Ranking every dunk in the 2020 dunk contest

Ranking every dunk in the 2020 dunk contest

Ranking every dunk in the 2020 dunk contest
NBA

Ranking every dunk in the 2020 dunk contest

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The 2020 dunk contest may sadly become known for the absolute travesty that was the judging. Derrick Jones, Jr. technically won the event, even though Aaron Gordon produced five straight perfect scores and then somehow got a 47 despite dunking over a 7’5 guy on the first try. Gordon should have two titles by now. Instead, he was beat unfairly by Zach LaVine in 2016 and defeated even more unfairly by Jones this time.

Here’s hoping that it will instead be known as the greatest top-to-bottom display of dunking in the history of the competition. The Michael Jordan-Dominique Wilkins duels may be the most iconic. Vince Carter may have shined brightest. The Gordon-LaVine dunk-off may have produced the best ending. But all four guys in the 2020 edition brought it, giving us a 16-dunk spectacle with no flops or disappointments. Many of the long-forgotten slams from the first round would top the best dunk in this competition’s leanest years.

If there’s one thing I hope the public takes away from the 2020 event, it’s that the 50-point maximum is woefully insufficient to cover the wondrous athleticism of today’s players. Any rating that considers Pat Connaughton nipping the backboard on the same level as the stuff Gordon and Jones produced in that final round needs to be recalibrated. That’s no disrespect to Connaughton’s dunk, which was nice. But there’s nice, and then there’s the stuff Gordon, in particular, did during this event.

Let’s pretend there’s no limit to the score a dunk can achieve. Here’s how I’d score and rank the 16 dunks in the 2020 contest.

1. Gordon makes Tacko FallI’m speechless. Absolutely speechless.

Let’s freeze this one for just a second. Reminder: Fall is 7’5. Gordon didn’t need to use his arm to propel himself off Fall’s shoulders at all to clear him. He legitimately jumped over a 7’5 dude.Look at that last shot. His hands are on the side of the ball, meaning he didn’t need to use them to lift himself up to actually reach the rim.

Did I mention this was on the first try? And it was unplanned?It’s now part of legend that the 1988 dunk contest was — ahem — questionably judged to rob Dominique Wilkins. That one was at least somewhat debatable. There is no debate this time: Gordon was robbed.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: Infinity is a number, right?

2. Gordon’s 360 rock-the-cradleI’ll always prefer a 360 to a between-the-legs dunk. There’s something about watching a dude spinning in mid-air while still moving forward that gets me. And the fact Gordon cradled the ball with one hand while doing it added a nice extra element that put this finish over the top.

I assume Markelle Fultz meant to pass the ball off the side of the side of the backboard? It worked out pretty well for Gordon that he did, and he did miss the first pass because he tossed it too far into the court. But if Gordon did that dunk despite Fultz flubbing the pass? Maaaan.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: A million? Let’s go with a million.

3. Jones’ off-the-backboard, between-the-legs, scissor kick, jumping over a dude and slamming with authority — I’m exhausted just describing all the elements of this dunkIf you had to name some of the dunk contest’s most commonly used tropes, they’d include:

Jumping over a guy in a prop
Going between the legs
Throwing the ball off the backboard
Tomahawking it back before dunking with authority
Combining all of them into one dunk that looks fluid and nailed on the first try? Amazing that this was the third-best dunk of the night.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 999,995.

4. Jones’ reverse tornadoThis dunk is basically Vince Carter’s iconic reverse 360 that essentially ended the 2000 dunk contest before it even started, except with a between-the-legs element added to it. And not just any between-the-legs element. No, this was a between-the-legs element the opposite way while going against his body.

If I showed you this screenshot and you didn’t know how the play ended, you’d probably assume he tried jumping straight on and just missed right. Would you guess he was actually going to his left?MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 500,000 or so. Who’s counting?

5. Gordon calls him Chance the Reverse DunkerIt’s easy to forget that the dunk contest is ultimately a beauty pageant in basketball form. The most technically brilliant dunk is no match for a clean, first-time finish where it looks like the dunker is actually flying.

Gordon looked like he was flying on this dunk, even if the actual slam didn’t have that many different elements. Jumping over Chance the Rapper is whatever. The cock back, OK, I’ve seen that before. The reverse spin to slam while moving away from the hoop — we just saw Jones do that a dunk earlier.

But the combination of all of those elements looked so clean, so it gets the edge over ...

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 1,000.

6. Gordon’s reverse reverse between the legsOriginality is the name of the game, and this Gordon dunk was original. Imagine telling someone 15 years ago that a dunk contest participant would pull off a reverse between-the-legs move in mid-air and that was merely the prelude to the dunk itself. As the great Kenny Smith famously said once twice 17,000 times, “I’VE SEEN SOMETHING I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.”

