If any dunk is overrated its this one. You mentioned the defender "ducked" in your post but you fail to mention LeBron's feet was 1 foot past the free throw line. What do you mean by non-NBA competition? It happened during the OLYMPICS, after this dunk it took the USA eight years to finally win the gold again. Also, Frederic Weis (the guy Vince posterized) was drafted in 1999 by the NY Knicks with their 15th round pick. I highly doubt LeBron can do what Vince did. People need to get off LeBron's jock already.
I said near free throw line dunk. Yeah, the Olympics, where the USA Team routinely blows out the competition by 30. Vince had more impressive dunks in the NBA than that one. I'm jut not impressed by dunking over a 7 foot stiff, in essentially an exhibition game, when the guy is ducking to get out of the way. You said you doubt LeBron can do what Vince did. Maybe. LeBron is mor eof a one-legged leaper. I dont think Vince has ever came close to dunking that far out as LeBron did in a real game.
In fairness to Vince Carter, that camera angle in the original post really sucks. You get no sense of the elevation or trajectory of his leap from that behind the basket perspective. From a baseline vantage point, it might have looked much better.
how well a team does against another has nothing to do with one players ability to jump over another (side note, id bet that euro team or whereever theyre from was as good as the bucks or "near" it. they suck). a 7 footer is a 7 footer no matter where you are. but your not impressed by that, fine...but why are you impressed with a guy who we all knew was an athletic freak dunking from "near" the free throw line with NO defense in front of him? like theAce said, there are plenty of guys who could make that dunk in an nba game...
If there are plenty of guys who can do it, why have I never seen it before? There are hundreds of breakaway dunks in every season ... how many times did a guy leap from that far out? All alone on the court, with time to pace their steps, that's a dunk maybe a handful of NBA player could do. But to do that in an actual game with defenders trying to chase you down, is much, much harder. In fact, to my knowledge, it's practically never been done. The closest thing I can think of what Clyde's dunk back in the 80s against the Lakers. Also one of my favorite dunks of all time. I guess I just like the long jumpers more. I do think there's a difference in Vince trying that dunk against a Euro team, versus doing it against a real NBA team. I overstated my case a bit for dramatic effect ... of course it's a great dunk. But it was still, essentially, an exhibition game against inferior competition. Players tend to try to more crazy stuff in those type of games, and in this case it worked out for Carter.
How many times has someone cleared a 7-2 guy IN AN ACTUAL GAME? NEVER! Imagine running down the court at a 7-2 guy(Whoever it is) and somehow deciding to just jump completely over him. WOW! And he was pretty damn close to standing straight up....
jordan's dunk was easily the most impressive considering who he dunked on, the situation and the fact that he had no running momentum, yet look at the the heights to which he jumped, starting from a nearly standing position...
I know what your saying... But come on... he was staring right at that play as it happened, front row seat. I couldn't even imagine what it would feel like to be that close to a player dunking over a 7 footer in a game.
That VC dunk in the Olympics is hands down the greatest dunk of all-time, anyone who says otherwise is clearly delusional.
I could agree that dunk is overrated. but, it's still the greatest dunk of all time. Jordan blatantly carried on that play. so meh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9TA4-0JRaM Dunno how to imbed YT videos.. but the above link shows Kirk Snyder over Von Wafer. I've always thought that dunk is underrated... I mean, he jumped over Von who jumped up too!(although it was a hop)
VC is the greatest dunker of all time. and that dunk was unbelievable. who was in front of lebron on that dunk? i bet brent barry in his younger years could do the freethrow line on a breakaway. lebron is just pure power. his dunks lack elegance. even his between the legs dunk in hs didnt look smooth. albeit he did it in a game on a breakaway. jordan was like a work of art everytime he dunked. VC also displayed raw power but with a certain aesthetic. the pippen on ewing was way more impressive than lebrons dunk. ewing went flying to the ground. i miss 80s/90s basketball. loved the trash talk when ewing was on the floor. Shawn Kemp and VC are the greatest dunkers. i have to lean more towards VC but both are/were true phenoms.
Look for some Clyde Drexler highlights. He's dunked in-game one step inside the FT line before. And considering James White could probably do it in his sleep makes it less spectacular. What made Vince's dunk so spectacular is the fact that he actually saw a 7'2" obstacle and somehow decided "yeah, I'm going over it". I mean seriously, if you had never seen that dunk before and they freeze-framed it several steps before he took off and asked you "what do you think will happen next? I'll give you 3 guesses". You would guess 1) pull-up jumper, 2) go around for a layup, and 3) drop his shorts, moon the audience and take a dump on the court before you would have said "he's going to try and hurdle him". The other thing that made Vince's dunk more spectacular is the fact he had the variable of an opposing player that could move and ruin the attempt - not to mention make him look like an idiot trying it. Lebron had nothing but himself to screw the dunk up.
pretty serious dunk by darvin ham in college. altho its ncaa. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LYh59ahMgEw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LYh59ahMgEw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
