Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

In other words, four Lakers players were ranked in the top 4 in the Western Conference frontcourt or backcourt player voting.

Although entering the top 10 does not mean being selected as an All-Star, it is indeed something to be happy about for the Lakers.

As for the Eastern Conference, Giannis Antetokounmpo is still ranked first among the Eastern Conference frontcourt players. He has now received 260 million votes and is the top vote-getter in the Eastern Conference.

Behind him is Kawhi Leonard, who received 200 million votes, followed by Joel Embiid (170 million), Jayson Tatum (60), Jimmy Butler (56), and Blake Griffin (6).

As for the Eastern Conference backcourt players, Kyrie Irving still ranked first with 230 million votes, followed by Dwyane Wade with 112 million votes, Kemba Walker with 85 votes, Ben Simmons with 65 votes, and Victor Oladipo with 54 votes.

Compared with the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference rankings are not much different from the results of the first round of voting.

Moreover, the top three frontcourt players and the top two backcourt players have a clear advantage in votes compared to the players behind them.

For example, Joel Embiid, who ranked third among Eastern Conference frontcourt players, received 170 million votes, while Jayson Tatum, who ranked fourth behind him, only received 60 votes, a full 110 million votes less than Embiid. It is almost impossible for him to catch up with Embiid.

Of course, as I said before, this is just the fan voting phase, which only accounts for 50% of the entire All-Star voting event. There is also a media voting phase afterwards.

Even if a player ranks in the top three frontcourt players in the East and West, or in the top two backcourt players in the fan voting, he or she may not be selected as an All-Star starter.

"boom!"

With a dull thud, Zhuang Yu's shot missed. He stopped and indicated that today's training was over.

Zhuang Yu came to the sidelines and saw Clarkson, Nance Jr. and others discussing the All-Star voting, so he joined in the conversation.

At this time Clarkson suddenly asked: "Zhuang Yu, have you decided whether to participate in this year's dunk contest?"

Zhuang Yu has previously won the All-Star Skills Contest and the Three-Point Contest. The only thing missing from the three individual competitions is the Slam Dunk Contest, which made many fans feel a little regretful.

After all, Zhuang Yu's dunks were very beautiful. He often performed explosive dunks in the game, and even dunked from the free throw line. Not only the fans, but even his teammates felt that it was a pity that he did not participate in the dunk contest.

You have to know that in the history of the NBA, even people who can win two championships in three individual events at the same time are rare, and there is no one who has won three individual championships at the same time.

And now Zhuang Yu already has two individual championships.

If he wins the Slam Dunk Contest again, he will become the first person in history to win three individual events.

This is definitely a very attractive honor.

Unfortunately, Zhuang Yu did not participate in the dunk contest in the past two All-Star Weekends.

This time, the NBA officially invited Zhuang Yu to participate in the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest again, but Zhuang Yu has not responded yet, and his teammates are also very concerned.

"hehe......"

Zhuang Yu smiled and said, "It's just a slam dunk contest. It doesn't matter whether you participate or not."

Seeing his teammates showing disappointment, Zhuang Yu changed his tone and said, "But I will call Zach (Lavine) and Aaron Gordon. If they are willing to participate, I would be interested in competing with them."

Oh?

Hearing this, Clarkson and the others' eyes lit up, and Anderson immediately took out his cell phone to call LaVine.

Others also excitedly chimed in: "Hurry, call Zach now, we must convince him to participate in the dunk contest."

"And Aaron Gordon, he hasn't won the dunk contest yet. Is he willing to miss out on the championship? He must try again."

"Who has Gordon's phone number?"

"Haha, if LaVine and Gordon also participate, plus the boss, this year's dunk contest will be exciting."

Several people were more anxious than Zhuang Yu himself, and they were all very excited, because the duel between LaVine and Gordon in the 16 Slam Dunk Contest was almost legendary and was hailed as the battle of the century.

It’s a pity that the two only had one duel. Many people are looking forward to the two of them competing again in the dunk contest, which would definitely be very exciting.

And if not only Lavine and Gordon participated, but Zhuang Yu also participated, just thinking about it made Clarkson, Anderson and others feel excited.

That would definitely be better than the All-Star Game.

The All-Star Game is no longer interesting.

It is nothing more than a scoring battle without defense. Even dunks seem a little boring. More players will choose to shoot three-pointers in order to get good stats in the All-Star Game.

What's the point of watching an All-Star Game with no confrontation, no defense, and even no breakthroughs, where everyone is shooting three-pointers from the outside? It might as well be changed into a shooting contest.

Seeing several people busying around excitedly, Zhuang Yu called LaVine and Gordon to persuade them to participate in the dunk contest. He smiled and shook his head and let them go.

But what he said was true.

He would also participate in the dunk contest if LaVine and Gordon were to participate.

One is to compete with the league's top dunkers like LaVine and Gordon.

The second reason is that after the All-Star Weekend is his daughter Xiao Nuomi’s first birthday, and Zhuang Yu wants to win the Slam Dunk Contest trophy as a birthday present for his daughter.

Because he has already won the Rookie Contest MVP, the All-Star Game MVP, the Skills Challenge Championship, and the Three-Point Contest Championship.

If I want to give my daughter a birthday gift, I naturally have to give her a special trophy that I have never won before.

Soon, Anderson and others contacted LaVine and Gordon.

When they heard that as long as they participated in the dunk contest, Zhuang Yu would also participate, both of them said they would seriously consider it, but did not give an immediate answer.

This made Anderson a little disappointing, but it was still early before the All-Star Weekend, so there was no need to rush.

......

The next day, the NBA officially announced the results of the second round of the 2 All-Star voting, and sure enough, the rankings did not change from yesterday's voting data.

At the same time, the third round of voting begins.

Some players have also taken action and are making a final effort to seize this last round of opportunities and try to break into the top three frontcourt players in the East and West, or the top two backcourt players.

For example, Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis, one ranked fourth and the other ranked fifth among the Western Conference frontcourt players, and the gap between their votes and Paul George, who ranked third, was actually not that big.

Both of them have the hope of overtaking in the final round and breaking into the top three frontcourt players in the Western Conference.

There is also Kemba Walker in the Eastern Conference. He is now ranked third among the Eastern Conference backcourt players, but the gap between his number of votes and Wade is not particularly large, so he still has a chance.

Of course, the most unwilling one is James Harden, but it is almost impossible for him to squeeze into the top two backcourt players in the Western Conference.

Even if his stats improved dramatically in the third round of voting, at most he would surpass Derrick Rose and still only rank third.