RGM GOAT Debate Thread (Part 2)

[druggas]

Oh oh I see this is supposed to be a topic about ragging on LeBron for never doing the dunk contest?

Yeah the people expressing those opinions are exactly why he and no other star caliber players want to do it anymore. There's no point when no matter what they do they're going to get made fun of and fans will cry about it.

MJ did it back when fans favorite pastime wasn't crying and acting spoiled at all times.

MJ did it because the fans wanted him there.

[ScrantonBulls]

Oh oh I see this is supposed to be a topic about ragging on LeBron for never doing the dunk contest?

Yeah the people expressing those opinions are exactly why he and no other star caliber players want to do it anymore. There's no point when no matter what they do they're going to get made fun of and fans will cry about it.

MJ did it back when fans favorite pastime wasn't crying and acting spoiled at all times.

MJ did it because the fans wanted him there.

When has he ever cared about his fans? He did it to build his brand. The only thing he cared about regarding fans is if they were buying his shoes.

[Rust_Cohle]

MJ at 40: 77th defensive rating

Lebron at 40: 445th defensive rating

Oof

[ScrantonBulls]

Oh oh I see this is supposed to be a topic about ragging on LeBron for never doing the dunk contest?

Yeah the people expressing those opinions are exactly why he and no other star caliber players want to do it anymore. There's no point when no matter what they do they're going to get made fun of and fans will cry about it.

MJ did it back when fans favorite pastime wasn't crying and acting spoiled at all times.

Social media has brought the worst out of fans. Playing in the social media era is totally different than playing in the pre-social media era.

Mike Tyson said it best. "Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it."

[ScrantonBulls]

MJ at 40: 77th defensive rating

Lebron at 40: 445th defensive rating

Oof

Do you even know what defensive rating is, rust?

[The Master]

Like it or not, it's understandable stars don't want to participate in slam dunk contest nowadays: you don't have that much to gain, plenty to lose PR-wise in social media era though. I wouldn't participate neither in SDC if I'm let's say Anthony Edwards.

In 1988, people didn't s**t on SDCs almost every year, probably knowing it's fun and not actually their profession. If people hadn't had surreal expectations, players would've been more willing to participate.

[Infinite Llamas]

Oh oh I see this is supposed to be a topic about ragging on LeBron for never doing the dunk contest?

Yeah the people expressing those opinions are exactly why he and no other star caliber players want to do it anymore. There's no point when no matter what they do they're going to get made fun of and fans will cry about it.

MJ did it back when fans favorite pastime wasn't crying and acting spoiled at all times.

Nobody was lambasting LaVine and Gordon when they had their epic showdown. They were both praised for saving the dunk contest.

You get the stars because it means people will watch the event and that’s good for the weekend. Nobody wants to see G-League guys and rookies every year.

If a star really has that thin of skin, they should just stay off social media and avoid all the noise.

[MrTribbiani]

Oh oh I see this is supposed to be a topic about ragging on LeBron for never doing the dunk contest?

Yeah the people expressing those opinions are exactly why he and no other star caliber players want to do it anymore. There's no point when no matter what they do they're going to get made fun of and fans will cry about it.

MJ did it back when fans favorite pastime wasn't crying and acting spoiled at all times.

This is the correct take. The stars who participated in the slam dunk contest back in the day benefited greatly from YouTube and social media not existing. Nowadays, you can go on YouTube or IG and see pro dunkers do crazy ****. NBA players have other priorities besides focusing exclusively on dunks.

[KokoKaizer]

Great, another MJ vs LBJ thead...

I will help you, both stans

No one is greater than Travis Diener

[meekrab]

MJ only did the dunk contest so David Stern wouldn't out his gambling addiction

[ryguy613]

MJ did the dunk contest because he wanted to be better than everyone at everything, and he wanted to prove how great he was. There wasn’t much financial incentive back then either, and he possibly could have sprained an ankle or something, but he just didn’t gaf because he wanted to be the best.

werent you literally JUST complaining about people making off season threads in the middle of an nba season? and after that, you unironically decided this thread was a good idea?

