The Slam Dunk Contest is a National Basketball Association All-Star Game competition held on the Saturday before the NBA All Star Game. Competitors try and achieve their best slam dunks and they are scored on a scale of 0-10. Six competitors try in the first round, with the top three advancing to the finals.
Jason Richardson, Harold Miner, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan have all won the most titles with two.
The first slam dunk championship was actually in 1976 at the ABA all-star game. Julius Erving won that competition.
Past Champions
- 2005 -- Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks
- 2004 -- Fred Jones, Indiana Pacers
- 2003 -- Jason Richardson, Golden State Warriors
- 2002 -- Jason Richardson, Golden State Warriors
- 2001 -- Desmond Mason, Seattle SuperSonics
- 2000 -- Vince Carter, Toronto Raptors
- 1999 -- Canceled, lockout
- 1998 -- Competition not held
- 1997 -- Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
- 1996 -- Brent Barry, Los Angeles Clippers
- 1995 -- Harold Miner, Miami Heat
- 1994 -- Isaiah Rider, Minnesota Timberwolves
- 1993 -- Harold Miner, Miami Heat
- 1992 -- Cedric Ceballos, Phoenix Suns
- 1991 -- Dee Brown, Boston Celtics
- 1990 -- Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks
- 1989 -- Kenny Walker, New York Knicks
- 1988 -- Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
- 1987 -- Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
- 1986 -- Spud Webb, Atlanta Hawks
- 1985 -- Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks
- 1984 -- Larry Nance, Phoenix Suns
Types of Slam Dunks seen during the Slam Dunk Contest
Windmill
Windmill dunks are done when a player makes a circular motion with the ball while in the air before dunking it. These can either be done with one or two hands. Versions of this dunk include the Kiss the Rim, the reverse windmill (usually done with two hands), and the 360 windmill. Notable examples of this dunk are Dominique Wilkin's windmills during the 1988 and 1990 contest, Michael Jordan's kiss the rim during the 1987 and 1988 contest, and Vince Carter's contest-winning 360 windmill in the 2000 contest.
Tomahawk
Tomahawk dunks are when the ball is raised above the player's head with usually two hands and then brought behind the players head before being dunked in a chopping motion. Another version of the tomahawk dunk is called the Statue of Liberty. The statue of liberty dunk, however, doesn't involve any chopping motion. Notable examples of this dunk are Terence Stansbury's 360 Statue of Liberty dunk during the 1987 contest, Dominique Wilkin's off the glass, one handed tomahawk during the 1988 contest and Harold Miner's off the glass, two handed tomohawk during the 1995 contest.
Free Throw Line
Introduced by Julius Erving, this is a dunk where the player jumps from the free throw line. The free throw line is, in the NBA, 15 feet away from the rim; therefore this dunk is generally considered to be the hardest type of a dunk a player can do. Notable examples of this dunk are Julius Erving during the 1976 ABA contest, Michael Jordan during the 1987 and 1988 contest, and Brent Barry during the 1996 contest.
Between the Leg
This is done when the ball goes between the leg of the player while in the air before being dunked. Visually impressive, these usually achieve a high score from the judges. Notable examples of this dunk include Vince Carter's off the floor, between the legs during the 2000 contest, Kobe Bryant's between the legs during the 1997 contest,Desmond Mason's "show it right,slam it left" between the legs during the 2003 contest, and Jason Richardson's off the glass, between the legs during the 2004 contest.
Double Clutch
A double clutch dunk is when a player brings the ball back to his body before extending the ball back out to dunk it. Versions of this dunk include the kickback, the jackknife, and the double pump. Most times the ball is brought back near the player's head before being dunked. Notable examples include Michael Jordan's double clutch, free throw line dunk from the 1988 contest, Tracy McGrady's 360 reverse double pump from the 2000 contest, Steve Francis's double pump, kiss the rim from the 2000 contest, Shawn Kemp's kickback from the 1991 contest, and Harold Miner's reverse jackknife from the 1993 contest.
Rock the Baby
Also known as Rock the Cradle. This is a version of the windmill where the ball is "locked" into a player's wrist while the player makes a circular motion with the ball. However, unlike windmills where the ball starts the circle from the top, rock the baby dunks start the circle from the bottom. Notable examples include Larry Nance's rock the baby during the 1984 contest and Kenny Walker's baseline rock the baby during the 1989 contest.
Off the Backboard
Another popular type of dunk. The player throws the ball and bounces it off the backboard, catches it in mid air and dunks it. This can be combined with other types such as the windmill, reverse or tomahawk dunk.
