Brent Petway can jam. And I don't mean, every now and again, he gets some air and puts one home. In an era where we laud the all-around athlete, where we marvel at CP3's complete game and Josh Smith's ability to fill a stat sheet, it's rare to find a player that exhibits extraordinary skill in dunking at the professional level. Brent Petway is the modern day extrapolation of pure talent in a singular move. Brent plays for the Idaho Stampede, the D-League team that's affiliated with Seattle and Portland. His stats are nothing extraordinary. He's 8th in the D-League in blocks. His most notable attribute, however, is his penchant for jaw-dropping dunks, which has earned him the nickname "Air Georgia." So when the D-League decided to put together a dunk contest, they knew they needed to get Petway.

Nobody wanted to win this dunk contest more than Petway. After losing in the 2007 NCAA Dunk Contest, he said that he badly wanted to take home this one.

His first two dunks were take-offs of old classics. The "A-La-Carter":

And the "Dominique Special," a classic windmill with a self alley-oop.His closers in the finale were the moneymakers though. His first dunk was bizarre to watch, but beautiful on the replay. He placed the ball on the ground underneath the basket. He stood over the ball, steadied himself, then reached down, grabbed it, jumped straight up, and landed a windmill. A standing windmill. Think about trying to jump that high with no momentum. I tried to, but my ankles snapped and a substance not unlike blood started pouring down my leg. Ew.

His finish was just as strong. An alley-oop to a modified East Bay Funk.

It was pretty sick. Afterwards, Petway danced and posed for the crowd, showing that he's not short on showmanship. Or guns.

I didn't know until yesterday, however, what he's got up his sleeve. On his blog, Petway indicated that he's planning on putting out a YouTube Video challenging 2008 NBA Dunk Champion Dwight Howard to a dunk contest and completing all of Howard's dunks from the 2008 NBA Dunk Contest. Petway was kind enough to talk to me for a few minutes about the D-League Dunk Contest, his challenge to Dwight Howard, and life in the D-League.

HP: Thanks for talking with me today, Brent. Congrats on the dunk contest.

Petway: 'Preciate it man, it was a lot of fun.

HP: How long had you been working on the A La Carter and that sick between the legs you did to finish?

Petway: It was kind of spur of the moment. I tried it in practice and made it, and made it part of the routine.

HP: What made you pull out the Dominique special?

Petway: Well, I've always done the windmill. But I noticed I could add my own style to it because I can get it to bounce high and I can go up and catch it so high.

HP: What was the hardest dunk to pull off?

Petway: The one where I sit the ball on the ground, and jump up dead-leg and just go vertical. It's already hard to do a windmill. But doing it from the ground straight vertical? That's hard.

HP: Was it fun going up against (teammate) Mike (Taylor) in the finals?

Petway: Yeah, we do it every day in practice. We knew it was going to come down to the two of us.

HP: You mentioned in your blog that you're going to challenge Dwight Howard to a dunk contest. How are you planning on doing that?

Petway: Basically, I've seen all the dunks he did, and I believe I can do all of them. So I'm going to get a camera somehow, do all those, and show him that a fellow Georgia boy can get up too. And I won the D-League so I think we should crown an overall champ.

HP: You said you're planning on doing every dunk he did. Are you going to do the whole Superman cape-bit too?

Petway: (laughs) I won't put the cape on; I'll just do the dunk.

HP: Let's talk about the D-League some. In your opinion, what's the biggest part of your game that needs work to get you into the League?

Petway: Basically, just knocking down 17- to 20-footers. Gaining confidence. It's been coming along. Last couple of games I've been knocking it down.

HP: If you were to get called up, who would be the first person you'd call?

Petway: My mom. We're real close. She's a basketball fanatic, and she gets into it as much as I do.

HP: Was she down in New Orleans?

Petway: Yeah. Made the seven-hour drive along with my whole family.

HP: If you weren't in the D-League, what do you think you'd be doing?

Petway: Probably either coaching or broadcasting. If not, playing overseas.

HP: You got anything to say to Dwight Howard?

Petway: Just...Let's get this going. I know he'll be up for it. No reason we can't crown an overall champion for the NBA and the D-league. Why not just have the champions go at it?

"Basketball is basketball."

That's what I kept telling myself on the long drive through the swamplands to New Orleans. I'd be covering the D-League All-Star events in the "Dream Factory" on Friday Night. This was to include a three-point contest, a dunk contest, and most noticeably, a HORSE contest. The word was that this was a test to see if the format was marketable for inclusion in the League's All-Star events next year.

