After 48 hours and 29 games of straight summer hoops, the ‘09 Dolphin Basketball Classic is officially in the books. This is my third year covering the tourney, which is just 365 days shy of its silver anniversary. Attending this event for the last few summers, I’ve noticed the same faces grace the courts and crowd. The Dolphin community is a tight knit group and I’m glad they’ve all let me be a part of it.

This year might have been the most memorable Dolphin for me. I saw enough great battles, plays and dunks (Kevin Kemp, I’m talking ’bout you) to last me ’til NBA training camp. In an effort to keep this short and sweet, I decided to jot down my top five moments of the ‘09 DBC. Read More »

In all of the basketball I have watched in my lifetime, only two players have made me want to show up early to a game, just so that I could watch the layup line. The first was Paul McPherson at the 2000 Rocky Mountain Revue in Utah. The second was Nate Robinson at the 2005 Vegas Summer League. Blessed with 40-plus-inch verticals and insane creativity, both were sure to treat the crowd to mini-dunk contests during each pregame warmup.

After watching the 24th annual Dolphin Basketball Classic over the weekend, I’m proud to add a third person to my prestigeous, yet insignificant list. Read More »

Last December was the French All Star Game, the best native players against the foreign players of our 1st pro division (Pro A). Around 15 000 fans gathered in Paris, not only for a simple basketball game but also for the main attraction : the dunk contest. As it is broadcasted on National TV, some great dunkers like Kadour Ziani, the De Blaine brothers, Steve Lobel or Guy Dupuy entered in our dunk ” hall of fame” and basketball history. Each year there’s a big emulation on “who’s gonna compete ? what each guy is able to do…” , this edition was special because two great well known high flyers came from the States : Kevin ” Golden Child ” Kemp and Justin Darlington. I went lucky to get in the backstages of this contest so just enjoy the pictures and video below.

Justin Darlington, Nobel Boungou Colo , Kevin Kemp, Max Kouguere, Yann de Blaine

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