Famous Non-NBA Slam Dunk Contests
1976 ABA Slam Dunk Contest (Julius Erving)
Reputedely the first slam dunk contest in history. It took place during the 1976 ABA Allstar Weekend. The Contest featured a plethora of famous players including Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, and David Thompson. Julius "Dr.J" Erving won the contest with his famous freethrow line slam.
1996 Orchies Non-Stop Basketball Dunk Contest (Abdoul Bamba)
A dunk contest taking place in Orchies, France which featured many of todays European dunking elite including Kadour Ziani, Solamon Sami, and Abdoul Bamba. The contest was highlighted by a high level of competition from all the participants and featured many innovative jams. The eventual winner was Abdoul Bamba who won with his famous cartwheel dunk, where he caught a ball off the floor in mid cartwheel and slammed it home.
2001 Mcdonalds All American High School Dunk Contest (David Lee)
The 2001 High School Dunk Contest featured many great dunks but is most noted for creating a controversy with the victory of David Lee. While Lee had many strong dunks including a innovative lob between the legs slam many viewers felt that dunking phenom James White with his powerfull jams including two amazing freethrow line dunk varations deserved to win. The contest remains a judging controversy to this day.
2003 SuperPages Slam Dunk Contest (Henry Bekkering)
This Canadian dunk contest was made famous on the internet by the amazing dunks of 6'5" Henry Bekkering which included a windmill slam over a standing person and a left handed freethrow line dunk jumping off 2 feet. Video of the contest dissemnated quickly across the internet and it's fame led to a television appearance for Bekkering on the "Best Damn Sports Show"
2005 City Slam Dunk Contest (Chris Lowery aka Skywalker)
This nation-wide dunk contest culminated in championships at Chicago. The City Slam Championship featured many never before seen spectacular slams including a 360 between the legs dunk by Marvin Collins aka High Riser. The contest was won by Chris Lowery aka Skywalker when he jumped over a car and dunked.
More Info
Slam dunks during contests will often times include a prop, usually in the form of another teammate or player. Examples of this include Desmond Mason's jump over Rashard Lewis at the 2001 contest, Josh Smith's leap over Kenyon Martin at the 2005 contest and Baron Davis's jump over David Wesley and his camera during the 2001 contest.
Slam dunks during contests can also involve the ball being tossed off a prop. Most times the ball will be tossed off the backboard, or the floor. However in the 2005 NBA Slam Dunk contest, Amare Stoudemire tossed the ball off the backboard, which in turn bounced off teammate Steve Nash's head before being dunked by Amare.
Sometimes a player will attempt a blind dunk without looking. Dee Brown won his slam dunk championship like this in 1991. Cedric Ceballos has also performed a blind dunk; he was blindfolded for one dunk in the 1992 contest.
Michael Jordan and Jason Richardson are the only players that have been able to win the slam dunk contest twice in a row.
Dominique Wilkins holds the record of participating in the most slam dunk contests. He has participated in 5 slam dunk contests.
Although Julius Erving is regarded by many to be the "Godfather of the dunk," he never won a NBA slam dunk championship.
At 5'7, Spud Webb is the shortest player that has been able to win the slam dunk contest. He defeated his teammate and defending champion Dominique Wilkins in the 1986 contest.
The 1997 Dunk Contest is viewed by many as the weakest dunk contest to date. It was during this contest that Kobe Bryant did a between the legs dunk that won the contest. By today's standards, it is somewhat mildly spectacular. The rest of the competition (or lack thereof) had offered little variety to their dunks and this quickly led to fan criticism of it being "boring" which promptly ended the dunk contest temporarily for future NBA seasons.
Because of the 2000 dunk contest, many people have named Vince Carter as the greatest dunker of all time. His dunks of a 360-windmill, 180 behind the backboard windmill, between the legs (with assist from then teammate Tracy McGrady), a normal one handed dunk that ended with Vince hanging from the rim with his elbow, and a 13.5 feet two handed dunk have awed spectators to date.
Historically, the dunk contest drew some mild criticisms. One of those includes how the dunk contest is extremely limited as there are so many times one can be impressed with a 360 dunk or a slightly modified windmill. Because of the physical limitations of the human body, innovation can become dry very quickly. Another criticism is that players who often compete in these contests are seen as dunkers only (with obvious exception to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Julius Erving), which is why notable high flying athletes like Shawn Marion have sometimes refused to participate.
As the dunk contest is a event where completing dunks are mandatory many times contestants will not do their most difficult dunks in contest because they cannot complete them consistently. In light of this problem in recent times there have been new dunking teams forming where dunks are performed in a show rather than contest atmosphere. This has led to many new innovative dunks when many thought that there were few dunks left to invent. Examples of these dunking teams are France's Slamnation (Link titlewww.slamnation.net) and the Flight Brothers from the United States.