Dunk contest rosters

By Sam Rubenstein

I continue my mini-run of writing posts that contain not much more than a roster. The NBA has announced the dunk contest participants.

Nate Robinson will get to defend his crown. Please keep it under 15 attempts per round this time. This is the last time you will ever hear of Nate as the defending champion of anything.

Gerald Green, the dunking star of the summer league two summers ago, is in. He’s my pick to win. It would make it two years in a row that the league’s most embarrasing team salvages the slightest bit of diginity with a dunk contest win.

Tryus Thomas, who everybody loves because he shut down JJ Redick in the tourney, is in.

And Dwight Howard. It’s always tricky for the big guys. Amare was in it a few years ago, and it was Nash’s header that got most of the attention on his dunks. Dwight better break the backboard like he did at the photoshoot for Lang’s story on him when he was still in high school.

UPDATE:  Dunk contest judges to include past winners Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Julius “Dr.J” Erving,
Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter
.
Since this post is so short, I’d also like to throw in that Mark Kriegel, the author of PISTOL, is signing at the NBA Store at 5 P.M. today. I’ve been a Kriegel fan going back to his radio ads for his writing with the Daily News when I was in high school. I’m about halfway through the book (up to the part where Pistol was the great white hope as a box office draw as a rookie for the Hawks) and it is highly recommended reading.