But D-League? I'd seen some of the play, but not enough to really get a feel for the whole league, and not in an All-Star competition. Would this somehow be worse than the actual All-Star events? Would the players have the same level of intensity, just less talent, resulting in a cringe-inducing affair that I would of course have to rip mercilessly? I was hoping for aptitude, not excellence. I was hoping for "king of cool" not "the most amazing thing I've ever seen." I was hoping for anything better than, "that sucked."

And honestly? It was pretty cool.

I could try and make it out to be some sort of jaw-dropping display of unseen talent, under the radar, like the White Stripes playing in your neighbor's basement. Or I could try and make this into some sort of deep struggle, the players all vying for their shot at the big time in front of scouts and coaches. Or I could pull the "dreams" approach and spin it like it had something to do with the players wanting to prove something to themselves and others.

But that, of course, would be bullshit.

It's not to say that there wasn't talent. On the other hand, the entire weekend I was impressed with the flashes of brilliance I saw. Kasib Powell's agility. Jeremy Richardson's stroke. Elton Brown's force, Lance Allred's basketball IQ, and Brent Petway's ability to forcefully throw the ball down through the hoop in what is referred to as a "dunk." And the step above everyone else that Morris Almond has.

But for the most part, it was just a collection of D-League players hanging out and showing off, while trying not to get hurt.

I had a chance to interview a few of the players, and they all had the same thing to say when I asked them if they felt like this was a good opportunity to showcase their talents for scouts, coaches and fans.

"Not so much," they all said. It was mostly jut a chance for them to have fun.

I spoke with Rod Benson ("Boom Tho!") and he summed it up best. The All-Star game is more of a chance for the players to be recognized for their contribution and have some fun than to showcase their talents.

The HORSE Contest

The big draw of Friday night was the HORSE contest. Anything that brings out Abbott, Skeets and Tony Mejia is kind of a big deal in D-League terms. And considering it's been hailed by bloggers as the missing piece of All-Star weekend in the League, it was the biggest D-League event of the weekend.

Your competitors:

Jeremy Richardson: Frequent NBA call-up and leader of D-League in 3-point percentage. Also, leads the league in number of times he's been called up and said "Holy shit, Fabricio Oberto is actually considered a better baller than me. Kill me."

Lance Allred: The All-American hero. Told me before the contest that he was still rehabbing a bone bruise (and he showed it to me!) so he was going in cold. A colleague of mine responded, "Yeah. Bone bruise" and mimed masturbation (and he showed me!). Also, a center and therefore a huge underdog.

Morris Almond: Arguably the best player in the D-League. Arguably the biggest mouth in the D-League. My favorite line from his blog? "It's the D-League... I'm supposed to wreck it." Almond scored 53 points in a game earlier this season, and followed it up by taking home the most D-League groupies ever (1).

Kasib Powell: 20 pts, 6 rebounds per game. Voted Best D-League Website by Ukranian Thunder Whores.

The games were only slated to last five minutes, to make sure they didn't drag on in case they bombed. Good call. If this was a disaster, you want it over with as soon as possible. They used the 24-second clock, which was also pretty smart, since there's nothing funnier than seeing unimpressed professional minor-league basketball players trying to vomit up a shot because they're out of time. Because that's awesome.

You apparently couldn't dunk, but layups were allowed. Probably so the dunk contest would have a point. Unfortunately, the first round abandoned this possibility.

Allred apparently thought it was crappy that no one thought he had a snowball's chance in hell. Because he pretty much wrecked Richardson in the first round. They started out not really knowing what to do, just shooting bank jumpers. The crowd started looking at one another, like "What? Is this it?" Allred did manage to hit an eyes-closed free throw that sealed the deal to advance.

Almond and Powell had no such plans to keep it straight up with jumpers. Off the floor shots, 360 three-pointers, and behind the backboard shots were all a part of their contest. Here was the interesting part. While Allred and Richardson hit more shots, the junkfest was way more entertaining.

The finals was a clash of styles, with Allred's standard bankshot jump shooting versus Amond's flair. While everyone was pulling for the trash-talking Almond, you have to appreciate the way Allred went for the jugular. I asked him afterwards why he was so focused in such ridiculous contest.

