Exactly, he would do 360's going clockwise or counterclockwise, in traffic, not easy at all. He didn't get the recognition because he played in Toronto, but if he was with New York, he would have been hyped to no end, he was a human highlight reel every night. LOL at saying that these dunks were in garbage time, you just don't know do you. Nobody wants to be posterized, people tried to stop him, he was just really good at somehow getting to the hoop for a dunk. Just watching those highlights he posted, many of them are out of nowhere, he was just so explosive and crafty that he makes it appear as though its no big deal, yet a lot of them are ridiculously hard to pull off in a game........I'm sorry but I think your opinion is way off, I'm sure you didn't watch enough Raptor games to know when these dunks were happening....When I was in highschool I watched way too many Raptor games, and trust me, this guy was a freak of nature. I can't stand the guy becaues of his attitude, but I have to give him credit where it is due, he is no question the best dunker to every play in the NBA!!! Also, he's the only player to ever get me to jump out of my seat, I never do that watching any dunker playing today, and I'm not one too get over excited about anything. Much of the reason for it was that he pulled this crap at any moment and on anyone. Nobody could stop him from dunking, that's what was so special.
In dunking, Dr. J was Babe Ruth. Carter was Roger Maris. One of the great tragedies in my life is the lack of video from the ABA days. Even growing up in Texas we used to hear about some of the things this amazing Dr. J guy did. We all tried to palm the ball like he did, swoop like he did, walk like he did. Some of us could pull it off better than others, but we all tried. The best moment in pick-up games was when you did a move and somebody yelled, "DR. J!" It happened to me three times and I remember every one in great detail... a block that pinned the ball on the backboard and two finger rolls that I didn't know I could do. Argue all you want about Vince, but Vince isn't going to be the catalyst for a merger between two leagues. Dr. J was.
there was a site awhile back that full game footage form old games. i had a lot of them saved to my pc before the site went away but my pc got damaged from tropical storm allison had a bunch of wilt games, boy was he a terrible free throw shooter.
No need to apologize, but my opinion is my opinion. I like playoff intensity dunks with full speed defense. I watched all 200 of Vince's greatest dunks, and I'm "wrong" if I'm just not blown away, I guess. 85% were against air or dudes with their hands at their sides. But they are impressive and, as you say, sometimes "out of nowhere." Really quick. You are correct that I haven't seen many vintage Raptor games, so I know less about his dunking than you do. And you... know a lot less about Dr. J than I do. Do we have a deal? Did you see Erving play live? Vince did have himself a nice set of playoffs in the 05-06 season, with some solid dunks that I can still recall. I'm just biased by the ones that matter, and Vince has a history of disappearing, with his FG % plummeting, far fewer dunks, etc. Dr. J was the opposite, and he dunked more than ever in the playoffs. It was crazy. I think rimrocker put it best. Ruth versus Maris. Different eras. One was a pioneer and another player took it to a new level in terms of raw skill but never had the same impact on the sport. So some of you have watched a lot of Maris, and that's totally cool with me. In this thread, I'm a Babe Ruth fan.
I guess there is a certain level of nostalgia when looking back at players you grow up watching. I've never seen Dr. J in games other than in highlights, he had a cool style but I didn't think he did anything freakish, I'm biased since I never really had a connection with him. I might not be the most objective person to talk on this subject, but there are loads of people who have seen Dr. J play and still think Vince Carter is the GOAT dunker. A dunk is a dunk regardless of the era, if you are able to get past the personal experiences and be objective, I think the obvious choice is Vince Carter. (btw by the time the Raptors did make the long run in the playoffs, Vince had already become shy of making contact, players understood that if you hit him hard when he was going down low he'd stay away...he was defintely not playoff material, no argument there)
Julius Erving made the greatest shot that has ever happened on a basketball court... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZOnvr2dTyk&feature=related Vince did not have the hands to do things that Julius could do... <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lY6J1gL2mGg?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lY6J1gL2mGg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
I think you're probably right, and we're all good. I will say this. The highlights don't really convey the real speed and impact of Erving's dunks from that era. I definitely had what you (or somebody) described: getting up off the couch and screaming! And the other thing I'd say is it was much, much less a replay era. There's just a ton of stuff Erving did that will never be seen again. There was no ESPN showing the doctor's dunks every night. And there wasn't a top 10 dunks feature, etc. Not to change anyone's mind, but just for fun, I like this mix and it goes well with Stevie W. A lot of the plays in this vid were in the NBA Finals, (and honestly a few of the plays are just dumb, because there's limited footage from the first two thirds or so of his career), but you get a sense for why people were so crazy about him. The dunk on Walton, when watched live, was just so incredibly nasty and surprising. As was the one on Cooper (the lock-down defender of that era.) (EDIT: see video rimrocker already posted on page 1! whoops. I've made my imbed of FAIL, and now I must lie in it.)
I grew up in Indy and saw Dr.J many times against the Pacers when he was with the Virginia Squires and NY Nets. Watching the ABA is what got me hooked on pro basketball. I didn't even really discover the NBA until several years later. NBA ball seemed boring and dull to me and I was happy to stay in my little ABA world. A league with Dr. J, George Gervin, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel and my Pacers was good enough for me. BTW, hopefully he will stay healthy and Blake Griffin might get mentioned as one of the great all-time dunkers. He's not a perimeter player but the guy has a great dunking future ahead of him.
Hey, that's the one I posted earlier isn't it? That reverse layup on the Lakers was amazing. We were sitting at a friend's house watching that very game and when he started, it looked like he was headed out of bounds... then to come back on the other side, well, it was unimaginable until he did it. Plus, the good Dr. could finger roll. Finally, you youngsters do know why Doc Rivers is called "Doc" instead of Glenn right? It's because when he was in college he always wore a Dr. J shirt. I'd be willing to bet no future championship coach relinquishes his given name for the nickname "Vince."
If your college career counts towards your in-game dunking ability, I'll put Clyde up against anyone. Anyone. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OZ13fobOmuM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OZ13fobOmuM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
