2011 NBA All-Star Weekend – Slam Dunk Contest Preview & Pick – Dunk Contest Lines
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It may never be what it once was, when the game’s biggest stars regularly participated, but few can deny that the NBA Slam-Dunk contest is still fun every year. Nate Robinson, who won three of the last five contests, is out this year, opening the door for a new champ.
Let’s have a look at each contender’s odds and pick a winner.
Blake Griffin Dunk Contest Lines
Slam Dunk Contest odds: -250
While most of the challengers are relatively obscure names, Griffin is the exception. Not only has he taken the league by storm as a rookie with his dominant inside scoring and physicality, he’s made a name for himself as the best in-game dunker we’ve seen in years.
Griffin posterizes guys left and right, flashing a massive vertical and throwing down angry jams. It feels like he’ll jump over the backboard one day. As Dwight Howard showed a few years back, a big man can still win a dunk contest if he’s creative enough. Griffin’s a particularly special case because he has Howard’s size and power but also possesses the athleticism and finesse of a smaller guy. He’s the frontrunner.
DeMar DeRozan Dunk Contest Lines
Slam Dunk Contest odds: +450
We can’t sleep on DeMar DeRozan. The Toronto Raptors sophomore has the ideal build for a dunk contest: wiry, not too tall, not too small, capable of making the athletic dunks and the big-man dunks. He can do it all. He also plays on a hopeless team so he doesn’t really have to worry about getting hurt and jeopardizing playoff chances. He narrowly lost out to Nate Robinson for the crown last year. 
JaVale McGee Dunk Contest Lines
Slam Dunk Contest odds: +500
The master of the put-back, Washington’s McGee has impressed with some serious in-game throwdowns. But he is really, really big by dunk contest standards at 7’0” and 250 pounds. I know Griffin is 6’10” and Howard won it at 6’11” but both of those guys had more athletic builds. McGee looks like more of the classic, awkward, lumbering type. I just don’t think his body is suited to win the Slam Dunk Contest.
Serge Ibaka Dunk Contest Lines
Slam Dunk Contest odds: +850
Ibaka is an intriguing play. He’s yet another big man competing this year but, while he’s not as athletic as Griffin, he’s flashed surprising jumping ability. He’s less of a vertical leaper and more of a forward leaper. Most of his best dunks involve him taking off from around the foul line, so I’d expect him to try similar stuff in the Slam Dunk contest.
THE PICK
Judging purely on dunking merit, experience and body type, DeMar DeRozan absolutely makes sense as the top pick. But there’s one big problem with choosing him: the new judging format. Introduced a few years ago, a crucial change lets fans vote in via text message to pick the winner in the final round.
There’s just no comparing DeRozan’s popularity (or McGee’s or Ibaka’s) to Blake Griffin’s. Aside from the Big Three in Miami, Griffin has been the NBA’s biggest story this season. If he makes the final, he’ll get more votes if his dunks are remotely close to the competition’s in skill.
DeRozan, who toils in obscurity in Toronto, lost the vote to the sentimental favorite Nate Robinson last year. I think the same will happen to him this year when he meets Griffin in the final.
Slam Dunk Contest prediction: Blake Griffin -250
One reply on “2011 NBA Dunk Contest Gambling Odds”
The author is right, this year’s contenders are really awesome, biggest stars participated, as a result the playoffs is really fun.