About Basketball Dunks

A dunk in basketball is a field goal in which the player takes the basketball and leaps toward the rim with one or both hands and pushes the basketball through the hoop. Basketball dunks have been called slam dunks, jams, flushes, throw downs and stuffs. There have been many memorable dunks in the history of the sport and the National Basketball Association has an annual Slam Dunk Contest each year before the All-Star Game to determine which player can dunk the ball with the most flair and pizzazz.

  1. History

    • One of the first players to use the dunk as a consistent offensive weapon was Wilt Chamberlain, who was over 7 feet tall and extremely athletic. Chamberlain could easily jump up and dunk the basketball and he was documented as dunking on a 12-foot high rim while at the University of Kansas in the late 1950s. However, the dunk was not a high priority for players of that era and was thought of as no great feat. When Lew Alcindor came out of high school he was greeted by what became known as the "Alcindor Rule" in the NCAA ranks--dunking was outlawed from 1967 until 1976, mostly because it was feared the 7-foot, 2-inch center would be too dominant. Dunking never was banned in the NBA or rival ABA and it became a much copied sensation on playgrounds and in gyms across the United States when players such as Connie Hawkins and Julius Erving displayed spectacular dunks in games on a regular basis.

    Significance

    • Julius Erving was arguably the greatest dunker ever. The former University of Massachusetts star was a great player in the ABA and later the NBA and owns two of the most famous dunks of all time. His first was in a dunk contest prior to the 1976 All-Star Game when he took off from the foul line some 15 feet from the rim and dunked the ball with ease. His second was in the 1983 NBA Finals when he dunked over the Lakers' Michael Cooper with authority and grace, taking the ball all the way from his side and over his head in a windmill motion before slamming it through the basket. The first woman to dunk a basketball in a professional game was Lisa Leslie, who dunked for the Los Angeles Sparks in July 2002.

    Function

    • Darryl Dawkins, then with the Philadelphia 76ers, actually broke a fiberglass backboard with one of his dunks in late 1979. Dawkins, who, at 6-11 and 270 pounds, was enormously strong, threw the ball through the rim with such force that it tore the rim away from its moorings and shattered the backboard. Dawkins did this again a few weeks later, leading to a rule that stated such an event in the future would lead to a fine and suspension. Years later the rim was designed with strong springs that could prevent damage from forceful dunks.

    Types

    • Michael Jordan is considered one of basketball's greatest dunkers along with such players as Dominique Wilkins, James Worthy, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Larry Nance and Darrell Griffith. The best dunkers have a number of different types of dunks they can use. A tomahawk dunk is one in which the player will bring the ball back over his head before jamming it through the basket. Other types of dunks include the "alley-oop dunk," a shot where a player catches a pass thrown to them around the rim and then dunks it through with one hand or two. Players have been known to dunk the ball backwards over their head or bring the ball up from their waist and in one motion jam it through the rim.

    Effects

    • As exciting as the dunk is in a basketball game, the shot has had some negative effects on the sport. The idea of making it onto a highlight reel dunking the ball has led to selfish play. More importantly, the popularity of the dunk has led to some players being less fundamentally sound. Rather than develop a full repertoire of shots around the basket, many big men rely solely on the dunk, failing to develop other shooting skills.