NBA Great Shawn Kemp Likely Not A Fan Of Anthony Edwards Dunk Over John Collins
Count Seattle Supersonics legend Shawn Kemp among those who were probably not impressed by Anthony Edwards' dunk earlier this week.
Many have labeled Edwards leaping over Utah Jazz forward John Collins the dunk of the year. He jumped from the dotted line and slammed over the 6-foot-10 Collins.
Video of the clip went viral and it was the subject of every sports highlight show. The basketball world went crazy over it.
While the dunk was acrobatic and jaw-dropping, Kemp would probably brush it off. Because he's not a fan of plays called dunks when the player's hand never touches the rim.
In 2012, Kemp was asked about the Los Angeles Clippers tandem of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin being called "Lob City. Kemp said some of Griffin's dunks weren't really dunks.
"Some of those dunks that they're doing are not dunks," Kemp told Soncisgate.org. "Those are what you call slap-ins. A dunk is when you aggressively dunk a basketball and the rim bends ... What I was doing was tomahawks."
The Edwards dunk falls in the category of Griffin. He never touches the rim but folks are still referring to it as a dunk. So Kemp does have a good point. Most of Kemp's dunks involved him grabbing the rim.
Still, it's hard to discredit Edwards too much. It should be appreciated because it was an amazing play.
But I agree with Kemp. It was a "slap-in." An impressive one, however.
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
In This Article (1)
