Webb reflects on dunk contest win
Spud Webb remembers getting on the bus after winning the NBA slam dunk contest 35 years ago and getting a quick piece of advice from his Atlanta teammate at the time, Doc Rivers.
The message: Your life just changed forever.
“He wasn’t joking,” Webb said. “Everywhere I go, even today, people are talking about it.”
That’s what happens when a 5-foot-7 guy — a height that was perhaps generously listed — captures imaginations by winning the dunk contest, which was just in its third year then. Webb returns to the dunk contest on Sunday in Atlanta as one of the judges, when firsttime competitors Anfernee Simons of the Portland Trail Blazers, Cassius Stanley of the Indiana Pacers and Obi Toppin of the New York Knicks compete for the title.
They are not big NBA names, yet.
By Sunday night, that might change.
“Hopefully, these guys put on a show for everybody and leave them talking,” Webb said. “I guess that’s really what it’s all about. If people don’t believe in you, then you can go out and prove that you are one of the best dunkers in the NBA.”
He knows a little something about that.
Webb, 57, won his title in Dallas, his hometown, in 1986 — and had to beat Hawks teammate Dominique Wilkins to get that trophy. Even now, Webb sees his win as the ultimate underdog moment since he still insists that Wilkins is the best dunker of all-time.
“There were only 20,000 people in Reunion Arena,” Webb said. “I’ve had 100,000 people in Dallas tell me they were there.”
That will be a tough claim for someone to make this year. The dunk contest will take place at halftime of the All-Star Game, and because of the pandemic only about 1,500 guests — mostly frontline and vaccinated healthcare workers — will be invited to watch the game and the skills events.
It’ll be a two-round event. The three competitors will perform two dunks each in the first round, and then the two with the highest combined score from those will get one dunk each to decide the champion. Those final dunks won’t get a score; the winner will be determined by “Judges’ Choice” — a twist where the judges raise a card that has the dunker’s name on it.
“I was going to try and do stuff that hasn’t been done yet in the dunk contest,” said Toppin, who led major college basketball with 107 dunks last season at Dayton. “But I’ve seen a lot of great dunks, so I might have to bring out one of the old dunks that someone did.”
Webb — part of a fivejudge panel this year, all of them former dunk champions — isn’t opposed to that approach. He’ll be joined by Wilkins, Dee Brown, Jason Richardson and Josh Smith to choose this year’s winner.
“I think even if they repeat a dunk, it depends on the artistic and creative parts of it,” Webb said. “I like the like power dunks. I’m just excited too see what these guys are going to do.”
Griffin bought out
Blake Griffin’s time in Detroit is over, another significant step in a rebuilding process that has the Pistons at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The veteran forward and the Pistons agreed to a contract buyout.
“I thank the Pistons organization for working together on an outcome that benefits all involved and I wish the franchise success in the future,” Griffin said Friday in a statement released by the team.
The Pistons announced last month that they would keep Griffin out of the lineup while resolving his future, a clear sign that the star forward could be on the way out. The Pistons also traded Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks last month.
Griffin, who turns 32 later this month, came to Detroit in a trade during the 2017-18 season. The question now is how valuable he might be to a contending team. He had a terrific 2018-19 season for the Pistons, helping them to the playoffs, but his health has been a concern in Detroit, just as it had been when he was with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Griffin has averaged 12.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists in the 20 games he’s played this season.
“As we stated from the beginning of our discussions with Blake and his representatives, our goal has been to facilitate a resolution for the future that maximizes the interests of both Blake and our team,” Pistons general manager Troy Weaver said. “We appreciate all of Blake’s efforts on and off the court in Detroit, have great respect for him as a player and a person and we wish him all the best in the future.”
Detroit is just 10-26 this season and had three firstround picks in last year’s draft. A couple of them — Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey — have shown some promise. The Pistons also acquired Jerami Grant in the offseason, and he’s averaging 23.4 points per game.
All of that means it makes sense for the Pistons to move on without Griffin. Detroit traded big man Andre Drummond around this time last year, and the team’s offseason reshuffling left Griffin as one of the few holdovers.
If healthy, Griffin can offer size, versatility and veteran leadership to a contender. He was traded to the Pistons just seven months after signing a $171 million, five-year contract to stay with the Clippers. A couple seasons ago, he averaged a careerhigh 24.5 points — but even in that 2018-19 campaign, Detroit was swept in the first round of the playoffs, and the team wasn’t able to build on that.
Once one of the league’s most exciting dunkers, Griffin’s game produces fewer highlights now, but he’s become a serviceable threat from 3-point range and can help a team in a number of ways. His injury problems might be less of an issue if there isn’t as much pressure on him to play heavy minutes.