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Pro Dunker REACTS to 2021 NBA Dunk Contest
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0:00
What is going on YouTube? Jay Clark the Jumper here and today's video we are
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gonna break down the 2021 NBA Dunk Contest so don't go anywhere
0:16
All right if you're new to the channel my name is Jonathan Clark I am a professional dunker
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competed in hundreds of dunk contests and we're just gonna get straight into the video
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and break down my thoughts on the contest, what was good, what can be improved
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and really just get into a dunk contest so you guys can get a real perspective of everything that went on
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Actually, before we get started, make sure you guys like and subscribe to the channel
0:47
Once this channel gets 50,000 subscribers, I'm giving away a free Vertical League program
0:51
and hopefully we can kind of get everybody to achieve all of their dunking goals
0:57
and you know, hey, maybe you end up in a dunk contest one day. All right, so the lineup that we had for the contest was really good
1:05
I really liked. We had Cassius Stanley out of Indiana, Anthony Simons out of Portland
1:11
and Obi Toppin of New York. And, you know, young guys, very hungry
1:19
very eager to, you know, do some good things and, you know, show the world some next level dunking
1:26
You know, I've seen a lot of their stuff from, you know, Overtime, Ball is Life, Hoop Mixtape, those types of social media outlets
1:37
And I knew they were all very talented dunkers. Actually, Cassius, the first time I saw Cassius was, I want to say it was his freshman year
1:46
He did a reverse or a J. Rich East Bay on a fast break
1:51
And he did it. And I was like, man, that gym's familiar. And I looked at it. It was actually my high school
1:56
where he did it so that was kind of you know my introduction to Cassius when he was at Harvard
2:02
Westlake so yeah I think you know ultimately when you look at drawing a crowd for a dunk contest
2:10
it's always it's always nice when you can get the best dunkers in the league but from what we've seen
2:16
in recent culture the best dunkers typically don't do the dunk contest and it's always kind of
2:24
you know the unknowns if you will not saying that they aren't great dunkers it's just
2:29
it's really hard to compete with a three-point contest when you have the best shooter in the
2:36
league competing versus the best dunkers competing in the dunk contest Zach Levine you know right now
2:43
you could say is probably one of the best dunkers in the league and he did the three-point contest
2:48
Donovan Mitchell, another slam dunk champion, did the three-point contest. So I think it's going to be up to the NBA to kind of find incentives to get the best dunkers in the league
3:00
And once they do that, you're going to see kind of that star-studded lineup
3:04
But beyond that, I think I really am a true fan of the dunk contest
3:10
I'm a true fan of dunking. so for me when I see the lineup it's kind of nice because you have you know you have a tall guy that
3:19
can do some creative stuff you have the just pure bounce of Anthony Simons and then you have like
3:27
a really talented one foot jumper in Cassius Stanley so it's it has everything that you need
3:33
from a dunking standpoint and you know the stage is set for a good contest so we get started
3:40
Cassius comes out the gate with a Tamala he punches it for those of you guys that don't know what a Tamala is
3:47
it is a between the legs dunk off of one foot but normally in a between the legs dunk
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or an East Bay dunk you will jump off of let's say for instance I am a left foot jumper
3:59
I jump off my left foot and as my right leg goes up into the air
4:03
I put the ball under my right leg and I dunk it what he did was he jumped off of his left leg
4:08
jumped in the air switched his feet and put the ball between his left leg, the leg that he jumped off of
4:14
It's a crazy technical dunk. It is not easy to do. However, to play devil's advocate, it happens so fast that judges often miss it
4:26
I remember I did it in Dunk League Season 2, and I was talking to some of the judges afterwards
4:33
and they didn't realize what I did. And I was really confused at why I got such a low score
4:38
and then when they when someone explained to one what they did they were like oh man that's crazy
4:42
um but you know that kind of goes into the factor of a dunk contest so i think he he really
4:52
definitely cash has really got robbed on his score but it kind of goes back when you like when you
4:58
look at it from a very ytical dunker standpoint you need to find a way to dress it up to make sure
5:06
that the judges understand what the technical aspects of that dunk are
5:11
So maybe you know afterwards you really got to kind of play to the motion of the movement so the judges really realize what you doing Things like that kind of help with the score But at the end of the day that should not have gotten a 44
