The NBA is in a positive space after a resoundingly successful All-Star Weekend, the first one in a long time. The new format put forth by commissioner Adam Silver, which pitted All-Stars from around the world against two American teams composed of the young guns and the old heads, was a blast.
Advertisement
As the league continues to deal with many serious issues, such as tanking and gambling, it should be easy for us all to come together and celebrate a job well done on the All-Star Game. Of course, every issue the league faces won’t be magically fixed just because guys played hard at the Intuit Dome on Sunday.
However, it’s a start, and it provides hope that Silver can steer the league through any other troubled waters it faces. That’s not how Skip Bayless operates, though.
Skip moves about in the sports world just like how there’s always a rain cloud following Charlie Brown around. We can’t have nice things because Skip would rather harp on the negatives, most of which he has constructed entirely in his own head.
LeBron James is Skip’s favorite target, and once again, Skip used his platform to come after him. “I’m gonna triple down on this,” he began.
“LeBron James destroyed the dunk contest by not doing the dunk contest. He had so many early opportunities… Where you got young, fresh legs, you’re explosive, you’re a 6’9″, jump-out-of-the-gym leaper, a power dunker. Just do the dunk contest,” continued Bayless.
“He set the tone for the generations to come — ‘No, we don’t do the dunk contest,'” Skip added. “It has now degenerated into a Mac McClung Memorial G League dunk contest.”
Once again, Skip is blaming all the ills of the world on LeBron, who by any measure is one of the greatest players to ever live. To the surprise of nobody, he kept ranting, eventually circling back to his favorite pastime: Explaining why LeBron is no Michael Jordan.
“The dunk contest, that I used to live for back in the day of Michael Jeffrey Jordan, is no longer,” Skip lamented.
You know it’s serious when he starts using the middle names. Bayless then went, in excruciating detail, through each of the three dunk contests MJ participated in, culminating with his famous win over Dominique Wilkins in 1988.
Skip also shouted out Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin, and Donovan Mitchell for participating and winning. He also threw shade at poor Mac McClung again for not having the same star power as those guys. Finally, he got to the point that he lives to make.
“[LeBron] set a generational tone of, ‘Eh, I can do without the dunk contest.’ Well, in LeBron’s case, he was the opposite of Jordan. Jordan set the tone for his sneaker brand with winning the two dunk contests, while LeBron was afraid he would blow his image if he lost the dunk contest,” said Bayless.
LeBron is 41 years old and nearing the end of his historic career. On behalf of everyone, Skip, it’s time to let it go.
Would it have been cool if LeBron had participated in the dunk contest? Yes. Did he owe it to anyone to do it, and is the decline of the dunk contest his fault? Absolutely not.
One day, LeBron will be 80 years old and enjoying life as a grandfather, basking in a lifetime of accomplishments… While Skip, at around 250, will still be the only guy around whose name doubles as what you should do when he speaks.
We just watched a really fun All-Star Game. And even without big-time star power, the dunk contest was entertaining, too. Stop being such a rain cloud, Skip.
