Fans Will Decide Slam Dunk Champion This Year

By Stan McNeal
The NBA has changed the slam dunk contest. Again. The rules for this thing change more often than David Beckham’s hairstyles.
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This is one change that should be good, though. The fans -- not former dunk masters waving the cards -- will decide the winner of this year’s contest, scheduled for Feb. 16 in New Orleans. Fans will be able to cast their votes on nba.com or via SMS TXT message (whatever that is, I’m sure we’ll find out all we need to know and more during the telecast).
Dwight Howard, for one, should be happy about the rule change.
Howard is returning to the contest even though he was robbed of a victory last year when his decal-posting dunk was way undervalued by the judges.
Howard will be joined by defending champion Gerald Green, Raptors rookie Jamario Moon and Rudy Gay in the contest.
I have one idea for Howard that may help: He should break out the kiss-the-rim dunk. He’s done it in practice, and it would impress even the most hard-to-impress judges.
A warning: Participants should not wait until the final round to show off their best. A panel of judges will determine who gets in the final, just like in past years. The fans then will determine the champion.
We’ll see if the change comes a year too late for Howard.↵