Dominique Wilkins

I grew up idolizing Dr. J for his leaping ability and creative dunks. Several years before Erving retired Dominique Wilkins came on the scene and took dunking to a new level. Dominique quickly became a favorite player to watch due to his amazing power dunks. Players like Baylor, Gervin, Thompson, and Erving had amazing moves where they would cradle the ball and move it around but I think Dominique was the true father of the full blown windmill dunk.

He also took the double pump dunk and put back dunks to another level. I loved Wilkins' ferocity and power. Few players have backed up their dunks with that much brute force. I'm sure you have seen his most popular dunks many times but this is a great clip of some lesser known gems that are equally impressive. Thanks for what you did for the sport Dominique! Enjoy.

All Star Voting Travesty

The NBA recently released their first vote count for the All-Star game next month. I was not surprised to see Lebron had the most votes with 595,288 votes but I was shocked to see that behind Kevin Durrant for the West's big men, Zaza Pachulia is in second place with 439,675 votes. Seriously?

Pachulia has more votes than Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, Karl Anthony Towns, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol, and Deandre Jordan. He is even the 8th leading vote getter for all of the players in the NBA.

This reminds me of when Yao Ming used to get so many votes due to all his fans in China voting. I used to love to watch the All-Star game but it has lost much of it's magic over the years and stuff like this doesn't help. I think the NBA should base their criteria on current year production and stats so players who are having a great year and deserve the honor can be involved. Even though Kobe has been one of the greatest players in the game I didn't think he deserved to be the top vote getter last year, let alone play in the game.

It appears that Zaza's homeland of Georgia got people involved in a campaign to send him to the All-Star game. I'm not sure what they are doing or if they hired computer programmers to assault the system with votes for him but it's working. Even though he is a veteran I don't recall any specific plays from his career or how he has impacted the game. I just hate to see more deserving players get slighted due to the NBA's current criteria for choosing players.

This was just the first round of voting which uses the fan's input so hopefully logic will prevail when the players and media make their votes by February 19th.

It's not over until it's over!

Just a few reminders that you should not give up until the end of the game. A lot can happen in the last few seconds.

I was always impressed with the Reign Man when he was playing in his prime. I've seen many of his
top 10 dunks over the years, but this new video of his top 50 recently came out and I was shocked that I had not seen so many of these dunks before and how great they are. This is a must watch for anyone that appreciates a great dunk. He has some of the best body control in the air I've ever seen,

Shawn Bradley

When I attended B.Y.U. Shawn Bradley was the star of the basketball team. I enjoyed watching him play at the collegiate level but like many others, I was pretty critical of his play once he arrived in the NBA. He was an impressive shot blocker but I was expecting him to put on some weight and be one of the most dominant centers of the game.

Bradley became a target for shorter players who wanted to dunk on him and was criticized frequently in the NBA. It wasn't until I saw this short ESPN video a couple years ago that I gained a ton of respect for the guy. I also appreciate Jeff Van Gundy more after hearing some of his insights.

I admire many great players for their athleticism and accomplishments on the court even though their life off the court may be a mess. Shawn is one guy who may not have met the high expectations we had for him when it comes to basketball but he gets the big picture and has his priorities right which is much more important in the long run.

Funny Video on Kevin Durant leaving Thunder for Warriors! (KD pulls out ...

Open Court on NBA

I Love watching Open Court! It is so entertaining to hear all of these basketball greats discussing the game. I get a kick out of their different personalities and watching their discuss a variety of topics. Even if I occasionally disagree with what they might be saying, I can still appreciate their opinions and views on the game.

Whenever I watch these segments I feel like I'm at a reunion as they discuss aspects of the game I have been enjoying for over 35 years. It's only a matter of time until they start arguing and then eventually bust up laughing. I actually think I'd rather watch Open Court episodes than many NBA games.

Check out this segment below at the 6:00 minute mark when Charles Barkley starts falling asleep and Shaq busts up laughing and they all get on his case. I love this stuff.



The only thing that would make it better is if they could expand the cast even more. I'd like to hear from more past players like Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Jordan, Dominique, David Robinson, Allen Iverson, etc. Some of these guys are obviously more entertaining than others but it is still so fun to see them interact and I learn a ton from watching these segments.