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But, really, what's the matter with everyone, slobbering over Howard when he's 7-feet tall? Oh, I forgot. He's athletic. We're supposed to be dazzled that a 7-foot guy can do what Dwight Howard did Saturday night.

Excuse me, but do you really think he is more athletic than Kevin Garnett, who is also 7-feet tall? Well, he isn't.

Nor is he more athletic than the prime-of-life Wilt Chamberlain, who ran the quarter mile and threw the shot in his spare time. Wilt wasn't famous for specific dunks. He just flushed entire teams with his power moves. I assure you that if the 1959 Wilt were re-incarnated today and were asked to devote a little time to dunking as an art form, he could do anything Dwight Howard did

http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/bob_ryan_blog/

Ryan is usually so-so to me, but this time he hit the nail on the head imo.

I don't know. I'm not a big D-Howard fan, but what he did at the dunk contest was impressive. Not because no one in the history of the humanity was capable of pulling them off, but because they were original and also quite difficult to do.

You can say that Super Man dunk was a lot of gimmick, but that volleyball dunk was probably one of the coolest dunks I've ever seen. His performance has to be up there with VC, Jordan and Dee Brown as the best dunk contest performances.

Bob Ryan can be such a hater. These days, it's hard to distinguish between him and CHB.

sounds like a bitter ex-girlfriend.

jjwalker wrote:sounds like a bitter ex-girlfriend.

+1

tombattor wrote:I don't know. I'm not a big D-Howard fan, but what he did at the dunk contest was impressive. Not because no one in the history of the humanity was capable of pulling them off, but because they were original and also quite difficult to do.

You can say that Super Man dunk was a lot of gimmick, but that volleyball dunk was probably one of the coolest dunks I've ever seen. His performance has to be up there with VC, Jordan and Dee Brown as the best dunk contest performances.

Bob Ryan can be such a hater. These days, it's hard to distinguish between him and CHB.

No way you can put him up there with those 3, the Superman dunk wasnt even a dunk, the volleyball one was impressive and I do think he deserved to win but I dont think he should be put up there with those 3, Ive never see anyone hyped as much as much as TNT hyped Dwight during that thing, its sad that every year you have to hear them hype someone up and say the dunk contest is back!

tombattor wrote:I don't know. I'm not a big D-Howard fan, but what he did at the dunk contest was impressive. Not because no one in the history of the humanity was capable of pulling them off, but because they were original and also quite difficult to do.

You can say that Super Man dunk was a lot of gimmick, but that volleyball dunk was probably one of the coolest dunks I've ever seen. His performance has to be up there with VC, Jordan and Dee Brown as the best dunk contest performances.

Bob Ryan can be such a hater. These days, it's hard to distinguish between him and CHB.

yeah, him and CHB have been a little overboard for the past couple. . oh. . years. its just the superman thing irks me, the guys on TNT acted like he just parted the Red Sea. if that gets a 50, so does the cupcake imo

C'mon, this dude rips down 20 boards in a game and it's no big thing. He survives (understatement) on pure athleticism. 32% of his points are from dunks and another 31% are from tips and layups. Dude scores 13.6 points a game on layups, tip-ins and dunks. What post-moves does this guy have? I don't see them and yet he's just overpowers everyone like it's nothing. I've never seen a more athletic 7-footer. A truly generational talent.

Bob Ryan is a hack. Not necessarily for this, because I can't disagree about Wilt as I never saw him, but he's just a hack. Horrible stuff all the time.

this isn't an opinion based on this article

but, this was the most overrated dunk contest in history

there was 1 dunk i have never seen before...Dwights tip off the glass

everything else has already been done, and done better

i don't give a **** if there a cupcake on the rim, that was lame in the grand scheme of dunk contests

ok he dunked with no shoes on, bit he did the same exact dunk twice in a row

what ever happened to the actual dunk, forget the capes, cupcakes, ladders, cardboard cutouts

the dunk contest looks like tis run by the WWF now, its sad

Ryan is curmudgeon.

Does anyone else find it odd that in making an argument that Dwight Howard's athleticim is not that impressive...he compares him to KG and Wilt? Doesn' that prove how "dazzling" it is that 22 yr old is keeping that kind of company?

So we're not supposed to be dazzled by a player because he's "only" just as athletic as Wilt Chamberlain and Kevin Garnett, and not more athletic? Ummmmm...

But go easy on Bob, his son was recently suicided in Pakistan.

Hey this is Bob Ryan here. I would just like to say that even thoguh I'm a cranky old man who doesn't know squat about ball, doesn't mean I don't have the right to get paid as though I do. Mostly my points are overstated and rarely have much factual info behind them. I also spend half my column's using the words I and Me. What would a story from Me, without referencing the greatest person eve,,Me be worth reading? I have to go and empty my plastic bladder. This is what happens when you get old.

Everyone is inferior when you compare them to Wilt Chamberlain Especially at the age of - what? 22?

They had to hype it up a little - why not - they had to hype something, he had 0 competition.

Gerald Green did the same dunk twice in a row. For creativity - he took his shoes off. Nothing done twice in a row in the same night is going to get anyone out of their seats. Plus the cupcake was nothing. Dominique or Jordon would have jumped up and ATE the cupcake...hmmmm cupcake

When Howard left handed it off the backboard and slammed it down, I lost it. That is a top 10 of all time and nice to see a pure dunk with no gimmicks for once

As for the comment that Dwight's superman dunk was not even a dunk, technically - no. But I will be sure to mention that to him the next time I have enough height to throw a ball DOWN into the basket from 4-5 feet away.

