Michael Jordan's contest dunks have nothing on this Jordan! Blasphemy right!
I know it's not fair to compare dunks - from a difficulty level not impact level - from an early stage of the evolution of basketball's most exciting play to variations done almost 3 decades later by today's most athletic high-jumpers who have spent years studying the greats of the past and practicing the art form. But when you look at how far today's athletes have taken the original foundation dunks - the reverse and 360 from the 70s, the windmill from the 80s, the between the legs dunk from the 90s - it's just mind-blowing to think what is humanly possible and what we can expect to see in the future.
I remember when Michael Jordan won a slam dunk contest with a free throw line dunk and I remember JR Rider winning a NCAA and NBA contest with a basic between the legs dunk off one foot. I would never have imagined someday, someone would combine the two. But James White did.
I remember watching Vince Carter shock the world with a basic elbow hang dunk and executing a between the legs dunk off two feet. Now we have dunkers jumping off 2 feet, going between the legs and sticking their elbow in the rim - sometimes over a person.
Remember when Cedric Ceballos won the NBA contest by doing a basic 2 hand dunk blindfolded. A few years ago Kenny Dobbs used that exact same blindfold and jumped over 3 people and went between his legs! I saw that dunk live and said "it's over" in my best Kenny Smith voice and thought I would never see a new dunk that would shock me again.
Well since then I've been shocked a few times but in the past month, I've just been electrocuted by the dunks of Jordan Kilganon.
It started off with a gimmick video of Jordan wearing a Spiderman outfit. I said cool. Then he did an over the car dunk that put Blake Griffin's contest winning dunk to shame. Then he did a 360 variation that i've never seen and it seemed like every day this guy was putting out something new. Not just new as in time but new as in fresh feeling. Then he delivered a knock out punch with a dunk that literally had people in the gym falling to the floor and me falling out of my chair. I had a friend get whiplash from whipping his head back so fast after seeing "the scorpion dunk."
Knowing the talents of today's top dunkers like Kenny Dobbs, Guy Dupuy, Justin Darlington, Sir Issac, Myree Bowden, Chris Staples, Werm, Young Hollywood, Lipek, Porter Maberry and many many others, I'm expecting them to get inspired and add their own touch to Jordan's dunks the same way the dunkers before them found inspiration and added their own touch to Michael Jordan's dunks but until then let's just enjoy and appreciate the greatness of today.