This is one of those dunks that makes me wonder why people are down on the dunk contest. How can anyone watch that ridiculous athleticism and not be awed?

By the way, this was the sixth-best dunk of the night.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 999.

7. Gordon’s other dunk over Chance the RapperThis was so close to an elbow dunk. So, so close. Just a couple inches more and he could stick the whole arm in the rim.And it was Gordon’s fifth-best dunk of the night. And he didn’t win. I’ll never get over this.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 500.

8. Jones goes between the legs over two peopleI was initially nonplussed by this dunk. Then, I watched it again, realized that Jones did a between-the-legs dunk with authority on the first try while flying over two people and jumping from here ...

.. and I realized this dunk contest spoiled me.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 100.

9. Jones’ sideways between-the-legs in the dunk-offA very, very, very, very cool dunk that I have already seen before in previous dunk contests.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 75.

10. Pat Connaughton kisses the backboardOh yeah, there were two other people in this event. And one was quite good himself and was close to advancing over the winner.

I was worried for this Connaughton finish because relying on a replay to show the key element of your dunk is fraught with peril. What if none of the judges notice in time? What if they fail to appreciate it because they didn’t see it initially? Luckily, Candace Parker noticed what was up immediately, and Giannis Antetokounmpo sold it beautifully.Deduct a couple points for this being the third try.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 50 seems appropriate.

11. Jones’ windmill from one-step inside the free-throw lineSpare me the sad comparisons to Wilkins’ unfathomable 48 in his final dunk in the 1988 contest in Chicago that handed the title to Jordan. This Jones dunk was great for a mere mortal, but it was also a worse version of the exact same dunk LaVine did at the end of the 2016 event. There’s a reason Jones was bummed after he pulled it off. He could’ve done the same thing from a step further back, but didn’t execute.

Wait, Gordon jumping over Fall got a worse score than this??

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 48 was appropriate.

12. Dwight Howard’s meme-tastic statue of libertyShockingly, Howard’s lack of charisma ruined what was actually a really difficult dunk. He spun the wrong way, held his pose in mid-air for a split second, and then spun the other way to throw it down. This reminded me of the sticker dunk he did in 2007, another very cool dunk that he completely ruined with a confusing presentation.

At least we get this meme forever.MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 47.

13. Gordon pulls off a nice reverse dunk, featuring a bunch of Tik Tok stars in the background for some reason

The dunk itself would’ve brought the house down in almost any other dunk contest. In this one, it served as the undercard for a big Tik Tok stars presentation that had no immediate payoff. I thought they’d record some sort of skit that ended with Gordon slamming it down, like a live recording of an actual Tik Tok video. That’s what they’re called, right?

(Can you tell that I’m old?)

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 45.

14. Jones’ original Airplane Mode

One of those dunks that must have looked cooler in person than it did on TV. To me, the layperson watching on my couch, it was simply a version of a dunk we’ve seen a thousand times before, with an elaborate presentation we’ve also seen a thousand times before.

Forty-six was a generous score for this. If it was scored correctly, Jones doesn’t even make the final and none of the judging shenanigans happen. What a Sliding Doors moment.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 43.

15. Connaughton stars in White Man Can Jump

The setup was cool. The actual dunk was fine. Gordon did it better in 2016.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 39.

160,000. The superman dunk

A C+ version of the original, more than a decade later. There’s a reason the dunk wheel of the mid-2000s was a bad idea: nobody wants to see inferior versions of originals.

Scoring this a 49 was an abomination. I’ll pretend that Howard’s first dunk actually got the 49 and this one got the 41.

(This is probably too mean considering Howard paid tribute to the late Kobe Bryant with this dunk. Oh well).

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: Negative 250. If I wanted nostalgia, I’d watch the original Superman dunk on YouTube.

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One of those dunks that must have looked cooler in person than it did on TV. To me, the layperson watching on my couch, it was simply a version of a dunk we’ve seen a thousand times before, with an elaborate presentation we’ve also seen a thousand times before.

Forty-six was a generous score for this. If it was scored correctly, Jones doesn’t even make the final and none of the judging shenanigans happen. What a Sliding Doors moment.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 43.

15. Connaughton stars in White Man Can Jumphe setup was cool. The actual dunk was fine. Gordon did it better in 2016.

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: 39.

160,000. The superman dunkA C+ version of the original, more than a decade later. There’s a reason the dunk wheel of the mid-2000s was a bad idea: nobody wants to see inferior versions of originals.

Scoring this a 49 was an abomination. I’ll pretend that Howard’s first dunk actually got the 49 and this one got the 41.

(This is probably too mean considering Howard paid tribute to the late Kobe Bryant with this dunk. Oh well).

MY SCORE IF THERE WAS NO MAXIMUM: Negative 250. If I wanted nostalgia, I’d watch the original Superman dunk on YouTube.