Does anyone remember Chris Anderson trying to dunk the ball painfully for almost two minutes and FAILING to put anything down. Or the wheel - oh my god the wheel of dunks. If the worst thing about the dunk competition this year was a cheesy cape and a whole lotta hype

I'll take it any day.

Bleeding Green wrote:C'mon, this dude rips down 20 boards in a game and it's no big thing. He survives (understatement) on pure athleticism. 32% of his points are from dunks and another 31% are from tips and layups. Dude scores 13.6 points a game on layups, tip-ins and dunks. What post-moves does this guy have? I don't see them and yet he's just overpowers everyone like it's nothing. I've never seen a more athletic 7-footer. A truly generational talent.

Bob Ryan is a hack. Not necessarily for this, because I can't disagree about Wilt as I never saw him, but he's just a hack. Horrible stuff all the time.

it has NOTHING to do with the actual game. just an opinion on a dunk contest is all

Datruth345 wrote:this isn't an opinion based on this article

but, this was the most overrated dunk contest in history

there was 1 dunk i have never seen before...Dwights tip off the glass

everything else has already been done, and done better

i don't give a **** if there a cupcake on the rim, that was lame in the grand scheme of dunk contests

ok he dunked with no shoes on, bit he did the same exact dunk twice in a row

what ever happened to the actual dunk, forget the capes, cupcakes, ladders, cardboard cutouts

the dunk contest looks like tis run by the WWF now, its sad

Sorry dude, but there are only so many things that a human being can do with his limited time in the air. After 30+ years of dunk contests, you kind of run out of things to do unless you use some props.

And it's obvious that you're just hating on Gerald. The cupcake dunk was both creative and extremely impressive. And dunking the ball between your legs is hard enough. To do it without sneakers is incredible.

Let's put it in perspective. Kobe Bryant and Isiah Rider won dunk contests by puting it through their legs before they even jumped, which is much easier, and people went crazy for that.

i am the furthest thing from a Gerald hater i love him, and would trade back for him in a heartbeat

secondly, he put a cupcake on the back of the rim and blew it out while doing a generic two handed dunk, not impressed

a cupcake on the rim!

maybe because i expect so much from Gerald, but i was not impressed, ok maybe slightly impressed

you can do a dunk thats already been done but put your own twist on it, ala j-rich in 03

and it isn't THAT long ago that Vince carter completed the greatest dunking exhibition in history

there are plenty of ways to dunk and do so creatively and captivating without the use of cheap tricks and gimmicks

another wack dunk contest, i actually thought this one would be diffrent too....oh well

Datruth345 wrote:i am the furthest thing from a Gerald hater i love him, and would trade back for him in a heartbeat

secondly, he put a cupcake on the back of the rim and blew it out while doing a generic two handed dunk, not impressed

a cupcake on the rim!

maybe because i expect so much from Gerald, but i was not impressed, ok maybe slightly impressed

you can do a dunk thats already been done but put your own twist on it, ala j-rich in 03

and it isn't THAT long ago that Vince carter completed the greatest dunking exhibition in history

there are plenty of ways to dunk and do so creatively and captivating without the use of cheap tricks and gimmicks

another wack dunk contest, i actually thought this one would be diffrent too....oh well

I agree that it was overrated, especially when you have guys like Kenny Smith saying he just saw a top 3 dunk of all time, and then the next dunk was even better. It's a real slap in the face to MJ, Nique, VC, etc.

There were also a lot of rumors about certain dunks that were gonna be done, but never happened, like Moon dunking from 2 feet behind the line, or someone doing a 360 between the legs. I see what you mean about the use of props taking away from the creativity of the actual dunks. I just think it's hard to come up with too much knew stuff and have people go crazy.

my take is that Dwight Howard deserved to win the dunk contest based on his creativity and execution.
the birthday cake dunk was the best dunk of the night, but Gerald Green failed in the creativity department. He needed to pull of the barefoot dunk between the legs FIRST and then pull out the birthday cake remix in the finals.
he didn't plan well.

if his first dunk was barefoot then he would have gotten more credit for it. the birthday remix dunk would have stole the show in the finals.,

greenbeans wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



it has NOTHING to do with the actual game. just an opinion on a dunk contest is all

He said his athleticism isn't on par with Wilt or KG. I said, yes it is and here is why.

i thought this dunk contest was great, and dwight howards performance was one for the ages. that superman dunk was much more than just a costume and a gimmick. watch it again. he brought the ball from behind his head and threw it down with such power. he had his arm fully extended the entire time. think about how much arc that had, going 180 degrees with his long arms, and to throw it down with such power was absolutely amazing. dunk of the night in my opinion. he caught the ball off a bounce from another person too, making it even better.

and the other dunk with the little rim might have ended up as just a windmill, but think of where the ball started to where it ended. that was a full 360 rotation with the ball. most windmills just go from the hip or so to the rim, going only half the distance as dwights did, with the same kind of leap. the combination of athleticisim and power was so friggin awesome. gerald green could have done the backboard tap dunk and it would have been nice, but there's no way in hell that he could have done any of the other dunks with as much physical power and impressive results as dwights. he's just an incredible specimen.

what gerald green should have done is work on a 720. if anyone in the league can do it, it's him. he could have done the shoeless dunk in round 1 and made the finals. if he could do a cupcake and a 720 in the final round, we would have had a hell of a night on our hands.

it wasn't even a dunk

i don't care about dictionary definition...spare me