Knicks’ White Touted as Slam Dunk Contest Talk Heats Up

Who are these guys? Eric Bledsoe? Terrence Ross? Really, NBA?

Yes, really. The announcement of the participants in this year’s Slam Dunk competition are a bunch of invisible men, players who will never likely get the power or the fame of a LeBron or a Kobe. But they can dunk. They better be able to do that, or the selection committee is in trouble.

When you scratch the surface, there doesn’t appear to be much need to worry. Take New York Knicks forward James White. Nobody is wearing his No. 4 jersey because of his in-game production: the Knicks are the third pro team in three years for the 30-year old swingman, and he’s averaging less than seven minutes and 1.8 points per game. But he’s nicknamed “Flight” for a better reason than it merely rhyming well with his last name: he’s favored to win. White took the D-League Slam Dunk contest in 2009, and he doesn’t lack for confidence when the topic turns to launching himself into the air with a basketball in his hand.

“Everybody knows that I have the dunks from the free-throw line and all that stuff in my back pocket. I can always pull those out,” White said in an interview. “I watch what my competition does in the dunk contest, and then decide which of my dunks I will do. I have about five dunks where I’m absolutely certain that I will get a 50 on those. So it’s just a matter of when to use which of those dunks.”

As for the others, probably power forward Kenneth Faried is the best all-around player in the competition but is rated as the biggest longshot to win. Toronto Raptors forward Ross has some skills, but he’s a rookie and historically they don’t do well: the last one to win was Josh Smith in 2005.

At 6-foot-1, L.A. Clippers guard Bledsoe is the most “vertically challenged” competitor. Height shouldn’t be an issue, though, as 5-foot-7 Atlanta Hawks guard Anthony Jerome “Spud” Webb proved when he captured the 1986 crown. Then there’s Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans, the 2012 champion who has the crazy-long arms, sick vertical ability and two-ball showmanship.

Finally there’s Indiana Pacers swingman Green, who won this event in 2007 while with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Green made a name for himself but now is in the “he’s still in the league?” department because he’s basically a bench player with one outstanding skill — dunking — which isn’t really practical in league play. There’s also a rumor there could be a last-minute mystery entrant — possibly someone named “LeBron” — to counteract the mostly anonymous nature of this year’s selections and draw in more casual viewers.