Is the Slam Dunk Contest back?

Every year during the dunk contest, an announcer inevitably proclaims that "The Dunk Contest is Back!" It was "back" when Jason Richardson won, it was "back" when Nate Robinson won, and apparently it's back again with Dwight Howard. D-Ho did have some crazy drunks, so all the props to him.



and though the Superman dunk is getting all the publicity, I really like this creative dunk Howard came up with.



The reason people keep looking for a reason to bring the NBA dunk contest 'back' is that it's hard to do something people haven't seen yet. A look back at the dunks from the 1980's makes it clear that MJ and Dominique would have had a tough time competing against some of the best dunkers from the mid 1990's and the present day. A hoop is 10 feet tall and there is only so much creativity you can come up with for a dunk. I mean, there are only so many ways to dunk the ball by bringing the ball through your legs. Vince Carter brought dunking to a whole 'nother level with his creative tour de force in 200o. Dwight Howard didn't quite bring dunking to a whole nother level last night, but he sure brought in some original flavor to the dunk contest. So is the dunk contest 'back' ? Of course not, it never left. We've just been spoiled with what were once thought to be un-thinkable dunks over the past few years. It's not that dunkers have no imagination anymore, it's that we're nearing a saturation point because people are close to maxing out what is possible with the dunk.

I might be wrong though. I mean, check out this video the "Air up There" from the And1 mixtape tour doing a 720 dunk.