{"id":7564,"date":"2019-02-12T11:45:56","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T01:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/?p=7564"},"modified":"2019-02-12T11:00:19","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T01:00:19","slug":"nba-slam-dunk-contest-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/2019\/02\/nba-slam-dunk-contest-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Slam Dunk Contest Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The slam dunk contest is always one of the more eagerly awaited All-Star weekend events and this season is no exception. This year\u2019s field is highlighted by mercurial Knicks Point Guard Dennis Smith, who was recently traded to the Knicks. Hornets Rookie Miles Bridges has had some phenomenal dunks this season and looms as the second favourite at $3. Hawks big man John Collins is arguably the best player on this list and currently finds himself 3rd<\/sup> favourite at $4, whilst athletic swingman rounds out the list. In this slam dunk contest preview, we\u2019ll go over each of these 4 players chances and provide our best bets.<\/p>\n

Dennis Smith Junior $2.80<\/h5>\n

Renowned for his elite athleticism coming into the 2017 draft, Smith looks to be the rightful favourite for this award. He has put up solid but inefficient averages this season of 13.6 points and 4.6 assists per game. He appears to have turned a corner in New York, averaging a respectable 19.3 points and 6.5 assists. Importantly, he is also one of the most feared Point Guard dunkers in the NBA today. He has outstanding hops for his relatively small frame and is known for his dunk creativity. At $2.80 to take the event out, I think Smith is good value here.<\/p>\n

Miles Bridges $3<\/h5>\n

Athletic Hornets Rookie Miles Bridges is 2nd<\/sup> favourite for this award at $3. He hasn\u2019t played a huge role in Charlotte this season, averaging just 6.6 points and 3.6 rebounds. That said, he has thrown down a few monstrous dunks this season, one of which even made Michael Jordan get out of his seat. It is said that 6\u20196\u201d to 6\u20198\u201d guys tend to deliver the most aesthetic dunks and Bridges is the only player in this event within this height range. At $3, I expect either him or Smith to take home the crown.<\/p>\n

John Collins $4<\/h5>\n

After being injured for the first half of the season, John Collins has been a huge part of the Hawks recent resurgence. The sophomore big man is averaging 19.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and is considered one of the more athletic bigs in the league. His wiry frame gives him tremendous bounce and athleticism for his size, making him solid as a dark horse to take this one out.<\/p>\n

Hamidou Diallo $6<\/h5>\n

Far and away the least heralded player on this list, the OKC Shooting Guard has played only around 500 minutes this season. He hasn\u2019t really impressed either, averaging an inefficient 4 points and 2 rebounds per game. That said, he is one of the more athletic young wings in the NBA. He is a somewhat smaller and lighter version of Bridges but was renowned for some outstanding dunks during his college career.<\/p>\n

Best Bet: Dennis Smith Junior at $2.80<\/h5>\n

Given his recent trade to New York, Smith has far and away the most name recognition of anyone on this list. He also has arguably the best hops of all and already has some tremendous dunks during his NBA career. As the potential face of the Knicks going forward, the stakes are really high for Smith here and I expect him to deliver. At $2.80, I think he is definitely over the odds and has at least a 50% shot to win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The slam dunk contest is always one of the more eagerly awaited All-Star weekend events and this season is no exception. This year\u2019s field is highlighted by mercurial Knicks Point Guard Dennis Smith, who was recently traded to the Knicks. Hornets Rookie Miles Bridges has had some phenomenal dunks this season and looms as the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2572,2150,1286,2575],"hub_post_cat":[],"class_list":["post-7564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","tag-nba-all-star-betting","tag-nba-futures","tag-nba-preview","tag-nba-slam-dunk-contest"],"acf":{"md_tip_date":null,"md_tip_date_end":null,"md_market_url":"","tip_date":"12\/02\/2019","event_country":"Australia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7564"},{"taxonomy":"hub_post_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub_post_cat?post=7564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}