5:24
The way he punched it, the height that he got, that's a 50
5:29
And I'm, you know, someone, I agree kind of what Dwayne Wade was saying about 50s
5:35
You don't always give out 50s, but that dunk right there was a 50
5:39
um next was uh ob he did the win two hand reverse another one so out the gate the first two dunks
5:48
of this contest were crazy and you know hats off to chuck because i know he had something to do with
5:53
that um you guys don't understand the the technical aspect of what this man did um the win which uh
6:03
was first done by Jordan Kilgannon off of a lob where you basically jump over the ball as it's
6:10
bouncing. You catch it and dunk it. Slowly turned into the win off the bounce, and I think Jordan
6:16
was the first to do that as well. Basically, where you run up, you bounce the ball between your legs
6:22
Rather than put it between your legs, you bounce it and you jump over the ball. So, it's kind of a
6:27
between the legs dunk but once you learn the timing of it it is a relatively simple dunk so
6:35
it's kind of hit or miss with judges sometimes because sometimes they look at it and it's like
6:39
oh man that looked too easy uh but when you dress it up the right way it can look crazy
6:45
perfect example Zach Levine did this in warm-ups I want to say a week ago and the world went crazy
6:50
seeing it, right? So, Obi bounced it, caught it, two-hand finish, reversed. So, it's definitely
7:00
a technical dunk, definitely something that's really hard to do. And I think that was pretty
7:06
you know, they rated that pretty fairly. When you compare it to Cassius's score, however
7:13
it now, that's when it becomes a problem, right? Because I don't think he was, you know, I don't
7:18
think Obi got, you know, extra points. I just think Cassius didn't get enough points for his dunk
7:23
And then Anthony Simons came out with the, I'm gonna call that the 11-6 dunk. I know a lot of
7:28
times when, you know, you hear it on the announcers, they start talking, oh, that's 12 feet, that's 50
7:34
inch vert. We need to be more mindful of actual heights because that kind of impacts, you know
7:40
what people think about the dunk. Not to say that that dunk wasn't crazy. I wouldn't call that 12
7:46
feet I wouldn't say he caught the ball at 12 feet and dunked it he legit caught it at 11 6 which I
7:53
think if you like max vert him he's definitely going over 12 feet um definitely head at the rim
8:01
uh that's that's the one thing I gotta give to Anthony Simons you know his um dunk package was
8:08
all about jumping as high as possible and he showcased that yesterday and you know it paid
8:15
off it won so it's like man hats off to him uh 11-6 dunk that was crazy that was a you know
8:22
overall first round was great um i think once the judges you know gave cassius a score it kind of
8:28
really threw everything out of whack because now people are on twitter and they're saying oh man he
8:33
got robbed oh man this that and the third so it it all it all adds up every little aspect of the
8:40
entire show affects the entire contest so cash is going into the second round is in last place
8:47
he needs a big dunk if he wants to make it to the next round i personally think that under both was
8:54
not his next dunk and i could be wrong but if it was or if it wasn't it put this unnecessary
9:01
pressure on him to complete the dunk first attempt finish it hard that really kind of just threw off
9:07
his game. And we saw that. He attempted the underbolt twice. And it wasn't clicking because
9:17
I don't... This is why I think it wasn't his dunk, because it wasn't practice. It was a good dunk
9:21
that he can do. But under those circumstances, when the lights are on, it's very different
9:27
competing in a dunk contest. You can do a dunk, and I'll use myself as a perfect example
9:33
I have, let's say, 10, 15 dunks that I can do in front of my house with multiple attempts
9:42
when no one's watching. I can take a rest and I can film it, post it to Instagram, and it looks crazy
9:48
Some of those dunks I would never do in a contest because I don't have it down consistently
9:53
I don't have it, you know, it's not in my dunk package for a contest
9:57
Now, I have a different dunk contest package where, you know, certain dunks that I can do
10:02
in my sleep they're good I just have to make sure I jump higher add a little more pizzazz little
10:07
things like that so I think going into his second dunk the under both wasn't it wasn't there so he
10:14
kind of just went with you know jump high finish one hand and that was all she wrote you kind of
10:19
knew he was done for the contest um giving Anfernee and Obi a chance to kind of you know play it safe
10:25
or you know just go with their routine uh typically guys come in you heard Kenny Smith talk about you
10:31
know I have a routine Guys will come in with their routine So Anthony came out with the T jersey I love it 360 pump Crazy height once again Pretty good pump So it was a good dunk It was smart It was what he needed to go to advance to
10:47
the finals. Obi came with the cuff windmill over two. His dad and Julius Randall. I am not the
10:57