"I was nervous, because believe it or not, I have NEVER won any sort of trophy in my entire life! And I finally had a chance to win one, because, I can't retire without some cool trophy to put on my shelf right? I really did want to win, and I was nervous, and I also went in for the kill. But so was Jeremy Richardson. Neither of us were doing any trick shots, and I followed his tone, and when we were done, I kept the same approach and went for the jugular, while Morris, who has an NBA contract, was just having a good time."

So when Allred matched Amond's on one knee layup and knocked him out with a long range bank shot, it was actually the little guy winning, with fundamentals and determination. A much better story than it seemed. Even Allred admitted that he wanted to do a lot more trick shots, but with the injury and how nervous he was, he didn't think of it.

That's pretty much the perfect D-League story, don't you think?

My favorite quotes from the event? Both from the official write-up:

Almond: "Yes, it's embarrassing that I lost to a center, but all white guys are good at H.O.R.S.E. for some reason"

Allred: "Oh, and never leave the white guy open."

The D-League Dunk Contest: Air Georgia Gets Sick

I really wasn't expecting much out of this. One of the primary knocks on D-Leaguers is their lack of size. So I was not expecting this to be the best contest of the night. But then, I always underestimate how entertaining it is to see guys jump really, really high and then scream.

I'd heard rumors about this kid, nicknamed "Air Georgia," Brent Pettway. I saw it in person on Friday when he came away with the win.

There were some problems with the dunk contest. First off, they brought kids out of the audience and sat them with the players. The players then gave the kids the option of one of the dunks. This is bad because it limits what the players can do, and it makes them reveal what they're going to do. Second, the M.C. was about the most annoying human being in the city of New Orleans. That's counting everyone in the celebrity game, all of the performers, Vince Carter and Chris Tucker. He was irritating the players and the crowd.

The good news is that these guys could seriously throw down. Rookie Eric Smith threw down a nasty 360 that I'd take over any of Gay's dunks the following night. Pettway offered up two options. The "A-La-Carter" and the "Dominique Special." The "A-La-Carter" was a takeoff on the arm-through-the-hoop hanging dunk Carter pulled in 2000.

His opponent in the finals was 6'2'' Mike Taylor. Taylor got there with a baseline lob dunk to the other side that was damn impressive.

But in the Finals, Petway killed him. After a massive lob East-Bay Funk dunk, he then place the ball on the ground under the goal, stood, leaned down, then jumped up and dunked it, standing. It wasn't impressive when you watched it. Then you thought about it. And realized how much leg power that took. The man's a freak of nature.

The D-League All-Star Contests weren't as good as the League's, but they did show that the D-League has a ton of talent, and that they're worth watching. It also showed that HORSE can work as an event, and that white people are really good at it.

We don't think the D-League gets enough love, and that's not just because they play H-O-R-S-E on their All-Star Weekend. (Though they do.) Or because they have Rod Benson. (Though they have him too.)

Why love the D-League? So many reasons. Hardwood Paroxsym revs up its manifesto:

We're stunned by the disdain many NBA fans have of the D-League. It's WNBA-proportions at times. Now, indifference, that makes sense. Apathy, assuredly. Ignorance, even, is commonplace and to be expected. But there's a legitimate "This is a dumb idea, they should scrap it" flow amongst the fans. Why? There are both theoretical and pragmatic reasons to approach the D-League with open arms.

We're gonna have Hardwood Paroxsym at the D-League All-Star Game this weekend, so expect a full report. We care. We definitely care. Kind of.

Dr. BoomTho, Or: How I Learned To Stop Hating And Love The D-League [Hardwood Paroxysm]

Rookie Patrick O'Bryant, to our knowledge the only NBA lottery pick to ever play against the Arkansas Rimrockers, was sent to the Jam from the Warriors after Harrick convinced Golden State coach Don Nelson that it would be good for his, well, development. It's all chronicled in a well-written piece by the San Francisco's Chronicle Scott Ostler, who, if he went out to dinner with Harrick and O'Bryant, could probably pool the cash in their wallets and buy Bakersfield.

How long will O'Bryant's minor-league experience be? That hasn't been discussed. "As short as I can possibly make it," he says, matter-of-factly. Eight hours later, he is introduced as the Jam's starting center for the game against the visiting Austin Toros. O'Bryant is about to play a first half that will have some spectators wondering if the NBA has an F-League

We hope that O'Bryant makes it big in the NBA some day. When you're a top NBA draft pick and find yourself riding on the team bus with this, that's a reality check right there.

Small Towns And Big Dreams Make Up NBA's D-League [SFGate]
NBA Development League