12Feb/0910:36 AM

Who would win an all-time Suns Dunk Contest?

By Vince Marotta

Make sure to vote in the poll at the bottom of the post.

With NBA All-Star Weekend unfurling here in the Valley, one can only reminisce about the greatness of former NBA Slam Dunk Contests.

That’s not a knock on the wonderful creativity we’ve seen the last few years from Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson, who are both participating Saturday.

But when the dunk contest was at its best, it featured 8 dunkers, not four, and some of the really big names in basketball, like Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins and Terrence Stansbury (ok that was a joke) took part.

The Phoenix Suns have had a pretty good history of their own in the Dunk Contest, even seeing two of their own, Larry Nance and Cedric Ceballos take home the honors.

It got us to thinking…who would win an all-time Phoenix Suns 8-man dunk-off?

Let’s meet our participants…

Cedric Ceballos - One of only two Suns’ players to win the Dunk Contest. Took Dee Brown’s signature “cover the eyes” winning dunk to a new level, blindfolding himself to win the title in 1992. Some questions arose about whether he could see through the blindfold or not, but he still won the title over Larry Johnson, Nick Anderson, and Shawn Kemp….Now spends his time looking miserable as he hosts the in-game festivities for the Suns at US Airways Center.

Tom Chambers - He’s one of only five white guys to compete in the Dunk Contest, finishing 7th in 1987 when he was a member of the Seattle SuperSonics (remember when Seattle had a team?) Has one of the most famous dunks in Suns’ history when he launched himself so high, he introduced his groin to Knicks’ guard Mark Jackson’s face.

Rex Chapman - Another one of the white dudes to participate…Early in his career Rex was a true skywalker, only to transform into a jump shooter with unlimited range as his career went on. Check out this rare footage from his UK days, when Sexy Rexy actually had hair.

Richard Dumas - His career was short, and burned out quickly like a supernova, but there’s no denying that Dumas could get higher than anyone. Too bad that was off the court. A couple of “Doom Booms” are featured in this video from game five of the 1993 NBA Finals.

Connie Hawkins - “The Hawk” has to be on any list of all-time Suns, right? There’s not a whole lot of footage of early in Hawkins’ career, when he was contributing highlight dunks for the Pittsburgh and Minnesota Pipers of the ABA. But there’s a rare Hawk nugget in this video.

Shawn Marion - Interestingly enough, the Matrix has never competed in a slam dunk contest, despite being one of the most athletic players in the league during his career. I know there’s a lot of hard feelings toward Shawn in Phoenix, since he whined his way out of town (and ironically, might be back) but you can’t deny the fact that he can get up with the best of them. Check out this alley-oop slam right on the head of Dirk Nowitzki.

Larry Nance - When the NBA borrowed the Slam Dunk Contest from the defunct ABA in 1984, Larry Nance of the Suns competed, but was a dark horse contestant. After all, he was going up against the most famous dunker of all-time in Julius Erving, not to mention the Human Highlight Film, Dominique Wilkins, and Portland’s Clyde Drexler. Not only did Leapin’ Larry show up, but he made off with the first Slam Dunk crown.

Jason Richardson - He hasn’t been a Sun long, but J-Rich has an impressive dunk resume to rely on. He’s competed in three contests, winning over Desmond Mason, Steve Francis (remember him?) and Gerald Wallace in 2002. We know he can dunk…now if he could just get that 3-pointer to fall again. Check out his crown-winning dunk from ‘02. Kenny Smith is still drooling.