This was the announcement I was waiting for, the participants for the slam dunk contest.  Sadly no Lebron James or Kobe Bryant, but at least Lebron gave a legitimate reason instead of claiming to rest a phantom injury.  He said that he is better at coming up with dunks on the fly during an actually ball game rather than thinking about it beforehand.  Vince Carter made the slam dunk competition exciting again a couple years back, and last year’s champ Josh Smith, who did some eye-opening dunks, will return to defend his crown.

The other three contestants will be Hakim Warrick of the Memphis Grizzlies, he hasn’t been able to show it much this year in the pros, but Warrick used to throw down some exciting slam dunks during his days in Syracuse.  Other participants are Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala, and New York’s Nate Robinson.  Robinson’s dunks should surprise the crowd because he stands at a mere 5’9”, but even that might be a stretch.