biggest fan of the you know the push off two-hand but once again it was a smart dunk um when you look
11:06
at it from a park perspective so if you're in the park and you line two people up and you do that dunk everyone's going crazy so um you gotta think that ob was like all right this is a good one i've
11:15
done this before i've gotten crazy crowd reaction i'm gonna just do it again uh play it safe uh it
11:20
took two attempts so you know obviously that's what kind of moved him into second place again
11:26
And so going into the finals, he had to go first. And he went with the East Bay from the dotted line off one
11:33
For a big man like that, that's a crazy dunk. And I love, I got to say before we kind of get into, you know, going back, going into the finals dunks
11:42
I love the fact that they changed the scoring now. The Dwayne Wade rule, if you will
11:49
where instead of giving the final dunks a score, you wait till everybody dunks and you crown a winner
11:59
It'd be kind of cool to see everybody's dunks in the whole contest. That way we could have gotten an extra dunk out of Cassius
12:04
to see what he had to do. But, however, that's the rules of the contest right now
12:12
Rather than critique the contest itself, let's focus on what the contest is
12:16
and let's try to win at all costs first. And then today being that it's after the contest
12:23
and we can change the rules. But yesterday when the contest was happening
12:27
these were the rules. Everybody knew the rules. Everybody knew what was up. You got to compete
12:33
So OB came with the dotted line East Bay and Anthony came with a crazy concept
12:39
Once again, like I said, his whole goal was to show you bounce. He went with the kiss the rim dunk
12:44
Now, it's funny. I actually tweeted this out earlier this morning when Vince Carter did his iconic reverse 360
12:52
windmill they were tracking vertical and his vertical was recorded at 36 inches when Anthony
13:00
did his kiss the rim dunk looking at his height at 6'3 putting his head at the rim so you have
13:07
75 inches minus 120 inches that gives you 45 inches so head at the rim Anthony Simons had
13:16
a 45-inch vertical on that final dunk, which is nine inches higher than Vince Carter when
13:21
he did his iconic 360 windmill. Now, am I saying Anthony's dunk is better than Vince's
13:26
No. I'm just pointing out the goal of his dunk was to show you his vertical, whereas Vince
13:32
jumped high, had creativity with something that the crowd has never seen, skill with
13:40
a 360 going against the grain, and power. Like, you can't deny that that is arguably one of the best dunks in a dunk contest because it had all the elements
13:51
Anthony chose to focus on one element and exceed, you know, everyone's expectations with that
13:57
So, it was a smart final dunk. It was a great way to end the contest
14:02
Overall, this was a good contest. I think the problem with the dunk contest is everybody wants to take the current contest and compare it to contest of past
14:12
not every contest is going to be the world's best contest it doesn't you know everyone and that's
14:18
kind of the problem with the sport of dunking you look at it as I would compare it to the Olympics
14:24
of the 100 meter finals everyone wants to see the winner of the 100 meter finals break the world
14:30
record and for for life you're not only competing with the eight guys that are lined up against you
14:36
you're running against Usain Bolt's world record time. So you can win the Olympic finals and win gold
14:43
and run 9-7-0, which is crazy fast. But the casual fan will always look at that and be like
14:52
oh, he didn't run as fast as Usain Bolt. This Olympics wasn't as good
14:57
And we see that a lot of times with the dunk contest. Ever since 2000, everyone's compared the dunk champion
15:04
to Vince Carter's performance. and as of late everyone's comparing dunk contest performances to Zach Levine and Aaron Gordon
15:12
contests where they went back and forth. I think we need to kind of appreciate the talent and
15:16
skills that these guys have because going back to just an idea that you know when I talk about
15:23
this even in my reaction I need to understand and the fans need to understand these are professional
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basketball players. These are guys that their profession day in day out is to play basketball
15:34
dunking is a part of basketball but it is just a part of basketball whereas a dunker looking at a
15:41
dunk contest dunking is all they do so when I go outside today and I start lifting I'm lifting in
15:47
what one goal in mind to jump higher for dunking when Cassius goes to the gym today to work out
15:53
he working on lateral quickness to play defense he working on um upper body strength for boxing out and you know being able to get through picks he has to think about other things besides how high
16:06
can i jump or what strength do i need to execute a certain dunk so once again hats off to these
16:14
guys for having an amazing performance i really appreciate you know considering covid considering
16:21
everything that's going on they killed it uh could it have been better always you can always
16:27
