The Slam Dunk Contest is an enduring highlight of the NBA’s All-Star Game weekend, featuring as it does the values most prized by basketball fans: leaping and creativity.
The dunk is the most celebrated shot in the game. But an ability to soar above the rim and jam the ball through the net are not skills that track neatly with basketball success, which leaves the dunk contest in a sort of netherworld. It looks great, but does it mean anything outside the context of the event?
Where Zach LaVine goes, after air-walking his way to an easy victory in the dunk competition on Saturday, will be watched closely. The Minnesota Timberwolves rookie point guard may not have a game sufficiently well-rounded to become one of the league’s elite. But, at age 19, it is too early to tell.
RELATED
[ – Timberwolves rookie Zach LaVine, 19, soars to NBA slam dunk title ]
[ – Stephen Curry savors rise to MVP candidate: ‘I’m still not anywhere near what I want to achieve’ ]
Dunking does not assure success, though it can hint at it.
LaVine will know that Nate Robinson, a player of middling talent, won the dunk contest three times. He will know that peripheral figures like Harold Miner (twice), Jeremy Evans and Brent Barry won it without ever becoming stars.
He also will know that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant won it.
A spectacular dunk has an emotive value; it will excite fans as well as teammates, and sometimes can seem to change the direction of a game.
However, another staple of the all-star weekend, the three-point-shooting contest (won by Stephen Curry), in which long-range marksmanship is celebrated, probably is slightly more representative of a marketable skill. Draining a three may not energise an arena, but two of them are worth any three dunks, no matter how majestic.
LaVine is an interesting player because we can only guess where he will be, in five years. At the moment, he is a seldom-used back-up to Ricky Rubio, in Minnesota.
That he has great leaping ability is clear, and that is a nice place to start your career.
His dunks revolved around grabbing a bouncing ball at its apex and, while sailing through the air, wrapping the ball around his back or through his legs before dunking. NBA veterans who graded the results, at Madison Square Garden, twice game him perfect scores. Current players went slightly mad.
Something those at the arena may not have realized is this: YouTube video shows LaVine making those same dunks two years ago, while still in high school, and the obvious question is to wonder if the rest of his game also is stuck in 2013.
LaVine did not tear up college basketball in his one season at UCLA, averaging 9.4 points per game and 1.8 assists, a low number for a point guard. That did not scare off the Timberwolves, who made him the 13th pick in the 2014 draft.
He is struggling for playing time as well as consistency, in the NBA. He scored a career-high 28 points against the Los Angeles Lakers back in November, but over his past five games he is averaging three points on 7-for-19 shooting.
His minutes figure to go up; the Wolves last week traded veteran point guard Mo Williams, making LaVine the No 2 point guard, up from No 3.
His supporters suggest he could be a Russell Westbrook-like player – tall for a point guard, not afraid to shoot, supremely athletic.
They will hope his career does not follow the path of the 2012 dunk contest winner, Evans, whose injury-hit career has seen him average 3.7 points in five seasons.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
Follow us at our new home on Twitter @NatSportUAE
RECORD BREAKER
Youngest debutant for Barcelona: 15 years and 290 days v Real Betis
Youngest La Liga starter in the 21st century: 16 years and 38 days v Cadiz
Youngest player to register an assist in La Liga in the 21st century: 16 years and 45 days v Villarreal
Youngest debutant for Spain: 16 years and 57 days v Georgia
Youngest goalscorer for Spain: 16 years and 57 days
Youngest player to score in a Euro qualifier: 16 years and 57 days
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Afghanistan squad
Gulbadin Naib (captain), Mohammad Shahzad (wicketkeeper), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Glossary of a stock market revolution
Reddit
A discussion website
Redditor
The users of Reddit
Robinhood
A smartphone app for buying and selling shares
Short seller
Selling a stock today in the belief its price will fall in the future
Short squeeze
Traders forced to buy a stock they are shorting
Naked short
An illegal practice
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
ALL THE RESULTS
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
Catch 74kg
Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
The view from The National
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
Rooney's club record
At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17
At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253
Disturbing facts and figures
51% of parents in the UAE feel like they are failing within the first year of parenthood
57% vs 43% is the number of mothers versus the number of fathers who feel they’re failing
28% of parents believe social media adds to the pressure they feel to be perfect
55% of parents cannot relate to parenting images on social media
67% of parents wish there were more honest representations of parenting on social media
53% of parents admit they put on a brave face rather than being honest due to fear of judgment
Source: YouGov
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded