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In the 2009 All Star game, Shaq opened the introductions with a dance presentation with the Jabbawockeez. It was so hilarious that this could have been one of the best All-Star game introductions.

This just tops everything from Nate Robinson winning the slam dunk competition to Derrick Rose winning the skills challenge to even Shaq winning co-MVP honors with Kobe Bryant in the All Star game. This was just a crazy display of dance skills. It sure looks like Shaquille O’neal can retire from the NBA and pursue another career in dancing.

The Jabbawockeez, who won the MTV hip hop dance reality series America’s Best Dance Crew, looked really small and were just like decorations to Shaq. But of course they’re not because the Jabbawockeez are really good. They actually made Shaq’s dance better and this was better than his dance moves against Lebron James and Dwight Howard in the All Star game before.

So here’s the video of Shaquille O’neal with the Jabbawockeez: (more…)

Nate Robinson

Nate “Lex Luther” Robinson bested dunks of defending dunk champion Dwight Howard in the 2009 All Star Dunk Competition in Phoenix. The two advanced after beating J.R. Smith and Rudy Fernandez in the first round.

The highlight of the first round featured a throwback by Rudy Fernandez to the late Fernando Martin. It was still a great tribute even if throwbacks were a little old for this competition. He only scored a 42 from the judges in spite getting his first try on a behind the back pass off the backboard and slammed it in with his right hand. I felt that he should have gotten a better score than that.

There were some sick dunks in this competition too, as we saw Dwight Howard throw it off the side of the backboard, catch it with one hand and throw it down with power. We also saw how Dwight Howard put on a show by wearing his signature Superman cape and coming out of the phone booth and catching a pass from Jameer Nelson to dunk it on a 12 feet high ring.

The highlight of the event would be Nate Robinson as after his second dunk, he went straight to the locker room and people felt that he might have injured something in that dunk. He came back later wearing green from his jersey to his shoes and socks to even his arm sleeve. This was his armor and kryptonite to Superman and it served him really well as he was able beat crowd favorite Dwight Howard.

Dwight Howard’s dunk from the free throw line wasn’t that spectacular compared with Nate Robinson’s dunk over Howard that won the people’s votes and crowned him the Dunk Champion in the 2009 Slam Dunk competition.

How do I rate this All Star Dunk Contest?

I give this a 7.5 out of 10. I wasn’t really blown away by the dunks this year even if I try to convince myself that I wasn’t expecting too much after what Superman Dwight Howard did last year. The players were trying to do too much and even though they did it, it really took a long time and a lot of tries before they were able to execute the dunks.

I’m talking about the Pau Gasol pass off the back board to Rudy Fernandez which took 100 tries before Fernandez was able to complete the dunk. J.R. Smith also had a hard time doing one of his dunks because of bad timing and passing from Sonny Weems, whom I haven’t even seen play this year.

Of course, this contest wasn’t just about dunks that failed to please the crowd. This was Nate Robinson’s night. He and Dwight Howard put on a show during the Finals but Nate Robinson was really the kryptonite to Superman. It was fun to see how little Nate got so high in his dunks and won the people over the text lines. He will be looking to defend his title against Lebron James next year in Dallas.

Oh yeah, by learning in this contest that Lebron James will be entering the dunk contest next year, I’d have give this contest an 8 out of 10. Looking forward to next year..

The Orlando Magic All-Star will likely miss a couple of weeks because of a torn right labrum in his shoulder. If the Magic opts for shoulder surgery then he will miss the rest of the season. Regardless of what they choose, Jameer Nelson won’t be playing in his first All-Star game. He would be replaced by Ray Allen, Mo Williams or David Lee who will be chosen by David Stern.

After four disappointing seasons after being selected 20th overall in 2004, Nelson finally proved to us this year that we was worthy of that pick any maybe even higher. He’s averaging 16.7 points on 50% shooting, 5.4 assists and 2 threes a game. He has only averaged 1 three a game once in his career but after being appointed the starting point guard of the Magic this year his confidence went up and his threes started falling.

He has been a big part of the Magic’s success this year and I just feel sorry for this guy right now. He has not only given the Magic success but fantasy owners who drafted him in the middle rounds of this year’s drafts. Right now, all you can do is pick up Anthony Johnson or trade for Hedo Turkoglu, who looks to have a higher assist average towards the end of the season as he will be playing a point guard’s role.

Looking forward, if the surgery is successful and the recovery is fast I’m excited to draft Jameer Nelson as my 2nd point guard next year.

Not only is Rudy Fernandez the 4th dunker in this year’s Sprite Slam Dunk Competition in Phoenix but he will also be the first international player to compete in this competition. Congratulations to him although I must admit that I voted for Joe Alexander.

According to nba.com, “With 251,868 votes in the online balloting, Portland’s Fernandez edged Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook (147,279) and Milwaukee’s Joe Alexander (114,963) as the rookie representative.”

I’m really not sure how he will do in this competition against power dunkers like Dwight Howard, Rudy Gay and Nate Robinson but I really can’t wait to see. A lot of Fernandez’ dunks in the NBA are alley-oops from fellow country man Sergio Rodriguez, who will be taking a vacation during the break. (Rudy says thanks a lot for the support!)

I’m guessing that the dunk we will be seeing are mostly dunks that are smooth and gliding dunks. It’s been 13 years now since we last saw a player take off from the free throw line in the Slam Dunk contest, will we be seeing that kind of dunk from Rudy Fernandez this year?

They have similar body frames right? So it might be possible. If ever Rudy Fernandez wins this dunk competition it would really be sweet since it will not only crown him as the first international slam dunk champion in the NBA but it highlight more the dunk he did on Dwight Howard in the Olympics. Funny how Howard will also be in this competition. I’m thinking he’d like to use Rudy Fernandez as props to one of his dunks and he’d dunk on him really bad.

I’m starting to like Rudy Fernandez to win this competition. OK, I’m rooting for him on this one starting today. I’m even considering putting money on this guy. What do you think?

After voting for my all stars at nba.com I checked the leaders of the 2009 Nba all star ballots. There were a lot of surprises in the top three of each position except the center slot. It made me realize that some players just have the fan support even if they’re not that deserving to be starting in their respective conferences. Or maybe the fans of other players really feel strong for the other players they voted in to be all stars. 

Players like Tracy McGrady and Yi Jian Lian are in the top three of their respective positions in their conference. When it comes to their play it is a bit surprising but when you come to think of it, they have such a huge fan base that they can easily get into the starting lineups.

It was just surprising to see some big names not being at the top of the ballots or at least getting few more votes. Players like Joe Johnson, Brandon Roy and Danny Granger are some of the players I’d like to mention. One can argue that they’re up against bigger names like in Granger’s case, a player named Lebron James. Or for Brandon Roy who’s going up against Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and yes, the number two in guard spot ballots in the West, Tracy McGrady. But for Roy to just get 267,053 votes is just crazy. This guy is an all-star for me. 

If I had my way this would be my 2009 NBA all-stars that you should see in Phoenix in February. (more…)