RANKING Our Top 5 Slam Dunk Performers !!!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Strictly Be Ball podcast back with another episode and we got a special topic today. We're going to be bringing you guys each of our top five NBA dunk contest performers of all time. Nolan, let's start with you at number five. Who do you have? Well, I do have an honorable mention that I think I should definitely put in this. I have Dominique Wilkins as an honorable mention. He's a two-time dunk contest champion. I think he participated in the second best dunk contest in NBA history against Michael Jordan. Sadly, he lost, but one of the most powerful dunkers the NBA has ever seen. And he was a man ahead of his time when it came to dunking. Yeah, I haven't seen your list, so this is kind of a coincidence, but honorable mention for me was Dominique as well. And the reason for that being he competed in five and he won two, which is great. As good of a resume as anyone, but I didn't like his dunks as much as some of these other guys. So that's an honorable mention for me as well. I'd have to agree with that point that you just made, though. What's your number five? My number five is Aaron Gordon. OK, he would be at number three for me, but he did not win a dunk contest. And I feel like that discredits him a little bit. So you're saying number three in terms of talent? He would have been the third best dunk contest performer. But the fact that he didn't win puts him lower than these guys for me because he hasn't won a single one. And he is definitely butthurt over that. Worth mentioning, Mr. 9 out of 10. We could go on about that with the dunk over Taco Falls. I think he kind of hit the back of his head, hit his neck a little bit. Was it worth? I think it was a 47. Was it worth a 9? Was it worth a 10? I don't know. But before that, I also wanted to mention in that dunk contest specifically where he lost to Derrick Jones Jr. He actually had five straight 50 dunks before dunking over Taco Falls. That's incredible. So yeah, he's my number five. My number five on this list is Michael Jordan. Oh, wow. Michael Jordan at number five. And this might seem a little bit too low, but I really like some of the other guys just dunking talent on this list. But Jordan obviously won two dunk contests. He had some incredible dunks. And I feel like the best thing he did for the dunk contest was just really bring star power to it. I think that's something we kind of miss with the dunk contest. Like people always said, if LeBron joined the dunk contest, it would be incredible. Michael Jordan brought that winning in 87 and 88. And he just made it an iconic event, the best event at the All-Star Weekend. And I mean, everyone remembers that free throw line dunk. Billion dollar dunk. Michael Jordan is number five for me. Moving on to number four. I got to go with Jay Rich, Jason Richardson. He's a two-time champion. The two dunks that won him the championship, I believe it was 0-2 and 0-3. The final dunk that won him the contest, absolutely disgusting. And he just was ahead of his time with the dunks. And I love him as a dunker. Yeah, Richardson, I think I know which one you're talking about. It was like a between the legs. It was like between the legs reverse and then another one. He threw it up, caught it, and then did a reverse. It was so nice. So clean. Number four for me, you already said him. It's Aaron Gordon. I would say that we had Dominique and Jordan, that duel in 88. I mean, I think Aaron Gordon versus Zach Levine was just as good. I think that's the best dunk contest ever. Yeah, the best one-on-one matchup. It was Zach Levine versus Aaron Gordon. And Aaron Gordon, a lot of people said maybe he deserved to win that one. No. I think he deserved to win the Derrick Jones Jr. one, but I don't know about the... Zach Levine deserved to win that dunk contest. But I got to give credit to Aaron Gordon. He's an incredible dunk contest performer, especially early in that dunk contest with the Puff the Magic Dragon. Using Puff the Magic Dragon, especially on the hoverboard. That dunk was incredible. Aaron Gordon is above Michael Jordan. For me, maybe that's a hot take, but yeah, he's number four for me. The best individual dunk in dunk contest history when he dunked over Puff the Magic Dragon. Both legs, first try, left-handed. And it was just like the crowd didn't even freak out as much compared to some of Levine's dunks. People were behind Levine in that one for sure. They were for sure behind Levine, which I wanted to mention. But let's move on to number three. We're heading straight into the top three. Number three is Michael Jordan for me. Two-time champion, billion-dollar free-throw line dunk. I think he participated in the second-best dunk contest in NBA history against Dominique Wilkins. Billion-dollar free-throw line dunk. You kind of hit all the points for me. Michael Jordan's number three for me. Number three for me... I actually didn't know if you would have him on here, so I respect it, but Jason Richardson is number three for me. I absolutely love his dunks. I think... So in 2000, Vince Carter went off, and we're probably going to talk about him, but 2001, people thought the dunk contest was kind of falling back off a bit, and then Jay Rich just revived it. Incredible