New Tips And Triks For You

The NBA switched up the way the dunk contest works, adopting a team format to align with the overhaul to many of the All-Star Weekend events. The contest was split into two stages - a freestyle portion, and a battle portion. They were both massive disappointments Saturday night.

In the freestyle, members from each conference took to the court together for a short, timed session. In theory, the freestyle format allows for newfound creativity. In practice, there was simply too much going on at once.

This new dunk contest format http://t.co/LY3aMtH50h- Luke Zimmermann (@lukezim) February 16, 2014

Thankfully, the freestyle portion was over in a flash, making way for the East-West "battles." In each of the four battles, one dunker from each conference was paired with an opponent. Those players threw down their single best dunk, and then judges decide which conference won the battle. Fans also had the opportunity to vote on the "dunker of the night," meaning there was still (sort of) an individual champion.

The major problem with the battle format is that you only got to see one dunk from each player. Not only does this speed up the competition considerably, it decreases the legitimacy of the overall "winner." To become the champion in years past, you needed a repertoire of impressive dunks.

In the 2000 dunk contest, for example, Vince Carter threw down 5 ridiculous dunks that would have melted Twitter had it existed. There was unreal tension and anticipation with each attempt, because viewers had no idea what he would try next. At the end of the night, it was clear he was the best dunker in the building.

John Wall "won" Saturday night with this very impressive dunk. He threw it down on his first attempt (he just learned the dunk Thursday), clinched a sweep of the battles for the East, and won the fan vote. It was all over so quickly, though, that there was one overwhelming response.

The problem isn't with the battle system, which is a cool innovation and could potentially spark rivalries over the years. The show just needs to be longer. Here's how to fix the contest in four easy steps:

1. Scrap the freestyle entirely. 2. Give each player three dunks per battle. 3. Have fans vote for the best dunker from each conference in the battle stage. 4. Have those players two face off to determine an overall winner. (Thanks to @corkgaines for sharing this GIF)