look back at something and improve it um i was saying with obi's final dunk had he had a prop
16:32
that would have made that dunk so much better because when you look at you know let's say a
16:37
gi who does when he does a regular east bay he jumps really high and punches it the only difference
16:42
when he does a dunk contest is he puts a prop under it to showcase that he can jump really high
16:48
So I think when you're using props and things like that, it's to kind of enhance the skill of the dunk to make you guys realize how impressive that dunk was
16:59
Obi could have taken the Kia and done the same exact dunk that Blake Griffin did to win the dunk contest and did the same exact dunk he did, the East Bay, and it would have looked identical
17:09
It wouldn't have changed the dunk at all. All it would have done is throw a prop in there and it would have made the judges realize, man, that man jumped over a car
17:17
he did a between the legs over the car that's kind of how you have to play into that uh I think
17:23
Anthony for what it for what it's worth killed it deserved the win did what he needed to do
17:29
um I understand Cassius did get robbed uh but I really hope that he does not give up he comes back
17:37
and and you know shows the world his amazing ability because this is just the beginning for
17:42
him. I know he has an arsenal of dunks that had he gotten into the finals, it would have been a
17:48
different story. But one thing that people need to understand about contests, contests are
17:54
subjective, meaning it's based off of opinion. And the opinion that dominates is the opinion of the
17:59
judges. So one thing that you have to do in a contest is you really need to look at the judges
18:05
and look at their style. So, you know, I'm looking at the contest, D Brown, you know
18:12
you play to that if you if you hide your face on one of the dunks that's gonna get you that's
18:16
gonna get you big points because now you're playing to what made a dunk uh a dunk contest
18:22
famous one of those judges is there Josh Smith is a is a crazy one footer he jumped over uh
18:28
one of his teammates you know you you throw you throw a teammate in there one foot type finish
18:34
that looks really good uh Cassius and Obi could have done those um Dominique Dominique likes power
18:41
If you guys can't tell, like Dominique, when he was in contest, he tried to break the rim
18:46
So any dunk that you do where you finish really hard, Dominique's going to give you more points if you dunk hard
18:53
So I think when you're looking at a contest and you're putting all that together
18:57
you got to kind of be aware of what's going on with the judges and what they want to see
19:02
But like I said, these guys are NBA players and they don't sit there and think about the judges
19:07
They're not sitting there thinking about breaking that stuff down. I think that's why Chuck is there and kind of helps them and gives them kind of advice to kind of go through the contest
19:16
I would love to see if the NBA would let professional dunkers come in and help as well with different players and kind of do something like that
19:26
I think that's where our place is for the contest. To say that we need to be in the contest, no
19:33
I've said that before and I continue to say that. We are professional dunkers for a reason
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They're NBA players for a reason. the NBA dunk contest, that is their thing. Let them have their thing. Understand that
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be a fan of it. And let's not critique it because when we critique it, we're putting it down and
19:49
that puts dunking down. So at the end of the day, we want to grow dunking as much as we can. So you
19:55
really got to give these guys their credits. Because at the end of the day, these guys
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I would say, are more talented than 90% of professional dunkers in terms of how high they
20:06
jump, their ability to do technical tricks, and their willingness to get out there and compete
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So hats off to them and understanding they did it on a big stage when they get one or two attempts
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and the world is watching. As a dunker, we don't have that all the time. So we need to understand
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and appreciate that. So Cassius, Anfernee, Obi, hats off to you guys. Congrats, Anfernee on the win
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And that's all I have to say about the dunk contest. I think it was a really good one
20:36
I really do think there are some tweaks that can be made, but for the most part, it's a good contest
20:41
I know once COVID is done, next year they have a little bit more time to plan. You're going to have more dunkers, and I would love to see that D-Wade rule again
20:49
And yeah, that's all I have. Thank you. If you guys liked the video, if you guys have any comments, concerns, drop your comments below
20:56
Like I said, once this channel gets 50,000 subscribers, I'm giving away a free Vertical Leap program
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