David Thompson did a 360 degree dunk to finish his routine. The contest was inaugurated by the American Basketball Association at its All-Star Game in 1976 in Denver, the same year the slam dunk was legalized in the NCAA.
When looking back to the best performance in Slam Dunk Contest history, the story behind the legend extends much further than the dunks themselves. "The excitement from the evening would not die down. It was an emphatic 50 and would have been a much bigger deal were it not for what happened next.Part of the dunk contest's rules in 2000 stated that at least one of each participant's first-round slams had to come with the aid of a teammate. Later, he had become such a feared dunker that at one national high school competition, which featured other future NBA All-Stars, the field simply forfeited midcontest after one particularly explosive Carter slam.By early 2000, Carter was a newly minted All-Star, a dynamic scorer and one of the NBA's rising names, but he was still a foreign entity playing in Canada for the Toronto Raptors. Today, we look back at the range of emotions that Vince Carter evoked among the masses in February of 2000. George Gervin and David Thompson both missed a dunk during their routines which counted as a zero (scores were not announced to the audience). Throughout the 1990s, it failed to draw star participants, and those who did compete were often derided for the dunks they managed. The cameras panned the crowd, the judges, the players. NBA All-Star Weekend features many exciting events, but the Slam Dunk Contest typically takes the cake. Cynthia Cooper (judge, 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest): We knew he could dunk… McGrady received a 49, Francis a 50.Carter's second dunk was the slam he originally planned for the first round. Instead, to cap off the contest, Carter sprinted the full length of the court and leaped from a step inside the free throw line for a two-handed jam. After a one-All Star Weekend layoff (the NBA did not have an All Star Weekend during the labor-shortened 1999 season), the NBA decided to bring the Slam Dunk Contest back for the To the delight of NBA fans, the 2015 contest was changed back to its original format, as the Freestyle Round as well as the teams were taken out. But the NBA accomplished a coup in setting its field for the 2000 contest. The arena roared.Carter took to the court for his first dunk that night with no true plan. The slam he had prepared to open with he instead decided to use second in his routine. He hung there, balletic, for a moment so upon replay there could be no mistake what he had just done. For his debut, he thought back to a dunk he had done only two or three times before in his life. While the official basketball festivities were held at Oakland Arena (now Oracle Arena), most other NBA events happened across the Bay Bridge where the players' hotels were, in San Francisco.Inside the Oakland Arena, a frenzy unlike many others was building for the first NBA Slam Dunk Contest in nearly 36 months. The dual-colored Toronto Raptors jerseys, the camcorders, and a tasteful dash of personality blended to form “Vinsanity.” Vince Carter revisits his mesmerizing performance in the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. All competitors had to perform a dunk from 10 feet, but Julius Erving started marking his steps from the free throw line (15 feet away). When he landed on the floor, he held his head down to listen. It was a risk.
Francis: Even coming into the [2000] dunk contest they said [Vince] was going to win. The two-handed slam dunk from just inside the free throw line (Score: 48) For his final dunk of the night, Carter opted to play it safe and go with a basic throwdown in order to secure the trophy.
His vision was to catch McGrady's bounce pass in midair, pass the ball from his left hand to his right hand through his legs and slam it through. The roar started before he could finish the slam.The dunk was a perfect 50. While McGrady missed his final dunk, in essence eliminating him from the contest, Francis earned a 48 for his favorite dunk of the night: an alley-oop reverse leapfrog where he coiled his body high in the air and seemed to bring his knees to the bottom of the net for the stuff.There was buzz in the arena that, for his final act, Carter might perform a 720-degree dunk -- a slam in which he would spin two full revolutions like an acrobat, an incomprehensible dunk he had actually completed before. The next evening, in Oakland, he is to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend, an event both celebrated and reviled and one Carter does not yet know he has been tabbed by the league to save.His thoughts turn to the half-dozen or so slams he has planned for the competition, a stacked affair that will feature four All-Stars, either present or future, including Carter's cousin and teammate. "If anything I would have tried it the last dunk," Carter says. With all his prepared dunks scrapped, the pressure was on Carter yet again to think up something spectacular.What he ginned up was his most radical dunk of the night -- something new, even dangerous, an attempt he might well hurt himself trying. Though not to McGrady and Francis. "[Stackhouse] was just shaking his shoulders, like, 'Really?'" That year, a lockout caused a shortened season and wiped out the entire All-Star Weekend. In the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Carter used an elbow hang along with his reverse 360 windmill dunk and between-the-legs dunk.
