Initial Thoughts on All-Star Saturday Night
Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
The NBA All-Star weekend is a couple of weeks away, and the NBA has released the names of the competitors in the 3 point shootout and the slam dunk contest. This post I'll give you my initial reactions to each of the fields.
3 Point Shootout
This field is absolutely stacked. Not only do you have both of the Splash Brothers, but you also have Kyle Korver and JJ Redick who are 2 of the most feared 3 point shooters in the game today, as well as the underrated Wesley Matthews, while Marco Bellinelli is expected to be the in the field to defend his title from last season. Although Korver and Redick are both outstanding 3 point shooters, most, if not all of the hype will be surrounding a potential Curry vs Thompson matchup. One of the best shooting backcourts in the history of the game will be duking it out that Saturday night, and this could be an all-time great 3 point contest. I expect the Splash Bros to put on a show, Korver, Redick and Matthews to put up a great fight and Bellinelli to make another unexpected great performance. I'm really excited to watch this contest this year, because unlike the dunk contest, the best in the league come out to put on a show for the fans, which is really what All-Star Weekend is all about.
Slam Dunk Contest
I was a bit underwhelmed when I first saw the names. I'm intrigued about the "Greek Freak" being in the contest because of his insane wingspan and athletic ability, I like Oladipo because of his unexpected leaping ability and he's shown he's able to throw down some big highlight dunks in games. I also like Lavine in this contest as well. Minnesota's Zach Lavine made some headlines during the summer with his post-practice dunk competitions with fellow teammate Andrew Wiggins. Seeing those makes you excited about his potential in the contest, but we'll have to wait and see. The major disappointment to me is having Mason Plumlee in this competition instead of Wiggins. I can understand it if the goal is to have someone on a New York team not named Melo involved in All-Star Weekend, but Plumlee doesn't jump off the screen when you see him. He has some powerful dunks in games and shows off some athleticism you don't usually see from a guy his size, but I don't think it will translate to the dunk contest environment. Having Andrew Wiggins along with Lavine and Giannis would have made this a memorable field, with Wiggins and Lavine leading the way. Instead you have Lavine as the overwhelming favorite, without much more to expect. That said, I will definitely be watching and hopefully this field can exceed my expectations.
