New York Knicks shooting guard James White says he will win the slam dunk contest in Houston on Saturday. (Photo: Gerald Herbert AP) They might not be household names, but the participants in Saturday night's Slam Dunk Contest are young, high-flying and could put on a show. This used to be the highlight of the weekend, with stunts like Dwight Howard's superman suit, Cedric Ceballos' blindfold, Vince Carter's between the legs, Michael Jordan's high-flying slam from the side and Blake Griffin's jumping over a car. Not sure if we'll see that on Saturday, but the contest, which will begin around 9:30 p.m. on TNT features a group of no-names who other players say won't disappoint. The field is James White of the New York Knicks, Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors, Gerald Green of the Indiana Pacers, Eric Bledsoe of the Los Angeles Clippers, Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz and Friday night's Shooting Stars MVP Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets. Now before we get to who will win, here's this disclaimer from former NBA star Dominique Wilkens. "I do wish the stars would come back to the dunk contest," he said. "I'll tell you what, if you got all the stars to take part in the dunk contest you wouldn't have a ticket left to sell. You can't get a ticket now, but if those guys were in it, forget about it." While we agree with Wilkens, it doesn't appear that will happen any time soon. Dwight Howard told reporters: "A lot of us don't participate in it because we do so much during the All-Star weekend, that by the time we get to the dunk contest we have no legs. We're standing, doing appearances all day. And when you do the dunk contest you want to have your legs, you want to be ready to go. You want to put on a good show for the fans. I think some guys don't want to get embarrassed in the dunk contest, so they just choose not to do it." A flimsy excuse we think, especially coming from a former winner. But we digress. Let's get back to this year's contest. So who will win? For that, we asked some of the more interested fans, other players. Dwyane Wade said: You know what, I don't know, man. Obviously, I think, the favorite, because of what he's done in the games, is probably Ross. I'll be rooting all my guys from the East on. And hopefully we win it. That's all I care about is that the East wins this year. Brook Lopez sat back in his chair, looking as if it was the hardest question he got all day and said: That's going to be tough, but I've got to go with my guy Gerald." Russell Westbrook: "I'm going to go with Ken. I worked out with Kenneth before. And I saw him do some amazing stuff, actually." Steve Novak: "I think there are a lot of expectations for James (White). He's saying he's the greatest to ever do it. He's not the youngest buck in that group, so hopefully he can still do it. I've seen him do it, so I know he can, but with all these fresh legs and young guys he's got to compete with . . .I think he's got a few things up his sleeve. He's my favorite to win it." Then, there's one of the participants James White, who did his best to be an unbiased analyst: "Myself. Not saying anything to disrespect anyone, but when you're in the dunk contest it's kind of like track or long jumpers. You're not going against other guys, you're going against yourself. It what can you do. If I get 50s every time it doesn't matter what anyone else does. I can't help what the other guys do, can't defend them or anything. I just have to see what I can do." Contributing: Sam Amick, Jeff Zillgitt and Kevin Spain from USA TODAY Sports; Steve Kyler, Bill Ingram and Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld. Story Highlights
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2013/02/16/nba-slam-dunk-contest-who-will-win/1924203/