How To Fix The Slam Dunk Contest

This years dunk contest featured Blake Griffin and three other guys no one knows or cares about. Of course Blake Griffin won, I couldve told you that it was as much of a sure thing as a sure thing could possibly be. Now I'm not going to sit here and say that the outcome was rigged, that would be unfair. What I will say is that it was an NBA event, where one outcome would benefit the league and the whole weekend and any other outcome would be catastrophic. Also it was in LA and there were no Lakers so Griffin was essentially a de facto Laker.

But instead of praying and piggybacking on the flavor of the week every year David Stern should address this because its a great chance to get casual fans interested in the NBA. Heres what he needs to do.

* Star Power - This is an obvious one but you need to get back to stars playing and only stars. No more letting non all star players participate. To get the super stars to participate, let the fans vote 2 East & 2 West. If the player is voted and declines to participate he will not be eligible for the All Star Game. Or you can have it like the NHL where everyone is in uniform. If you tell Lebron he cant sit in the front row wearing oversized glasses a bow tie and suspenders or some other god awful outfit and he is forced to wear his uniform he is more likely to want to play.

* Add a Prop Round - Have assorted props/supplies at the disposal of each player. Trampolines, rocket packs, pogo sticks, whatever. If Blake Griffin does that car dunk without the car no one cares. Throw a car in and bitches get wet. Everybody loves props.

* Outside? - Do the damn thing outside. Most players grew up playing ball outside on some ghetto hoop with chain net and chain fence all around. Bring the game and its stars back to there roots. Hockey does it with the Winter Classic. I think it would be real cool to see the games biggest stars take over Rucker Park or some other outdoor court.

* The Crowd - This might be the most important thing that will make this event an absolute must watch. I want the first 2-3 rows all the way around the arena to be And 1 basketball fans. Just going ballistic and all "Oh no he didnt" to everything that happened. My vision looks a lot like this following video.