[Big J]

MJ did the dunk contest because he wanted to be better than everyone at everything, and he wanted to prove how great he was. There wasn’t much financial incentive back then either, and he possibly could have sprained an ankle or something, but he just didn’t gaf because he wanted to be the best.

werent you literally JUST complaining about people making off season threads in the middle of an nba season? and after that, you unironically decided this thread was a good idea?

This is relevant to the season because the dunk contest competitors were just announced.

[mastermixer]

You have no idea what his motivation was to do the dunk contest.

The simplest answer is that they invited him to do it and he didn’t really even think about it and he just did it without thinking. No one really thought about crap like that back then like we do now.

[HotelVitale]

No one's pointed out that the dunk contest in the 80s always had lots of stars, it was just a different era and different culture then. In '85 for example you had MJ, Clyde Drexler, Michael Jordan, Darrell Griffith, Orlando Woolridge, Dominique Wilkins, Larry Nance and Dr J. Basically every sick dunker who was famous. Also had all-stars like George Gervin, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore, etc consistently in the mix then.

People made good pts about how stars don't need it as much now, but this sort of thing happens all the time with culture, esp among famous people. Some thing is THE thing to do or compete and everyone cares about it, until they don't.

[Sofia]

“The dunk contest is dead”

also

“Why don’t good players do dunk contest”

Putting worse dunkers with big names doesn’t make the contest better, otherwise you could just do a celeb dunk contest with Taylor Swift in it

[bubbleball]

The eras make a big difference in this now too. Pretty much every dunk you could think of has been done, and the contestants like Gordon and LaVine were the perfect storm of creative dunkers who also held the contest in high regard. Plus for better or worse, the cons for a notable player doing this now probably outweigh the pros. Sure you could do great, but the risk of negative social media commentary/potentially losing to a G-League caliber player (based on the past few years of contestants) would loom larger for some guys. Odds are if you don't get a player to do it in their first 2-3 seasons it won't happen.

[ShootersShoot]

I think a big part of it nowadays is that its getting harder to come up with new dunks and spend the time practicing them. Also there has been a major shift away from taking the as weekend too seriously as to avoid injury. Would be interesting to see if the nba come up with incentives to try and peak player interest for the dunk contest as it can get really lackluster.

[dhsilv2]

No one's pointed out that the dunk contest in the 80s always had lots of stars, it was just a different era and different culture then. In '85 for example you had MJ, Clyde Drexler, Michael Jordan, Darrell Griffith, Orlando Woolridge, Dominique Wilkins, Larry Nance and Dr J. Basically every sick dunker who was famous. Also had all-stars like George Gervin, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore, etc consistently in the mix then.

People made good pts about how stars don't need it as much now, but this sort of thing happens all the time with culture, esp among famous people. Some thing is THE thing to do or compete and everyone cares about it, until they don't.

Wasn't that like the first or second one ever? Of course the first couple had more big names. The 1986 winner was rookie Spud Webb.

[TheGOATRises007]

LeBron definitely should have done it

I don't know why he didn't, but it is what it is

[ryguy613]

MJ did the dunk contest because he wanted to be better than everyone at everything, and he wanted to prove how great he was. There wasn’t much financial incentive back then either, and he possibly could have sprained an ankle or something, but he just didn’t gaf because he wanted to be the best.

werent you literally JUST complaining about people making off season threads in the middle of an nba season? and after that, you unironically decided this thread was a good idea?

This is relevant to the season because the dunk contest competitors were just announced.

Seems like a pretty thinly veiled excuse to talk up MJ for no real reason. It would be one thing if Jordan set the precedent for star players participating in the dunk contest, but thats just not the case. First of all, most of the previous dunk contest winners were super stars. Second, you make it sound as though the MJ who won the dunk contest was already considered the best player in the nba, but still wanted to prove something. thats not even close to true. MJ won the contest in 87 and 88, so he was worlds away from the goat discussion. he wasnt even considered the undisputed best player in the league. It would basically be the equivalent to like... Shai or Ant participating. Like... its great that he got involved but it was not out of the ordinary for players of his caliber at all. So, this is pretty silly.