Slam Dunk Contest not what it used to be

So Nate Robinson is the first three-time winner of the Slam Dunk Contest. Seeing as he's listed at 5'9", it's not only amazing that he can leap so high, but that he can perform some of the dunks he does. Nate can't palm the ball.

As I watched last night, I caught myself flashing back to the days of Dominique and Air Jordan when they battled one another for the title. I wondered if this exhibition could ever return to those days. Simply, no. But the reasons are not as simple.

Even with Robinson's historic feat (and I'm not downplaying his accomplishment), the Slam Dunk contest isn't close to what it used to be. I'm not saying that because there's no LeBron and no Kobe. I'm saying that because of a few factors.

I'm saying that because the "wow" factor isn't there anymore. One of reasons to watch it was to see if anything innovative was being done with the dunks. You really can only go so far with dunking a basketball, right? But these boundries are being pushed all the time.

I'll trace back a bit about the "names" not being there. That used to be a draw. Those "names" no longer perform at the contest and the NBA and its fans are at a loss because of it. Who would you rather see in a Slam Dunk final: Nate Robinson v. DeMar DeRozan or LeBron v. Kobe? Silly question, I know.

The rules are different, too. Remember when players performed a dunk, got their score and watched the others to see if they advanced to the next round? There were no time limits involved or multiple attempts. Take one shot and see how you do.

And when it got to the final two, the scores determined the winner not voting done online or via text messaging? Me, too. It's almost evolved into a popularity contest. I'm guessing since the fans vote on who should play in the game, the NBA figures the fans should determine the winner.

There were multiple rounds. If you had 8 competitors, they cut down to 4, then 2. You would see if a player was really mentally ready for this. Not now. Two rounds. That's not so bad. The players don't get as tired that way and that's almost (I said, almost) a plus.

The Slam Dunk Contest can never be what it once was, the jewel of All-Star weekend.

Vince Carter, where have you gone?

We're talking trash...

One of the things I do every day is not only check out what's making big news, but I also look for interesting pieces, articles, etc.

I came across a poll that was very interesting. SI.com recently conducted a poll of about 173 NBA players and asked them this. Who's the biggest trash talker in the league? Some answers won't be too hard to figure out, but a couple did raise an eyebrow. And some were very deserved. I'm not huge on trash talk, but these guys obviously are.

The top trash talker didn't really surprise me. It was the amount of top votes he "garnered". That was a bit of a hint. It's none other than Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics. Garnett for all his talking received, get this, an astounding 62%! Sure, the Big Ticket can get a bit animated on the court, but there's obviously more to it than what we see. I guess going from Minnesota to Boston forced KG out of his shell.

Second place goes to the always charming Kobe Bryant. Kobe does have the hardware to backup his mouth, though. Four rings, an MVP and 11 All-Star nods earns you that right, if you view it that way. But with KG dominating the vote, Bryant only received 7%, and still managed the #2 slot.

Third goes to a Celtic teammate of Garnett's, Rasheed Wallace. This may be looked at as spillover of his days in Detroit, but Wallace deserves every right to make this "elite" list. Watch a Celtics game. You'll quickly see what I mean. And I'm not even referring to his interaction with the refs. He does it to opponents, too. I don't think his jaw ever stops moving.

Number 4 caught me a bit offguard. It's yet another Celtic, Paul Pierce. Three of the top for are from Boston. I hate to see what happens in a game of fish with these guys. I know Pierce can talk, but I didn't realize he talked this much. Apparently, the rest of the league has noticed this a lot more. Maybe it's because when I watch the Celtics, Garnett and Wallace chatter so much that my attention rarely goes to Pierce and his chatter.