Vince Carter is the best dunker of all time

Con, you are a great debater, I'm guessing you are on a debate team. However it sounds like you are trying to prove something which you are not well versed in. Let me explain why. First off, can you honestly tell me you watched the movie I posted above and are still arguing against VC, who clearly has something which MJ lacked. MJ only had the edge in dunk contests because of who he was, and the fact that they were formatted differently and the fact that he participated in more contets than Vince. The fact that he won more dunk contests, or had more perfect score dunks than Vince means ABSOLUTELY nothing, but it's not your fault for thinking this. Your first criteria is statistics, or in other words, dunk contest success. "the dunker who wins the most contests that demonstrate the highest proficiency in the art of the slam dunk is key." No, it certainly isn't. Even if you want to claim it is, it is not a fair indication when comparing Vince and MJ because Vince only participated in one dunk contest in his life (which he won by a land slide). MJ participated in three (and won two) so of course he will have more perfect score dunks than Vince. Also, the scoring system changed dramatically between when MJ competed and when Vince competed. When MJ competed, there were three rounds. The first round consisted of two dunks, the second round consisted of three dunks,and the final round consisted of another three dunks. That's 8 dunks per contest for MJ. Now, in 2000, when Vince competed, there were only TWO rounds. The first one had three dunks, and the final round had two dunks. That adds up to 5 total. MJ clearly had a much better oppurtunity to go out and post more rounds of higher scores or more perfect dunks. In Vince's only dunk contest, he scored a 50, 49, and 50 in the first round, and a 50 and 48 in the final round. That means Vince scored a perfect score on 60 percent of all the dunks he ever completed in the dunk contest. See my point here? Also, I'm not sure where you found that NBA encyclopedia where you got your information you included at the end of your argument from, but that is wrong information. If you don't believe me watch the dunk contest for yourself here http://www.youtube.com.... Both VC and MJ have had more perfect scores than the few you listed so do your research next time and look at more than one source. If you watched the dunk contest for yourself you'll see Vince scored three perfect dunks in one contest. You can also look here if you don't believe your own eyes: http://www.allstarnba.es... among many other sources. How can the encyclopedia be wrong? Don't ask me, I didn't write it. Most of my above facts are from http://en.wikipedia.org... and http://en.wikipedia.org... and the stuff in parentheses above. Further, even if you'd like to prove winning the dunk contest=dunking greatness, I will prove you wrong once again. Let's look at last year's dunk contest. Finals round was JaVale McGee against Blake Griffin, and important to note taking place in LA, home of BG. Now going into the contest, who do you think was going to win? Who was more hyped? Who claimed they would "jump over a car? Who was the hometown hero? It was BG and that's why he won. He was a dunking icon and has been ever since he stepped foot in the league, while McGee was an awkward, athletic freak. Well, McGee got robbed. Although he had a superior performance, completing dunks which have never been completed before, he still lost primarily because BG dunked over the HOOD of a car while a choir performed in the background. This is proof the contest is merely a popularity contest: http://bleacherreport.com... and http://philly.sbnation.com... This leads me into my next point. Con claimed: "Because they have many world-class players, they are judged by several judges that give scores for each participant's dunk." These "judges" are actually fans who text in their votes to determine the champion. This is further proof the dunk contest is fixed and inacurate in determining the better dunker. The more popular player is inevitable to win. And this is another reason why MJ had more dunk contest success. He was the icon of the League, and since he had jumping ability, there was no way he was going to lose. In 1985 he rightfully lost... why? Because he was only a rookie at that point and didn't take over the league yet!!! Everything is about image, and once MJ became who he was he finally won his first dunk contest in 1987, a year which he had finally established himself as the best in the game. This leads me to another point Con makes which I'd like to address. MJ was known for his dunking not his three point shooting, so obviously his sneaker will have him dunking. I promise you that if MJ had the dunking ability but no actual game, he would not only have lost those dunk contests, but may not even have had his own sneaker, and he wouldn't be nearly as big as he was. He wasn't who he was because he could dunk. He was who he was because he was all around the greatest player who specialized in dunking (relative to others in his generation). I agree with you that MJ had more of a cultural impact than Vince. But that's only because he played 15 years before Vince! Had Vince showed up on the scene with the stuff he was doing in 2000, then the world would have gone nuts. It's the same reason Dr. J is regarded as the most revolutionary dunker- he was the first to take it to a "show level." Cultural impact should NOT be a criteria in determining who the greatest dunker. Besides, Dr J was the most revolutionary dunker anyways. Regarding your style argument, I think the only way to prove is if you watch the above video for yourself and admit to yourself that Vince just had more style than MJ. No knock on MJ, he was arguably the second best dunker, but Vince took it to a whole new level. To sum up, the dunk contest means nothing. On a poll I recently saw on this forum: http://forums.realgm.com... 89 percent of people believe the dunk contest is fixed. The best doesn't always win, it's who the public wants to win so the NBA can garner more views. This is why Nate Robinson was THREE dunk contests. I promise you, he is nowhere close to the level that many other great dunkers were on, but he was a fan favorite for his size. Even DeMar DeRozan, a player who also was robbed in 2011 believes the contest is fixed (http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com... and http://bleacherreport.com...). My final proof is that the youngest slam dunk contest champion, and a sure top 10 dunker of all time, kobe bryant, agrees 100 percent with me. http://www.youtube.com... If that's not enough than I don't know what is. Thanks for reading, I know it was a lot, but I had a lot to say!