A Real Downer : Dominique Wilkins Wins the Slam-Dunk Competition, but Event Does Not Get the Expected Rise Out of Players

All is not quiet on the NBA’s dunking front, which is not exactly what the league had in mind when it elevated the dunk-offs to a lofty new place of honor on All-Star weekend.

Dominique Wilkins was crowned the new slam-dunk king Saturday, and he immediately called the moment the highlight of his life.

But not everyone was as thrilled with the NBA’s slam-dunk championship. Larry Nance and Julius Erving, last year’s champion and runner-up, both announced they have slammed their last dunk.

“I am dunked out,” said Nance, who participated in Saturday’s competition with something other than enthusiasm. He warmed up by shooting jump shots.

“That should have told you something right there,” Nance said.

Erving, who like Nance did not even make it to the final round, was even more blunt.

“It’s silly,” Erving said. “The fans really want it, but it’s probably silly for guys like Larry and myself to continue to be in it. I don’t plan on being back anymore.

“Nothing’s totally useless, but. . . . ,” Erving said.

The NBA, of course, does not think of its two-year-old dunking baby in the same way. This year, they changed the format to allow two missed dunks per round, brought in computers to tabulate the score and even came up with a new dunking song, called “High Rise.”

Hey watch me close as I’m taking off

There’s no limit to my leap

It’s magic when I’m dancing all around the rim

The taste of dunk is sweet

High rise

Just give me some open air

High rise

Let’s take a little trip upstairs

High rise

Oohs and aahs are everywhere

High rise

Erving was not particularly touched by the words and music. He sang a different tune altogether.

Erving said he did not practice for the event.

“I thought about it on Thursday, but then I laid down and the thought passed,” he said.

What soured Erving on the dunking competition was the fact that he didn’t want to do it in the first place. In fact, Erving said he was pressured into competing.

By whom?

“I can’t say,” Erving said. “I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on the league office. But I did say no the first time they asked me. And the second time and the third time.

“I got drafted,” he said. “That’s like in the army. To be drafted takes something away from it, I would think.”

Rick Welts, the NBA’s vice president of public relations, said there has been no decision whether to keep the dunking championship as part of All-Star (read television) tradition, but that it would only be around as long as the players think it’s fun.

Right now, that issue has to be rated as a tossup.

“But what’s said publicly and privately could be two different things,” Welts said.

Nance was not shy in his public comments when he said he did not want to be seen as a player of one-dunk dimensions.

“I’m through with it,” said Nance. “Look, I know it helped me get where I’m at, but I’m just kind of disturbed that everybody wants me to dunk all the time. Win, lose or draw today, I wasn’t coming back.

“They’re using the dunk for a show,” Nance said. “Last year, I beat Doc (Erving), I know, but usually Doc is dunking on people, not for show. That’s the way the dunk should be kept.”

The NBA’s dunk show did not get off to a particularly good start Saturday. To begin with, one of the participants refused to show up. Charles Barkley withdrew, citing homesickness, and went to Leeds, Ala., for the weekend.

Terence Stansbury replaced Barkley, largely because he plays for the hometown Indiana Pacers. Stansbury surprised many by making it to the second round.

He shouldn’t have been there, either, but a computer foul-up (just one of four for the event) made him the fifth player in a unique round of four, even though Michael Jordan had a higher score.

Stansbury had already been announced as making it to the semifinal round before the judges figured out that Jordan’s score had been botched. So instead of letting Jordan in and eliminating Stansbury, they put both of them in.

“I don’t understand what happened,” said Jordan, who lost to Wilkins in the final. “There were also a lot of good dunks that didn’t get good scores.”

Five judges rated each player’s dunk from 1 to 10, and there seemed to be a wide variance in the scores.

“I hope next year it’s totally different,” Jordan said.

Darrell Griffith didn’t get past the first round, but he is one of the dunkers who likes the competition and does not see himself as a one-dimensional player.

“We’re here because we can do other things, too,” Griffith said. “There are a lot of brothers on the street who can really throw it down and hang well.”

Orlando Woolridge and Clyde Drexler, two more dunkers who lost in the first round, both said they would be back if asked.

“I’m in this for one reason--the fans,” Woolridge said.

That is the proper reason, said Rick Barry, one of the ex-players in Saturday’s Legends game. Barry took exception to the no-more-dunks comments of Nance.

“That’s crazy,” Barry said. “It helped make him what he is. This is an entertainment business and that’s how it should be viewed. If he’s worried about being branded as a one-dimensional player, then he can’t have a lot of confidence in his ability.

“This is dunking ,” he said, “not judging a player as a human being.”

Wilkins won $12,000 for first-place and Jordan got $7,000.

“I’m going to have a good time with the money,” said Wilkins.

The dunk-offs, which were supposed to be a good time, too, don’t look as if they’re headed the same way.

All-Star Notes

The 35th All-Star game begins at 10:45 a.m. PST today in the Hoosier Dome. A sellout crowd of 38,000 is expected. Pat Riley coaches the West team that has Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson in the starting lineup. The East has won five in a row and leads the series 23-11. . . . In the Legends competition played Saturday at Market Square Arena, the East beat the West, 63-53. Earl Monroe scored 14 points for the winners, while Roger Brown had 10 for the losers. . . . Commissioner David Stern said Saturday that he expects the league’s $25-million suit against the Clippers to come to trial by January, 1986. The NBA is claiming that the Clippers moved from San Diego without asking permission from league. The case will be heard in federal court in San Diego. . . . Stern also told a news conference that he will propose a future restriction on the number of NBA games carried on superstations WOR in New York and WGN in Chicago. Last season, 120 NBA games were carried on cable outlets WTBS, USA and ESPN. Only 55 NBA games are on the NBA’s cable contract with WTBS this season, in addition to 11 CBS regular season games. . . . Stern said the board of governors approved the sale of the majority interest in the Chicago Bulls franchise to Jerry Reinsdorf, who is a co-owner of the Chicago White Sox, and also approved two new limited partners in the ownership of the Houston Rockets. . . . The proposed move of the Kansas City Kings to Sacramento has been referred to committee, Stern said, and should be placed before the board of governors at their May meeting. . . . Stern said he has learned of interest in expansion franchises from Toronto, Miami and Minneapolis and a preliminary inquiry from Santa Ana, but he is not now encouraging league expansion.