PBA’s Sick Slam Dunk Contest

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I hope Kelly realizes this now, despite winning the PBA 2008 Slam Dunk Championship, he is not made for slam dunk competition. He’s not supposed to get us pumped to see the so-called Kelly-KG slam off next year. He is more of in-game dunker. You know, the Amare Stoudemire, the Nelson Asaytono, the Shawn Kemp dunker types.

It’s obvious, he’s got few tricks in the bag. His slam repertoire aint deep. To cut it short, his best dunk is the between-the-legs stuff. This trick is old. How old? Eleven years old and counting. It;s the Kobe 97 slam dunk clincher. Also, you know its old because that between the legs dunk has had some variations over the years via Mason, Richardson, Carter, etc. So that’s it. That’s the dunk of the night. Impressed? Me not.

He was the first one to admit, he was cramming minutes before the slam dunk competition as to what he’ll pull. See, he needed his “sidekick” Ryan Reyes’ advice in few instances. Even his, encore dunk, it was far from an encore. First is a miss. The second, is a simple back-slam that Benjie Paras and Bong Alvarez could do in their sleep.

Remember when the NBA put off this Slam Dunk competition for a while? Then it came back with a bang, via the Vince Carter show (with Steve Francis and T-Mac giving good dunks of their own). That’s what the PBA should do for now, put the PBA slam dunk on sick leave. After a 2 to 3 year hiatus, then the PBA should go ahead and do this one again. In time, when the likes of Intal, Norwood, Aguilar, etc. are primed for the show. Not Mente please.

Some dunks pulled by the participants yesterday were sick. Sick, in a bad way.

Here’s the line up yesterday. (The line up below brought back memories, mostly comical, slam dunks of yesteryears. Who can forget Cadel Mosqueda? This dude joined the contest and he can’t freaking dunk the ball straight up, basic dunk. Also Orquillas of Ginebra particiated too and he was nasty. Again, nasty, in a bad sense.)

A. An aging Joey Mente, who does nothing but jump on a bended guy just 2 feet away from the rim.
B. Arwind Santos who looked like he just got up from an quick afternoon siesta. He’s sleepy as hell. (I don’t blame him though, again, he’s one of those in-game dunkers who need some passes, a missed shot then a follow-up dunk, a shot blocker to beautify his dunks. I remember Danny Ildefonso joining I think the 98 or 99 slam dunk (the year that Fil-Sham player Rob Parker won it), Danny pulled a “Arwind Act.” Just going through the motion.
C. A player who has nothing but half baked 360 slams, Ronald Tubid. I am glad Jason Webb mentioned the “fake” 360. Tubid was coming in from the baseline (already 90 degrees less) then he took off basically on another 90 degree turn. As soon as he’s airborne, he needed more or less 180 to pull off his dunks.
D. And finally, Kelly Williams. I said my piece above. Not to rain on his parade, but he’s an in game dunker.

This GUY has the slam dunk clips.

BTW, congratulations to Ren Ren Ritualo for bagging the 3-point shooting contest. Finally. And to Willie Miller, he had one heck of run during the finals of the Skills Challenge. He clocked 25.5 seconds, a perfect run in the finals that really made it impossible for Dondon Hontiveros to unseat Willie as the game most “skilled” guard. BTW2, Don Don Hontiveros also made the finals of the 3-point shoot out along with John Arigo. The runner-ups Arigo and Hontiveros (defending champion he is) were both last shots away from at least tyng or winning it all. BTW3, the threepoint contest used the shorter arc. I just wonder, during the peaks of Cabahug, Caidic, Jarencio and Magsanoc shooting days, none of these guys would shoot below 20 points in that contest if the three-line is that near. BTW4, what’s the matter with the PBA? They can’t even produce money balls (the ABA balls, the white and red balls, 2 point balls) for the three point shooting contest. And they are dreaming of building a coliseum of their own?