dunker, his windmills were insane, and then that dunk to cap off that 2003 dunk contest, between the legs, and then reverse, that's one of the best dunks of all time. I agree, I agree. So Jay Rich at number three for me. Top two, I think we have the same top two. I mean, we have to. Let's see the order. We'll see the order, but I feel like if these two guys aren't in your top five, something's wrong with that. I think they have to be in your top three. I would have to agree as well. But number two for me, Vince Carter. Okay. I'm going Vince Carter. He's one of the most iconic dunks ever. You know, the 360 windmill. I believe it was a reverse 360 windmill. It's not the traditional way of doing a 360 windmill, but he's the most iconic dunker in NBA history. I'm not saying dunk contest dunker. He's the most iconic dunker in NBA history. Vince Sanity, number two for me. Number two for me, the second best dunk contest performer of all time is Vince Carter. We agree on that. Vince Carter, I think, only competed in one dunk contest. So, I mean, you got other guys like Dominique competing in five, but Vince Carter's 2000 dunk contest is probably the single best performance of all time. Especially you have to take into consideration when it happened, 2000. Yeah, so many iconic moments came out of that. I mean, you have, right away, first dunk, Kenny Smith yelling, it's over. And you got Shaq with the big camcorder recording. That is just an incredible moment. And then it just kept going. Like you said, he had the windmill reverse, and then he had the between the legs, and he points at the sky. Incredible dunk contest performance. Wasn't there one with KG who sprung up from his seat and was freaking out? Vince Carter, yeah, you said he's the best, the most iconic dunker of all time. And yeah, for me, he's the number two dunk contest performer of all time. Okay, number one, we both know who it is for us. Zach Levine, two-time champion, back-to-back. He was not robbed. I mean, Aaron Gordon was not robbed. Zach Levine most definitely should have won the dunk contest. If you look at the dunks, Aaron Gordon, the reason why he did not win is he scored, I believe it was like a 47 on his double clutch reverse. Zach Levine could have done that. Zach Levine did a windmill, and I watched. It was either a foot, his foot was on the free throw line, or it was really close to it. That was probably the most insane dunk I've ever seen. And then the one where he did between the legs. It was like a foot. It was like a foot inside of it, which is still impressive nonetheless, but imagine if he does that from the free throw line. And then there was videos, this isn't in the dunk contest, but I wanted to mention it, like when he did a 360, like basically from the free throw line. I don't know if anyone's ever seen that, but- Oh, in practice, yeah. In practice. And then he tried throwing it down again for the bowls, but couldn't, but that was insane as well. If he would have done that in the dunk contest, that would have been the best one of all time. That takes so much skill, and focus. Because if you're doing a 360, I don't even know how far away the free throw line is, but if you're doing a 360 straight on, that is extremely difficult. I don't think he could have done that, because something that Zach Levine did in all of his dunk contests, where he would make it on the first try almost every time. Yeah, that's what made it so good, yeah. But yeah, for me, the best dunk contest performer of all time, I agree with you, is Zach Levine. And like you said, I'll say the same thing, Aaron Goran didn't deserve it. I think that duel, it was the best one-on-one competition in dunk contest history, even better than Jordan, Dominique, in my opinion. Maybe we're biased, but yeah, Zach Levine won that. And also, just those free throw line dunks were absolutely insane. You think Aaron Goran should have won the Derrick Jones Jr. one? I mean, if you look at all the dunks that were 50s for him, I agree with that, but it really comes down to the taco fall dunk. That's what it comes down to, if he should have scored higher on that, because he got 50s on every single dunk besides that. And he got 49 on the taco one, right? It was like 47. Oh, three people gave him a nine? Yeah, three people gave him a nine. So it wasn't even D Wade's fault, really. Yeah, he didn't score a 49. Everyone just said it was... Everyone just made the assumption that D Wade gave a nine because he was teammates with Derrick Jones Jr. Yeah. So... But, I mean, we pretty much agreed on most of them. We had the same top five, same honorable mention. It's a pretty clear list at the top here. I don't know if too many people would disagree. I was thinking maybe you would put Vince Carter number one, but you mentioned him as the best, just straight up iconic dunker. He is the most iconic dunker in NBA history. Because he's got the in-game, he's got the dunk over whatever that guy's name is, Olympic one. The Ram seven-footer. But, yeah, we have a pretty much a similar list. And that's going to do it. Let us know if you guys disagree with these takes, but that's going to do it for our top five. As always, thank you guys so much for watching. Make sure if you're new to like, subscribe, and comment. And we'll see you in the next one.