San Francisco – Almost every year we see a variant of the same idea. Some NBA Superstar is sitting in a hotel room or on a tropical island in the first days of the All-Star Break, watching a volley contest for the ages or a more suitable for a fast food garbage container. Then they get the itching and cannot resist presenting millions of followers on social networks who are thinking of registering in next year’s contest.
This time was the guard of Memphis Grizzlies of High Flight Ja Morant, clearly inspired, like the rest of us, by the third iteration of the incomprehensible Air Majesty of Mac McClung.
“Mac could make me decide to submerge,” tweetedIt became even more intriguing because of the fact that Morant had decreed at the beginning of this season a self -imposed prohibition of Dunking … than lasted about 72 hours.
Morant’s tweet received a remarkable response from Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who said: “If you do. I will do it with you”, followed by an emoji “100”.
The emoji selection is appropriate, since there is a 100% chance that this never happens.
The most famous “I’m going to do the Volinated Contest!” Guy is LeBron James, who made fun of participation on multiple occasions, but has never pressed the trigger. NBA analysts and former players have blamed James’s lack of enthusiasm for the contest as part of the reason why he has decreased so abruptly since the days of Gloria de Michael Jordan and Vince Carter.
But those arguments are based on a false premise: that fans want to see stars in the Dunk contest. How do we know that it is a false premise? Do not look beyond McClung, the only winner of three mobs in the history of the NBA.
Now 26 years, McClung has played exactly in five NBA games. He has played as many minutes from the NBA (71) as points that Donovan Mitchell once scored in a single game. Not many outside the Mixtape circuit of high school, had even heard of McClung before their first call to the volley contest three years ago.
The answer, friends, is right in front of our faces. It is not the stars that will attract emotion. It is the notches. McClung has creativity, charisma and, above all, a passion unbridled by immersion. By his own admission, he spent “eight or nine months” working on the overtions that we all cancel on Saturday night. Part of that, presumably, is because it is not loaded with the demands of being a superstar of the NBA.
“It’s something I love to do,” McClung said after his victory on Saturday night. “I think that’s where my creativity comes. It’s because I really love this contest and I love flying.”
Think of Jaylen Brown. An NBA player who would win the final MVP for one of the most marquesine franchises in sports was in the contest of overturned last year. Oh wait? Did you forget it? That is because McClung took him absolutely out of the water in the final round.
Here we have a literal representation of skill and performance about the name recognition, and yet we are still crying out that we need stars to save the volley contest. Make makes sense.
Here is a modest proposal: instead of implaciably hitting the doors of people who do not want to be in the overtown contest, and would probably do a mediocre job when they arrived there, why don’t we go to the other way? McClung is a star of the G League, and it is likely that there are others who can make an absolute show when it comes to mounting basketball. Just look at some of these most prominent aspects of the Dunk Contest of the G League over the years. Tell me that some of these people could not attract more emotion than Andre Jackson Jr. and Matas Buzelis, NBA names that most casual fans would find blank looks.
And if we really take the best possible kills on the floor on Saturday night, why don’t we immerse ourselves in the world or professional dunkers? Yes, that’s a thing, and it’s really glorious. All the time that LeBron passes by perfecting their basketball skills, these boys simply dedicate themselves to immersion.
McClung mentioned that Isaiah Rivera helped him with his preparation for Saturday’s victory, even lent his car to practice what will undoubtedly fall as One of the best overtions in the history of the contest. If you are not familiar with Rivera’s work, here is a brief fragment of her capacity as Dunker.
Are you saying that you don’t want that in the Volinated Contest? Or how is this madness of Jordan Kilganon?
Of course, you have never heard of these guys. But you hadn’t heard of Mac McClung either, and now it is a family name that we hope and pray will return for another year after he said that “I was probably thinking of hanging it after this.” It is a testimony of how much work is needed to be this Good as a Dunker.
“This year he really felt that great challenge,” McClung said Saturday night. “Yes, I don’t know. I never want to say, man, but I think he took away a lot, sure. I prepared very early and put a lot of work on it.”
McClung has undoubtedly demonstrated that fans will respond to great magnetic charm and a unique arsenal. At this point, with the degree of difficulty and creativity required to do something really original, it will simply not get it from the NBA superstars.
The NBA opened the door a crack for McClung, and he almost broke the thing. If the league really wants to save the volley contest, it is time to allow other dunkers that are not NBA to hurry.
