Like I said, Nate would have to wow me. It's always impressive for a 5'8″ guy to dunk but I'm afraid that we might have seen everything from him. He'd have to dig into his bag of tricks.

I still wasn't too impressed with Shannon Brown in the whole contest. But like I said, he could be totally different now. No doubt that he has the vert to do whatever he wants in the air.

I want to see Gordon put on a good show but I won't be surprised if he doesn't have much besides the one-handed, over-the-top jams.

As far as I can see, DeRozan is the guy to beat. Shannon and Nate will be in the hunt while Gordon and Wallace will have to totally wow us.

You took the words out of my mouth as far as my sentiment toward LeBron. I've been tweeting it from the start: IMO, LeBron James cannot win an NBA Dunk Contest without help from the judges. As you acknowledged (and I agree), he has major hops. He can probably pull off a nice free-throw-liner in a contest. However, he has yet to show much more than his typical one- or two-handed throwdowns, as powerful as they are. Hence, LBJ = Game Dunker.

Now with the field set, I have to be objective. As a Bobcats fan, I want to see Gerald Wallace take it. But first things first, we have to declare that DeMar Derozan probably has the dunk-in locked already. I hope Eric Gordon can surprise us all and upset the brash rookie, but this video seems to already declare Derozan will be competing in the actual contest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYc_6aiq-Ao

Next, if the rules are like the last few years' rules, we'll see time limits on the dunks. Even then, I don't foresee Nate Robinson pulling off a difficult dunk in less than 10 attempts. That's why we've got the two-minute limits. I'd still pull for him to win if he can do legit dunks. No more jumping over people. No more stepping on teammate's backs in order to elevate. And no more of the same dunks we've seen from him in the previous 3 contests (2006, 2007, 2009).

And of course, there's Shannon Brown. Everyone thinks he'll win it (including me). The clip you showed of the 2003 McDonald's Dunk Contest Final Round doesn't show this one switch-handed dunk he pulled off. I'm thinking he has some other tricks we've yet to see him do. At worst, he need only do the Statue-of-Liberty-360, and he'll end up the modern-day Terence Stansbury.

Of course, Gerald Wallace is last. I don't think he'll win it, but I think he'll keep it interesting. The stupid wheel you correctly referred to is the reason the 2002 contest is not what it could have been. I think Crash has 1, maybe 2, dunks that will draw some “oohs” and “ahhs.” But he'll likely not be in the Final Round.

My predictions (provided rules remain the same as last year)

Dunk-In (2 dunks): DeMar Derozan def. Eric Gordon, 96-82
1st Round (2 dunks): DeMar Derozan 99, Shannon Brown 95, Nate Robinson 90, Gerald Wallace 87
Finals (2 dunks): Shannon Brown def. DeMar Derozan, 92-90

Like I said, Nate would have to wow me. It's always impressive for a 5'8″ guy to dunk but I'm afraid that we might have seen everything from him. He'd have to dig into his bag of tricks.

I still wasn't too impressed with Shannon Brown in the whole contest. But like I said, he could be totally different now. No doubt that he has the vert to do whatever he wants in the air.

I want to see Gordon put on a good show but I won't be surprised if he doesn't have much besides the one-handed, over-the-top jams.

As far as I can see, DeRozan is the guy to beat. Shannon and Nate will be in the hunt while Gordon and Wallace will have to totally wow us.

You took the words out of my mouth as far as my sentiment toward LeBron. I've been tweeting it from the start: IMO, LeBron James cannot win an NBA Dunk Contest without help from the judges. As you acknowledged (and I agree), he has major hops. He can probably pull off a nice free-throw-liner in a contest. However, he has yet to show much more than his typical one- or two-handed throwdowns, as powerful as they are. Hence, LBJ = Game Dunker.

Now with the field set, I have to be objective. As a Bobcats fan, I want to see Gerald Wallace take it. But first things first, we have to declare that DeMar Derozan probably has the dunk-in locked already. I hope Eric Gordon can surprise us all and upset the brash rookie, but this video seems to already declare Derozan will be competing in the actual contest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYc_6aiq-Ao

Next, if the rules are like the last few years' rules, we'll see time limits on the dunks. Even then, I don't foresee Nate Robinson pulling off a difficult dunk in less than 10 attempts. That's why we've got the two-minute limits. I'd still pull for him to win if he can do legit dunks. No more jumping over people. No more stepping on teammate's backs in order to elevate. And no more of the same dunks we've seen from him in the previous 3 contests (2006, 2007, 2009).

And of course, there's Shannon Brown. Everyone thinks he'll win it (including me). The clip you showed of the 2003 McDonald's Dunk Contest Final Round doesn't show this one switch-handed dunk he pulled off. I'm thinking he has some other tricks we've yet to see him do. At worst, he need only do the Statue-of-Liberty-360, and he'll end up the modern-day Terence Stansbury.

Of course, Gerald Wallace is last. I don't think he'll win it, but I think he'll keep it interesting. The stupid wheel you correctly referred to is the reason the 2002 contest is not what it could have been. I think Crash has 1, maybe 2, dunks that will draw some “oohs” and “ahhs.” But he'll likely not be in the Final Round.

My predictions (provided rules remain the same as last year)

Dunk-In (2 dunks): DeMar Derozan def. Eric Gordon, 96-82
1st Round (2 dunks): DeMar Derozan 99, Shannon Brown 95, Nate Robinson 90, Gerald Wallace 87
Finals (2 dunks): Shannon Brown def. DeMar Derozan, 92-90