly with 30+ games left is tough.

    Regarding the Amare to Cavs trade. I find it amusing that posters who automatically think this is a good trade for Cavs would be the ones who only see numbers impact and never understand how pieces fit. Real life basketball is never just fantasy/rotisserie ball. If Amare had issues fitting in at Phx with Shaq in a numbers friendly system and a great passing PG in Nash, I wonder how he’s going to do in a defensive oriented system like Clev where he’ll be a distant 2nd option at best. Of course there’s always a chance this will work out for the better. But I don’t think it’s an automatic upgrade as some people think. I think Clev as currently constructed is already a monster and odds on fave to win. Doing this trade throws a huge variable given Amare’s history and could actually cause problems.

    This of course is also dependent on Z’s situation. If he does the buyout route, then I do think it’s a lot lower risk for Clev. But if not, I really think it hurts them. Z fits very well on that team and his contributions to the overall team flow on both sides of the ball is overlooked IMO.

  115. Fofs says

    #105 There’s many reasons to buy out a player, in this case the Suns goes below luxury tax if they simply dump Amare for Hickson, so they might actually pay Z his whole contract and it would still be a huge win for them.

  116. Dean says

    Great – other teams are catching up to the Lakers in talent – Lakers better get their collective butts in gear. Continue what they started with the last 3 games. We all know they are the only ones stopping themselves from repeating. Play smart and as a team – no team will beat the Lakers in 7 game series. However, still wouldn’t mind picking up a younger guard who can defend and has a reliable outside shot.

  117. wiseolgoat says

    Could someone enlighten me as to how JJ Hickson fits the Suns’ definition of “young talent”? While he’s certainly young, nothing I have seen from him to date strikes me as being all that talented. He’s a 6’9″ hustling 4 who can fill lanes and dunk – don’t players like that grow on trees?

  118. Aaron says

    Shannon just doesn’t have the body control like I guessed to be a great contest dunker. He has the leaping ability and the big hands… he just doesn’t have the body control.

  119. Igor Avidon says

    One of the few times I disagreed with Hollinger – that was a slam dunk trade for the Mavs. Though their statistical output is similar, Butler is a huge upgrade over Howard. Caron is a talent who will win in the right environment, whereas Josh is just a talent who lacks a winner’s mentality. Haywood is a huge upgrade over their current starting center, Dampier. And Stevenson can be rejuvenated – he’s a capable scorer, and don’t forget he actually gave trouble to one of the game’s toughest-to-stop players in LeBron for a few years when the Wizards were a legitimate team. I think this trade makes the Mavs a true title contender if Carlisle finds a way to make it all click in half a season.

  120. Snoopy2006 says

    What I’m confused about – why would the Blazers even consider taking on Luke or Sasha? It seems like some kind of sick torture, getting Mitch’s hopes up. Luke I guess you can make a case for (although not at that salary), but Sasha?

    They can get much better for Blake and they know it. I guess Blake would be an upgrade, but at 37% he’s not exactly a sharpshooter. Although his shooting chart shows he’s over 42% from the corners – so he’d be a strong deterrent to defenders sagging into the post when making the entry pass in the triangle.

  122. Igor Avidon says

    I hope we don’t even consider trading Luke away for salary dump purposes. He may have his ups and downs throughout the season, but the dude wakes up in the playoffs and delivers when it matters.

    And what do we want Blake for? That’s another point guard with no athleticism, streaky long-range shot, and zero defensive ability. Getting Hinrich I can understand, but not Blake.