The NBA's Slam Dunk Contest was ... not well received. To put it lightly.
On Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the annual All-Star Weekend event took place, with New York Knicks forward Obi Toppin taking home the trophy over Warriors forward Juan Toscano-Anderson in the final round.
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, as well as what appeared to be the overwhelming consensus of fans online, were not happy with the underwhelming event. The ESPN personality offered a taste of what was to come on First Take on Monday.
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Fast forward to Monday morning and Stephen A. did not disappoint, tearing into the event.
"That was the worst Slam Dunk Contest in the history of basketball," Smith said. "It was a national atrocity, it was awful. Somebody needs to say it, so i"m going to say it. Now I'm happy that a Knick won something, we actually had a New York Knick that won something, that was Obi Toppin, okay? It was so bad that it was actually one of the rare moments where we should actually hide a trophy. We should actually hide the trophy, that's how bad it was."
Many who watched the event were left unimpressed with the lack of creativity and the many misses throughout the competition.
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"Here's where I'll put it into perspective," Smith added. "I'm 54 years old, I struggle with bad knees and guess what, I could have missed that many dunks. You didn't do anything I couldn't do. Who can't miss dunks all the damn time?
"Listen, if you're Obi Toppin I saw you do it in a game but somehow you missed. [Juan] Toscano-Anderson, when the hell did you dunk like that before? I heard that you don't even do that in practice. How the hell are you going to do it at a Slam Dunk Contest? Cole Anthony, major love for him ... I love his game, I love all of their games. Jalen Green, I love all of their potential, I'm not knocking them as players or anything like that, but you're Cole Anthony, you're not a dunker. So if you're going to dunk, what the hell are you putting on Timberlands for?"
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The criticism surrounding the event was loud, even deafening. It was clear that many fans, players, analysts, etc. were not happy with the product on Saturday night.
Chances are that the league will work to make next year's event much more enjoyable.