When looking back to the best performance in Slam Dunk Contest history, the story behind the legend extends much further than the dunks themselves. "The excitement from the evening would not die down. It was an emphatic 50 and would have been a much bigger deal were it not for what happened next.Part of the dunk contest's rules in 2000 stated that at least one of each participant's first-round slams had to come with the aid of a teammate. Later, he had become such a feared dunker that at one national high school competition, which featured other future NBA All-Stars, the field simply forfeited midcontest after one particularly explosive Carter slam.By early 2000, Carter was a newly minted All-Star, a dynamic scorer and one of the NBA's rising names, but he was still a foreign entity playing in Canada for the Toronto Raptors. Today, we look back at the range of emotions that Vince Carter evoked among the masses in February of 2000. George Gervin and David Thompson both missed a dunk during their routines which counted as a zero (scores were not announced to the audience). Throughout the 1990s, it failed to draw star participants, and those who did compete were often derided for the dunks they managed. The cameras panned the crowd, the judges, the players. NBA All-Star Weekend features many exciting events, but the Slam Dunk Contest typically takes the cake. Cynthia Cooper (judge, 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest): We knew he could dunk… McGrady received a 49, Francis a 50.Carter's second dunk was the slam he originally planned for the first round. Instead, to cap off the contest, Carter sprinted the full length of the court and leaped from a step inside the free throw line for a two-handed jam. After a one-All Star Weekend layoff (the NBA did not have an All Star Weekend during the labor-shortened 1999 season), the NBA decided to bring the Slam Dunk Contest back for the To the delight of NBA fans, the 2015 contest was changed back to its original format, as the Freestyle Round as well as the teams were taken out. But the NBA accomplished a coup in setting its field for the 2000 contest. The arena roared.Carter took to the court for his first dunk that night with no true plan. The slam he had prepared to open with he instead decided to use second in his routine. He hung there, balletic, for a moment so upon replay there could be no mistake what he had just done. For his debut, he thought back to a dunk he had done only two or three times before in his life. While the official basketball festivities were held at Oakland Arena (now Oracle Arena), most other NBA events happened across the Bay Bridge where the players' hotels were, in San Francisco.Inside the Oakland Arena, a frenzy unlike many others was building for the first NBA Slam Dunk Contest in nearly 36 months. The dual-colored Toronto Raptors jerseys, the camcorders, and a tasteful dash of personality blended to form “Vinsanity.” Vince Carter revisits his mesmerizing performance in the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. All competitors had to perform a dunk from 10 feet, but Julius Erving started marking his steps from the free throw line (15 feet away). When he landed on the floor, he held his head down to listen. It was a risk.
Francis: Even coming into the [2000] dunk contest they said [Vince] was going to win. The two-handed slam dunk from just inside the free throw line (Score: 48) For his final dunk of the night, Carter opted to play it safe and go with a basic throwdown in order to secure the trophy.
His vision was to catch McGrady's bounce pass in midair, pass the ball from his left hand to his right hand through his legs and slam it through. The roar started before he could finish the slam.The dunk was a perfect 50. While McGrady missed his final dunk, in essence eliminating him from the contest, Francis earned a 48 for his favorite dunk of the night: an alley-oop reverse leapfrog where he coiled his body high in the air and seemed to bring his knees to the bottom of the net for the stuff.There was buzz in the arena that, for his final act, Carter might perform a 720-degree dunk -- a slam in which he would spin two full revolutions like an acrobat, an incomprehensible dunk he had actually completed before. The next evening, in Oakland, he is to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend, an event both celebrated and reviled and one Carter does not yet know he has been tabbed by the league to save.His thoughts turn to the half-dozen or so slams he has planned for the competition, a stacked affair that will feature four All-Stars, either present or future, including Carter's cousin and teammate. "If anything I would have tried it the last dunk," Carter says. With all his prepared dunks scrapped, the pressure was on Carter yet again to think up something spectacular.What he ginned up was his most radical dunk of the night -- something new, even dangerous, an attempt he might well hurt himself trying. Though not to McGrady and Francis. "[Stackhouse] was just shaking his shoulders, like, 'Really?'" That year, a lockout caused a shortened season and wiped out the entire All-Star Weekend. In the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Carter used an elbow hang along with his reverse 360 windmill dunk and between-the-legs dunk.