Paul George: Playing Cleveland In The First Round Would Be Ideal

Paul George: Playing Cleveland In The First Round Would Be Ideal by Jalen Bishop

Zach LaVine took the world by storm last night by putting in the most electric dunk-contest performance since Vince Carter in 2000. He did things that few mortals can do — and maybe no other humans can do so effortlessly.

But there is a long history of pros unveiling incredible dunks we’ve never seen before that later become somewhat commonplace. Isaiah Rider was the first to go through the legs then Kobe did it then Vince did it off a bounce then Jason Richardson did it off the glass.

That isn’t to say that LaVine’s remarkably casual, physics-defying performance will ever tarnish. There is simply a limit to how high homosapiens can jump and how much time they have to do clever stuff in the air before they land.

But young players coming up today are learning from the past and stealing all the best moves to remix into their own. Guys are getting better at knowing how to toss the ball and small-hand players — like LaVine — are finding ways to do incredible things despite not being able to palm the ball like Michael Jordan or Dr. J can.

The video below shows some of that, with Team Flight Brothers recreating what they call the best 28 flushes in dunk -contest history.

Included is the most impressive of the Fred Jones dunks from the year he took home the crown.

Unfortunately, there is no recreations of any other Indiana Pacers.

There is no Paul George dunk or the famous Statue of Liberty from Terence Stansbury.

Really, the through-the-legs windmill from PG is certainly one of the most-difficult 28 of all time. Though, since it took him a few tries and it didn’t go through all that cleanly, it doesn’t get its due really. Plus, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Team Flight Brother who is doing the recreation actually can’t do this one.

Few can.

But it is a sweet, well-produced video regardelss, and the final dunk is the John Wall clincher from last year.

And that does include the nae nae dance celebration of Wall and Paul George.

So that is nice.